Happening Now: 20-Year-Old Chance the Rapper is In Sights of Nearly Every Label

In high school, Chance the Rapper was the kid with the backpack full of CDs, foisting his latest mixtape on unsuspecting classmates. Now he plays coy in meetings with major labels, biding his time while big numbers and grand schemes are discussed casually over pizza. On April 30, his newest release "Acid Rap" was downloaded 50,000 times overnight, according to his team. But even before then, the emergent rapper from Chicago had already flown to New York and Los Angeles at the behest of Columbia, Republic, Def Jam, RCA, Atlantic, Interscope, Shady and Capitol, among others.