After winning a Best New Artist Grammy earlier tonight, Chance the Rapper just snagged his second Grammy, for Best Rap Album. In his acceptance speech, Chance talked about the importance of remaining an independent artist, and others who had done it before him. Then, where other musicians might have thanked their labels, Chance name-checked a streaming service: “Shout out to SoundCloud for holding me down,” he said.
Although SoundCloud has recently taken some heat from some musicians upset with the service’s aggressive takedown policies, it’s always been a platform that favored younger, greener artists over more established ones. All of Chance’s mixtapes, including his first-ever tape, 10 Day, are available to listen to for free on SoundCloud.
The Best Rap Album win was for Chance’s most recent album, Coloring Book, which he released last year as an Apple Music exclusive. It is, however, also available on SoundCloud.
