Chance the Rapper announced the release of his first official gospel song. But George Luke says this is no surpise. For anyone who’s been paying attention, the Chicago artist’s Christian faith has always been at the heart of his music, his activism and his life
Chance the Rapper kicked off 2026 by announcing that his next release would be his first official gospel release.
His first? That’s a surprise! To faith-aware folks who’ve been following his career closely, the gospel has always been a key part of Chance the Rapper’s ethos. The most obvious example of this would be the 2017 Grammy Awards, at which he became the first act to win the coveted Artist of the Year award without the help of a record label.
Together with a choir and established gospel acts Tamela Mann and Kirk Franklin, Chance sang a selection of the gospel tracks featured on his 2016 release, Coloring Book, including the popular worship song ‘How great is our God’. Billboard claimed that Chance had led millions in worship via his Grammy performance – one had even the most hard-nosed critics lauding how he “took the Grammy audience to church”.
I first came across Chance while visiting relatives in America in 2012. One of my nephews introduced me to a Chicago band called Kids These Days, who’d just released their debut album, Traphouse Rock.
I was particularly captivated by a track called ‘Wasting time’, which asked the question, “What’s the point of living life if all your time is for you and nothing’s given away?” The featured guest on that track was a name I’d not heard of before: Chance the Rapper.
Rising in rap. Rooted in faith
From then on, Chance’s name started popping up on my radar more frequently, usually through his many collaborations with acts including Ed Sheeran and Kanye West, whom he has cited as a major influence.
There were the mixtapes: 10 Day (2012), Acid Rap (2013), and the game-changing Coloring Book (2016). In 2018, Chance took a sabbatical to focus on studying the Bible. He returned the following year with his debut studio album, The Big Day.
There was another break of sorts after that and then last year, Chance returned with Star Liner – an album teeming with spiritual themes. In an interview with journalist and fellow Chicagoan Samantha Chatman, Chance explained how it was largely based on the Old Testament story of Moses, likening the effect he wanted it to have on listeners to the glow Moses’ face had after he’d spent 40 days and nights with God on Mount Sinai.
All this to say that faith – in particular, Christian faith – has always been a feature of Chance’s music. And if faith without works is dead, there’s been a lot on the works front for one to conclude that Chance’s faith is very much alive.
Much of that has been through SocialWorks, the non-profit Chance launched in 2016, which has made huge investments into some of Chicago’s most deprived communities.
In 2017, Chance donated a million dollars to Chicago’s cash-strapped public school system. In 2023, he co-founded the Black Star Line Festival in Ghana; part of an effort to build bridges between African-Americans and the African continent. Some might argue that none of these things are evangelistic, but one can certainly see Jesus’ calls to justice, reconciliation and caring for the least of these at their heart.
A grandmother’s influence
Chance’s faith and passion for justice were instilled in him from childhood.
Born Chancellor Jonathan Bennett in Chicago in 1993, Chance’s mother worked for the Illinois Attorney-General and his father was an aide to the then senator (later president) Barack Obama.
As far as faith goes, Chance’s grandmother was the major influence, and Chance beautifully articulates this on ‘Sunday candy’, a song by the band Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment, on which he had a guest spot. “I am the thesis of her prayers,” he raps lovingly. “Only ones she love as much as me is Jesus Christ and Taylor…Praying with her hands tied, president of my fan club / Stand tall, something told me I should bring my butt to church.”
If faith without works is dead, there’s been a lot on the works front for one to conclude that Chance’s faith is very much alive.
But back to that announcement. I can see why it’s big news for some Christians; it gives them another celebrity they can proudly hold up as “one of our team”. But what does it actually mean? Is Chance never going to rap about other subjects from here onwards? Has he broken with the independent status that’s been a cornerstone of his career and signed to a gospel label?
Is he going to tone down the occasional swearing? Why bother to make such a statement now when his faith has always been evident in his work? It hasn’t always been the perfect behaviour the gospel audience often unrealistically demands from its artists (see the above comment about the swearing), but it is an authentic, warts-and-all relationship with Jesus, with a heart for justice that all Christ’s followers are meant to have.
I for one hope that Chance doesn’t simply become “Chance the gospel Rapper” in the public’s minds, because he is so much more than just that.
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