Chris Crack remains true to his successful method

In any form of entertainment, there are going to be players who do things their way. They don’t care for the industry standards, they have their own way of doing things and are damn good at what they do. Hip-hop has produced many of these people, one of them being Chicago rapper, Chris Crack. While he has the makings of being the stereotypical rapper with his upbringing and place of residence, he doesn’t let that define him and just decides to write about whatever he is feeling with a dash of humor. That approach brought him attention in 2018, the year he released six critically acclaimed albums. This past year, he released five. Now kicking off 2021, Chris hands listeners, Might Delete Later, the debut album under the Fool’s Gold label. He brings in humor, self-awareness and 15 not-so-average song titles.

The album opens up with “If She Ain’t 280 She Ain’t a Lady.” Vocals take up the intro of the track before a lo-fi saxophone centered beat appears, his flow matching the melody of the saxophone well. “False Evidence Appearing Real” comes as the first single for the album with the music video having dropped January 22. Over the simple electric guitar, piano and drum beat, he lets out what he sees around him, questioning it at moments. With what sounds to be a telephone effect with some reverb, “Fapping Ruined My Life” is a real braggadocious track. The effects in his voice are almost reminiscent of a Danny Brown track. “Raw Sex as Friends” comes as a hype song to the album. With a more trap infused production, the line, “give me head not no headache,” helps sets the tone for the rest of the track.

Following that is “Trill is an Onomatopoeia,” featuring J. Arthur and King Rozzie. This track brings more of an R&B vibe to it. J. Arthur’s vocals in particular sound like they could’ve fit perfectly on ILoveMakonnen’s “Tuesday.” King Rozzie’s voice smooths over the track well, providing a verse and background vocals. Another R&B sounding track is “Poisonous Paragraphs,” featuring Cantbuydream. Coming as the longest song on the album at three minutes and 15 seconds, the production remains very simple with a drum pattern and guitar. Cantbuydream’s deep voice comes as a contrast to Chris’ as he raps about his experience on the streets. Chris Crack takes hold of the chorus and sings the echoing line, “if you got it, you got it…You just let me know.” His own verse focusing on the systems around him that are putting down people from being able to grow and succeed.

Attention shifts focus to synths on “Creampies Are Consensual” featuring Lil Keisha. The catchy chorus dominates the track. He brags about his accolades and his experience meeting this girl. Lil Keisha’s raunchy verse boasts confidence in herself as she matches Chris’ energy. The two come together again for the final track, “Gut Feelings Just Guardian Angels.” A skit appears at the beginning before the words “let me know if you’re feeling me,” which are repeated over a drum and synth pattern. Lil Keisha tries to convince the person to focus on her and not worry about anyone else; she wants to have them all to herself. Meanwhile, Crack doesn’t even know where his heart is and isn’t really focused on that. He ends the album with “ain’t nobody finna tell me nothing,” which sums up him as a person.

Chris Crack isn’t a typical artist where the songs have to reach a certain time length, their titles need to have a meaning or the album needs to be this perfect piece of art. When it comes to writing songs, finding titles for them and even coming up with a concept for an album, he has his own method. For him he says, “I just like shit to be free…it’s going to remind me of the time…It’s like a key for me.” With songs’ lengths, he just wants to “fuck the streaming industry,” hence why not even a third of the songs on the album hit over three minutes. He is in a field of his own, musically and strategically, where he is constantly outdoing what he did before. Might Delete Later is a perfect example of that.