Chance the Rapper - From Drug Addiction to Jesus

“I was just tweaking. I was a Xan-zombie, not doing anything productive and just going through relationship after relationship after relationship,” admitted three-time Grammy award winner Chance the Rapper in an interview with GQ magazine in 2016.

In a song in his Grammy award-winning album “Coloring Book,” he openly states, “Last year got addicted to Xans / Started forgetting my name and started missing my chance.”

Xanax is a highly addictive drug and is widely sought out on the streets. It is "formally known as alprazolam, is a short-acting benzodiazepine, that is used to treat anxiety disorders including panic disorder."

The now twenty-six-year-old Chicago native grew up listening to jazz and Gospel music in a Christian home. His father was an aide to then-Senator Barack Obama. Chance the Rapper, Chancellor Jonathan Bennett, met the future president as a kid and told him he wanted to become a rapper. Obama responded by saying, "Word."

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In 2014, his mixtape "Acid Rap" gained mass exposure and has been downloaded over 1.5 million times. The talented and energetic young artist has given his music away for free since the beginning of his career, and he still does. Yes, you read that right. He gives it all away for free, and his fans love him for it.

After "Acid Rap" put him on the hip-hop map, he moved from his hometown of Chicago to the sunshine of Los Angeles, California, "in a pill fog," according to GQ magazine.

After realizing that his ways of living while in LA were taking him nowhere fast, he wvnat back to Chicago. He faced his demons and began to seek God. He got back with his childhood girlfriend, and they got pregnant. “I think it was the baby that, you know, brought my faith back," stated Chance the Rapper.

With a new baby, drug-free, and back in his home town he began to make his Grammy Award-winning album "Coloring Book". He apparently slept in the studio for two months straight with his girlfriend and new daughter.

Many of his songs speak of faith and Jesus. He gave all the credit to God when he received the Grammy for Best Rap Album of the Year in 2017 for "Coloring Book". "Once again I want to thank God for everything He has accomplished for me," were the first words of his acceptance speech.

In December 2018 he boldly announced to 10.3 million followers on Instagram, "I'm on a plane headed out of the country on my first sabbatical. I'm going away to learn the Word of God which I am admittedly very unfamiliar with. I've been brought up by my family to know Christ but I haven't taken it upon myself to really just take a couple days and read my bible."

He is now married to his long-time girlfriend, and they had their second child.

He recently made another appearance on NBC's "Ellen DeGeneres Show". After Ellen pointed out to the crowd that he has given millions of dollars away to charities she asked him, "Why is it important to give back?" He replied, "My understanding of a lot of things is based on Jesus...Jesus teaches you to care for your neighbor."

What's next for this twenty-six-year-old phenom? Who knows, but it is obvious that God has radically transformed his life and he wants the whole world to know about it.

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