On first listen, Chance The Rapper sounds annoying. A stark contrast from the grizzled seen-it-all mutterers who make up his Chicago-rap-teenager peer group, Chance is a yammerer, a nasal and nervous fast-talker beset with voice-cracks and jittery tics, a young man desperate for your attention. The key to Chance comes when you learn that his annoyance-factor is a huge part of his appeal. He’s an adolescent Kendrick Lamar, if someone tripled the sugar content in his cereal — a smart kid who just can’t wait to tell you all the stuff he’s been thinking about. And as a product of one of America’s most dangerous cities, his pathos has real stakes. On Acid Rap, his insights come fast and loose, as Chance jumps and skips and dives and plays hide-and-seek through a playground of airy, wide-open, sunkissed, jazz-dazzled instrumentals. Real nasty Twista verse on “Cocoa Butter Kisses,” too. –Tom [LISTEN]