Found in the Inbox: Chance the Rapper Brings “Same Drugs” From Coloring Book to Video

“Same Drugs” was one of the quieter moments on Coloring Book, the 2016 mixtape that changed Chance the Rapper’s career, and its video gave the song a second life. Rive Video Promotion sent us the broadcast campaign, opening with a fond nod to “everyone’s favorite kit-kat eatin’ Chicago rapper.”

A career built on free mixtapes

The campaign leaned on a biography by David Jeffries of Rovi, published via Billboard, to tell the story. Chancelor Bennett had considered a music career throughout high school, and used a ten-day suspension during his senior year to record his debut mixtape, fittingly titled 10 Day. Uploaded straight to the internet in 2012, it caught the attention of Forbes, which featured it in its Cheap Tunes column, and of Childish Gambino, who invited Chance to open his 2012 US tour.

His breakthrough came with the 2013 mixtape Acid Rap, which featured Gambino, Ab-Soul and Action Bronson. Even with nothing but mixtapes to his name, he was a featured artist at Lollapalooza that year.

The Coloring Book moment

In 2016 Chance surprise-released Coloring Book. According to the same biography, it debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, featured Kanye West, Justin Bieber and Future, and produced the Top 40 single “No Problem” with Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz. The mixtape earned high praise from critics and helped Chance earn seven Grammy nominations.

Rive presented “Same Drugs” as the latest single from the mixtape and sent the official video to broadcast programmers, alongside the reminder that Coloring Book was “available now everywhere.”

Why it was in the inbox

Few careers show the reach of the free-mixtape model as clearly as this one: from a tape recorded during a school suspension to the Billboard 200 and seven Grammy nominations, with nothing but mixtapes in the catalog.

Watch the official video

Campaign from Rive Video Promotion; biography quoted from David Jeffries, Rovi, via Billboard.