CHRIS CHANCE IS FIGURING IT OUT

star power, confidence, and navigating our role in pop culture

Chris Chance communicates in three ways: through the heart, through cultural references, and through a strongly built point of view people can only develop from working on themselves as much as Chris Chance has. When we first met for this piece, I spotted him under a train station sipping from a plastic cup. I saw him notice me, then instinctively look away. I imagined it was something he experienced often: being noticed first.

Chris Chance: I did a lot of shrooms when I was younger. I think I did shrooms maybe 8 times or something like that. I realized from it that everything in life is a reflection of itself. Everything’s on a loop. That’s what madeintheurl means: understanding reality loops.

@madeintheurl is the media company founded and produced by Chris Chance. It's his own network of artists, directors, photographers, and creatives (also known as URLiens) throughout the city capturing what their future looks like through art and connection. The website, a digital portfolio of everyone’s designs, is a solid intersection between sound, color, image, and time. It’s today’s world designed in the repurposed trends of the last 20 years.

Chris Chance: We sat here, me and my friend Jack, and I took 30 seconds to come up with [the] name. It is more of a reflection of how I work in copywriting. Like, okay, this is what we're going to do. This is the idea. Obviously we have, like, peer review and shit like that, but most of the time it's like…all of our best t-shirts were literally made in a group chat. I'll go and text Julius and I'll be like, okay, look, I need you. Do you remember that old porn ad that say, ‘this ugly son of a bitch is fucking superheroes?’ Do that, flip it, let's put that on a t-shirt, and 20 minutes later he sends it back exactly as I thought in my mind. I'm like, okay. Cool. T-shirts done. A lot of it has operated that way.

He explains it all as we move from one room to the next. Chris talks about the impacts of Jay Electronica, Kanye West, Supreme. He talks about people like someone who knows them personally, he talks about brands like someone who sees things we don’t.

Chris Chance: I feel like people either glorify the past or romanticize the future. And most of the time, people don’t understand that both of those things were once the present. I embrace the present more than anything because I think the present is going to one day be someone’s glorified past or their romantic, idealistic future, you know what I’m saying? That’s the core of everything we do. I like participating in the present because I didn’t when I was younger. I mean, I was pretentious and edgy, you know, all that shit. I remember I watched a Tyler, the Creator interview who was into Justin Bieber, and I thought: how do you like this? This is trash. This is not good music. But [Tyler] was just like, dude, you gotta appreciate things for what they are. From that point on, I’ve been looking at life like that. I just appreciate it for what it is.

I first met Chris Chance during the Swami Sound interview (Edition 1.) After he accepted an invitation to be in 7, I found myself weeks later studying his rows of sneakers against a wall, the widest flatscreen TV I’ve seen in my life, and his whimsical, but relaxed approach to how he starts our talk. This is a time he later recalls he “wasn’t Chris Chance yet.”

“You once said ‘I've always wanted to be a rapper and interviewer, have my own radio show, have my own clothing brand. I've always wanted my own.’ First, are you an Aries? And second, why is creating your own so important to you?

Chris Chance, an Aries: You know, I need something that nobody can ever take away. I was the victim of unconditional love because my mother was all about unconditional love. And my dad, there’d be times where he would take it away from me. I went many years not talking to my dad, because we would go through these arguments where he would kind of disregard me emotionally type shit. And it kind of got me to the point where I hated having anything that can be taken away from me. I like to be in control of everything simply because I don't like people being able to just pull the rug under me type shit. That's the root of it. But beyond all of that, I’m an only child and I've felt like a leader my entire life. I have never been able to follow others unless it made sense. Like I can only come off the bench if the starting point guard is Michael Jordan type shit, right? So for a long time, I didn't have my own. That's really what it was. I was always on another team. I was always a star player for another team. So it's gotten to the point where, yeah, I had to make something that was completely my own because I just got tired of not being able to live my complete truth. I like being able to have something as a complete reflection of my life. This is what I like. This is who I am. I am made in the url.

