Chicago has a whole lot of amazing people working in music right now, and while all of them deserve recognition, it wasn't necessarily expected that a rapper would be given the title of Chicagoan Of The Year. Luckily, Chicago Mag knows what they're talking about, and have named Chance The Rapper as one of the most important people in his city, among four other figures (Chance will be the one on the cover, though).
Chance didn't technically release an album this year, but he did serve as something of an executive producer and regular guest vocalist on Donnie Trumpet and The Social Experiment's SURF, one of the year's most impressive projects. He also does his best to give back to the city, organizing a free music festival for Chicago teens over the summer, hosting open-mike shows, and running the #SaveChicago anti-violence social media campaign.
You can read the full piece here, and watch a behind-the-scenes shoot below. Congrats to Chance!