We should probably all get ready for Chance The Rapper to start wearing a “4” hat everywhere. Maybe. Hopefully. Last year, there were lots of reports that Chance The Rapper would release an album — or maybe a Kanye West-produced EP — without much warning. That didn’t happen. Instead, Chance released a few isolated batches of singles. (The last two songs, “The Man Who Has Everything” and “My Own Thing,” came out in November.) But now it looks like we’ll really get a new Chance album this year. And we have five months to prepare ourselves.

Last night, Chance tweeted one word: “July.” And his manager Pat Corcoran followed with a slight clarification: “CHANCE ALBUM. JULY.” That seems pretty cut-and-dried! Plans tend to change quickly in rap music, but that’s about as official as it gets. And it means Chance is leaving himself a long runway rather than doing the thing most of his peers are doing these days, releasing an album only a week or two after announcing it.

July

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) February 12, 2019

CHANCE ALBUM.
JULY. https://t.co/zUuBuDqbYY

— THE YOUNG PATAWAN (@patthemanager) February 12, 2019

That’ll be more than three years after the release of Coloring Book, the last Chance album. Rap has gone through seismic changes since then. It’ll be fascinating to see how Chance’s sunny, positive-vibes style will fit into the present landscape, or how Chance will adjust his style to meet that landscape. Some Chance backlash has set in since his universally-beloved days, and he was last in the news for apologizing for his R. Kelly associations. But Chance has made some truly great music in recent years, and there’s no reason to believe he can’t do it again.

this my 1st album so its really good

— Chance Owbum 📅 (@chancetherapper) February 12, 2019

I got real famous so I gotta lotta eyes on me that wasn’t fans of me they just fans of whats popular. My first album is for my fans.

— Chance Owbum 📅 (@chancetherapper) February 12, 2019