His Brooklyn apartment is clean and bright and personalized. It was an apartment he didn’t see before moving from Virginia, but he agreed to live in nonetheless, as his only agenda then was to live in the city.

Chris Chance: In terms of video games, New York is like a very large server, first person only, you know…It's like, bro, New York is like the hardest server to play the game on. It is. But the thing is, where else would you want to play?

It’s been some years since, and Chris Chance has become a staple of pop culture in New York City. Becoming a landmark, however, is just the beginning, and one that doesn’t happen without challenges, ideas, and major turning points.

Chris Chance: I felt like when I was younger, like, being a rapper was so far-fetched, it was so preposterous that I subconsciously put it into the back of my mind. But I didn't do all this other shit bro, to not go on stage and rap about my life. That's my number one dream. And it's so crazy being at this point right now. Like, I live a very weird double life. By day, I'm Christopher Chance: copywriter at Johannes Leonardo, you know, professional, mid-level copywriter. I'm starting to get in different fuckin' tax brackets and shit. Like two years ago, I was fucking poor. I had no money. Now I have, like, benefits and a 41k.

Chris Chance: Two years ago, I was homeless. I mean I could go home to my mom, you know, but I was in New York. I was working for this person that was a fucking supermodel. I was sleeping on her couch. I was basically doing all the stuff that I do right now in different sectors, but for one person and for five hundred a month and a free place to stay. It was traumatizing, to say the least, but at the same time, it was also extremely spiritual. Like I got to go to my first fashion show I ever went to, I’m backstage and I'm sitting there, my boss is talking to Bella Hadid, the people were asking me if I was a model because they're about to start my nails. I'm like, no, I’m just an assistant. I got to experience a lot of cool shit.

By night, Chris Chance is promoting parties hosted by different personalities, DJ’s, and friends among his network of talents. He’s also crafting his debut mixtape, album, and film. These are all journeys inspired by people, mainly the ones who aren’t doing much.

Chris Chance: The bar for male artists, especially rappers, is on the floor. Men don’t have to do shit. Renaissance is the best mainstream album I’ve heard in years. That album is a ten, in every category, and she had to do that and it’s still compared to artists that did like, half the fucking work. So I feel like, among male rappers, there hasn’t been a superstar, or someone bigger than Drake or Kendrick or Cole because…they're not doing enough. There’s rappers checking some boxes,

but there aren’t any checking nearly every single one. Beyoncé, Kanye West, Michael Jackson. Those are the standards. Graduation was a life changing project, from the music to the cover art, Takashi Murakami…it changed the way I perceived art. Whole new realms of art. Daft Punk is everything to me through Kanye. I loved Tyler when I was a kid and he put me onto Tame Impala.

“Who are your influences? Your Daft Punk and Tame Impala?”

Chris pauses to ponder and starts again: I feel like based on how I sound on this project…smarter Rocky, taller Kanye, artsy-Drake. That’s how I feel I’m giving it up when I’m talking, too. I’ll play you some stuff later.

Months after our talk in his apartment, Chris and I have reconnected in Williamsburg to talk about the upcoming projects he’s soon to let run across the city.

Chris Chance: 99 Cent Dreams is my first full-fledged project before madeintheurl. That’s the debut. It’s me kind of talking to myself:

I got a long of things to show the world but I ain’t ready yet

Baby steps

It all clicked when I heard [] Virgil died Them thoughts that’s in your head?

Get em out before you can’t

Boy you ain’t got no time…

Basically trying to encourage myself. Like how Issa Rae raps to the mirror in Insecure? Into the life of 24 year old Chris Chance. 99 Cent Dreams is me as a prophet, the one people learn about. Super main character motivation music. One of the lines in the intro, Rhetorical Question goes: how the fuck else y’all think this was gonna go? There’s no other way I could have gone than here. The whole tape is basically an audio visual card. I’m Chris Chance: the best rapper alive. If you don’t like me as a rapper, I’m the best director. If you don’t like me as the best director, I’m the best graphic designer. I’m going to do everything on this project. You’ll like something, and people’ll know me for that. Best case scenario is that people like the rapping. Because I like being a rapper. It’s fun. And I’m great at it. My dreams aren’t expensive, they aren’t out of reach. They’re right here.

