Chance The Rapper has been working on his sophomore studio album, Star Line, for some time, but he recently gave quite a promising update on its status.
During a new conversation with Complex published on Wednesday (June 26), the Chicago native revealed the follow-up to 2019’s The Big Day is around 83 percent done – and that he’s in a way better space than when he made his debut.
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After initially estimating that the project was 85 percent complete, Chance backtracked — a tiny bit: “That’s a little generous. I’ma say 83. 83.5, 82.7, you know what I’m saying? We’re living in the project right now.
“The thing is, no one has the attention span for what the conversation needs to be. So I’m piecing it together, I’m living in it with my fans, with the new artists I come in contact with.”
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He added: “I’m really enjoying this process time. Because sometimes the process time is really stressful and hectic. For my last project, I’d just gotten married, I just had a baby, I was about to separate from my management. Like, I had so many things going on and now, it’s not like ain’t shit going on — it’s a lot going on — but I’m really able to revel in the creative process and put everything into that and be 100 percent myself and present in the now.”
Chance The Rapper says his upcoming album is “83 percent done” 👀 pic.twitter.com/wvYL1nn6eU
— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) June 26, 2024
Chance The Rapper explained the historical significance of the Star Line title during a 2022 interview with Sway.
“I was inspired by Marcus Garvey in the early 1900s — 1919 through 1922 — so 100 years ago now,” he said. “He started and ran this very important, integral shipping line. He had a fleet of ships, these giant ocean liners which are the size of cruise ships, that he owned and funded with common Black folks’ money.
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“But what he did with it was he created a trade route between the United States, all of the Black islands and the continent of Africa, and that created a network of people where people from all over the world were interconnected and working with each other and taking trips together, and created this connectivity that didn’t exist before.”
He added: “When I think about the Black Star Line and all the spaces that it’s been in, the black star [on the line’s flag] is [also] the representation of Ghana, in their flag, in the fabric of how their country was set up. They believe in global Blackness, Black connectivity and a free Africa.”
Chance previously revealed that he was aiming for a Spring 2024 release for the album, which he has also called “one of [his] proudest projects in terms of writing and artistic vision.”
To hold fans over, he dropped the DJ Premier-produced “Together” in May. Prior to that, he dropped “Buried Alive” in April, which saw him touching on his recent divorce and legal dispute with his ex-manager.
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“Where’s his money now? Wherе his wife at?/ Where his managеr? Where his hype at?/ Then they threw the dirt on the casket,” he rapped on the song.