Chance the Rapper's sheer existence eschews the norms of hip-hop. He's found success without the help of a record label, releasing his music directly to fans for free. But even with firsts within the industry aside, his performances are also entirely rare in his genre. Rarely does a rapper harness the full band as well as Chance the Rapper.
Live, he's more of a frontman than an MC, moving with the ebbs and flows of the band. He improvises, performing tight arrangements of his songs that change from show-to-show.
And, in a stunning Tiny Desk Concert—the popular series that challenges bands to play stripped-down versions of their music in a confined space—Chance proved his versatility.
He and his band played a bedroom ballad version of "Juke Jam," Chance read a poem, and they covered Stevie Wonder's "They Won't Go When I Go." It's an unexpected and honest performance, and one of the most surprising since T-Pain's jazzy Tiny Desk Concert.
