Chance the Rapper has come a long way from having his baseball caps confiscated in high school. The Windy City rapper made $6 million in a single year off his own headwear line. Since returning to The Voice coaching panel for Season 25, the “Brain Cells” artist hasn’t appeared onscreen without his signature “3” hat. The GRAMMY winner has opened up on the symbolism behind his headwear.
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So What’s With Chance the Rapper’s “3” Hat?
Chance originally wanted to rep his third project, the 2016 mixtape Coloring Book. After struggling to find just the right words, the 30-year-old ultimately decided to keep it simple.
“I just thought that that made the most sense because it was the third project,” the Acid Rap artist said. “Also, I was having a lot of trouble figuring out what the title of the project was going to be and what typography to put the title in.”
The mixtape’s original title was The Magnificent Coloring Book, Chance said. “But that’s just so many words and it looks so s***ty, no matter how I put it on the hat.”
The rapper (real name: Chancelor Bennett) also integrated faith and family into the hat’s meaning. “I’ve rationalized it to myself that it stands for the third mixtape, the holy trinity, and the three-pronged family of myself, my daughter, and my girl,” he said.
Of course, this was before Chance and wife Kirsten Corley welcomed their second daughter, Marli, in September 2019. Their older daughter, Kensli, was born four years earlier, in September 2015.
“3” could also refer to the trio of GRAMMY Awards Chance has under his belt. All of those trophies came in 2017, when the “No Problem” rapper took home Best New Artist, Best Rap Album and Best Rap Performance.
Chance Says Fellow Coach Reba McEntire Keeps Him In Line
According to Chance, the show might not go on if not for The Voice coach Reba McEntire. The rapper recently revealed how much he appreciates the Queen of Country’s “motherly vibe.”
[RELATED: ‘The Voice’ Coach Reba McEntire Creates Hilarious New Dance With Chance The Rapper]
“She’s keeping the show in order because you know me and John (Legend) be arguing,” Chance said during a Feb. 26 appearance on Today. “So, she’s just there to keep us in control.”
Featured image by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for SXSW Sydney