We’re interrupted by a guy who was sitting near us for the duration of our talk. He greets us, tells us he’s leaving, and that he’s going to “let it all go.” “I’m a little mad. ‘Cause I already know how she is,” he explains. “you see how you two are vibing? She can’t do that.”

Chris Chance agrees with him: You just gotta let that shit go. Good luck, brother.

Chris then explains that he has no idea who the man is. “He just sat here and we started chatting.”

When Chris isn’t working on his craft, he’s scripting and producing product commercials. The credit goes directly to Chris Chance. It’s a steady stream of trending topics that appeal to the masses.

Chris Chance: I only do this to pay bills. I have no interest in this field.

“How do you balance copyrighting with madeintheurl?”

Chris chance: I'm still figuring it out. People look up to me. I have to be confident for them. Then, I could be balancing the whole entire world and I’ll get a “I need you to do something impossible in five minutes.” On top of all that, I’m a boyfriend. And I’m still a son. It’s a balancing act I’m figuring out. That’s why the last song on the album is called Chris Chance is Still Figuring It Out.

Later, Chris Chance shows me a photo of him on his phone. He’s behind a table with music equipment, in a wide hall with tall ceilings. “This is my job.” he laughs. “Why am I here?”

Chris’ day job has him working on commercials, advertisement agencies, the VMA’s, Adidas. His focus is getting the right idea for the right consumer.

I have a question Chris once named as his favorite question. “Are you Chris Chance?”

Chris Chance: The last time we talked, I don’t think I was Chris Chance yet.

“What’s different between then and now?”

Chris Chance: Money. I was talking to Swami Sound about it. I recognized him by his silhouette. I was like, bro, we’re getting up to the point where our money is up to where we can be ourselves. It felt so good to get clothes in my own size. Every single day I can have an edge up, have my hair braided, go to Supreme and buy some shit. That’s the perfect world I need to be in to be Chris Chance. I’m not obsessed with consumerism, but I’m Black, and being fly and being fresh is one of the most important parts of my identity. I have to express myself to be the ultimate version of who I am.

There are cycles to living. This magazine, lifetimes, and creativity skills all have seasonal cycles. It’s an inevitable symptom of being alive, and it seemed that Chris Chance had recently emerged from his last cycle, a time he explains was the reason he couldn’t rap, he couldn’t be the ultimate version of himself.

Chris goes on: I can be much more chill and relaxed when I’m not stressed the fuck out about being broke. Last year - not even last year - this last June I was making 40 dollars stretch the week. Now, I’ve been much more…you know…happy.

“Well, you’re living instead of surviving.”

Chris: Exactly. When that Supreme drop happened this season, I went in there and bought what I wanted. I didn’t go crazy. I didn’t splurge. And I went home and I still had bread! I get paid in a few days. I’m just getting up to the point of making money. And I’ve been telling y’all, y’all looking up to the wrong people. The people you look up to don’t be telling y’all they go through this shit. That’s why I love College Dropout so much. The music is real. Like yeah, you walk to the deli, I’m putting on the flyest fit ever. I’d much rather be transparent about it. At the end of the day, I’m giving you my real. People may not like everything about me but they’ll respect me because I’m real.

“How do you describe Chris Chance fashion?”

Chris: The better version of everyone else. My favorite brands, number 1 is Supreme. It’s corporate edginess, which is kind of my swag. It’s the highest level of streetwear, and that’s my shit, but I don’t only like streetwear. When I think of fashion in eras, I think I’m in Ye’s ‘04 all Polo era. That’s where I am right now. Eventually I’ll start getting more eclectic. In the wise words of A$AP Rocky: “Clothes getting weirder money get longer, pretty [] pin your hair up.” Like, when you start getting more money, clothes get weirder! My clothes are where my music is. Music is just…there’s so many directions I could go, but music is my wild card. Like when I play Uno I strategically play my hand so that my wild card is my final card. I try to position it so I can open every door, explore every option…through music. The best way to communicate my ideas and the world around me is through rap. It just…makes sense.

The Chris Chance brand is the cultural leader he’s found and connected to throughout the years. “I'm the dude that, anything I support, you should too because I have the golden touch.”

We talk about the appeal of Pisces placements, why Chris Chance is having fun hating on Tyler, the Creator, and why he waited to record and release his work.

Chris: It’s funny! We have the same signs in different placements. Leo/Pisces people are insane. But Tyler is very good at one thing many aren’t. He’s never missed on a commercial. Every commercial, even if I think the product is trash, I’m like GODDAMN [he] makes some shit look good! I didn’t want to put out a project after Internet Cowboy, it would have been really sad. It would have been very, very depressing music. There’s a song called Pain in the URL and it sucks. I put the demo out, people like it, but it’s like…I like making main-character, motivational music. The first time I heard Champion? There’s no way I could be where I am now if it wasn’t for Champion. Watch the Throne has that type of feeling too and its another album I’ve been studying. It’s a 10/10. I feel like it’s the utopia of Black capitalistic society that people thought was going to happen. What it [is] is Jay-Z getting hated every week ‘cause he’s out of touch. But I listen to that album a lot because it's interesting to hear what someone’s idealistic society is like.

It’s clear that Chris Chance’s adoration for world-building is where his focus and creativity come from. Hearing him talk, I can see the images and the future he projects with just words. There’s excitement in his voice and his body language, like someone who at any moment could spring up, pull out a camera, star in a film project, be the MC for a crowd that’s forming vigorously.

Chris Chance: The first madeintheurl show is exactly how I want my first concert to look. Liveintheurl. 200 people. It was Soho [], the dolls, the weird ones in-between. I’ll never forget opening the door and there were like 20 dolls asking “is the irl party?” and I was like, "yes!" I want to be the epicenter. I want people to come and know there’s nothing separating us. I’m figuring it out, I’m blending it all together.

Chris Chance fashion is all-encompassing. His music, references, and Spotify library is all-encompassing.

Chris: I’ve lived in the smallest town in Virginia, I now live in the biggest city in the world. I have lived on account doing this that and the third, I also have benefits and 41k. I’ve been to dirty ass underground parties and nice ass dinners in Soho House. I’ve seen people in both places, I see them in between. I’m smacked in the middle. I identify with everybody. I fuck with everybody. I want my music to be reflective of that. I don’t like people that don’t try. If you want to be the best possible version of yourself, come around me. If you don’t, if you want to be hating, stay the fuck over there.

“What’s next for Chris Chance?”

Chris Chance: Other than the music, other than work shit, I’m about to become a model. I’m making samples for the first season of URLien. I’m asking “why?” about a lot of my projects and figuring out those answers. Each year I want the identity of the brand to change. My season will be about growing up in the south, an Odd Future fan in a religious household, playing the DS while the pastor is preaching.

Chris shows me exclusive upcoming designs. There’s references to pop culture, appreciation for Black women, lively colors and stories.

Chris: We’re just having fun but we’re really crafting something we like, something authentic.

“Is there anything you want the world to know?”

Chris: That I’m the right choice.

“Is there anything you always wanted to be asked?”

Chris: “Have you always been this confident?” [Chris smiles] Because the answer is no! I might have always had the ingredients, but I never got something in the oven until now.

Chris shares a photo of him as a kid. His arms are embraced around his mom.

Chris: This is who I used to be, but I felt then the way I do now. I just couldn’t be myself then. I wasn’t convinced. I was scared to talk to girls, this that and the third, but…it comes with time. The stars are aligned now.

I’m nodding as I listen to him. There’s victory in his voice, and it's infectious.