The song Chance The Rapper wrote on mushrooms: “Tripping balls”
Chance The Rapper recorded much of his early work on drugs. The title of his breakthrough mixtape, Acid Rap, says it all. There’s a song called ‘Acid Rain’, with other tracks ‘Chain Smoker’ and ‘Smoke Again’ revealing his weed habits. But one psychedelic drug fans might not know he’s taken is mushrooms, which inspired one of his best songs.
‘Cocoa Butter Kisses’ appears on Chance’s 2013 project and finds him rapping about becoming someone his mother hates. In the chorus, he raps, “Cigarettes on cigarettes, my mama think I stank/ I got burn holes in my hoodies, all my homies think it’s dank/ I miss my cocoa butter kisses.” The lyrics discuss the opposing views of his friends and family while reminiscing about his childhood days.
Chance once told Complex that he and Vic Mensa were “tripping balls” when they wrote the lyrics, and it was recorded on a “shitty mic.” Producer Cam O’bi, who did the song alongside Peter CottonTale, confirmed the drug they took was mushrooms. However, ‘Cocoa Butter Kisses’ initially had a completely different beat and name.
“Vic orchestrated that song, actually,” O’bi told DJBooth. “[Him and Chance] wrote that song before I even met them – they wrote it while they were on mushrooms. They did a voice memo recording of it originally to a totally different beat. It was called ‘Babies and Gun Shots (Fuck Hawaii)’. It had a meaning to it that they would have to explain to you. Like I said, they were tripping on mushrooms.”
However, things changed when Chance and Mensa discovered they were no longer allowed to use the production. So, they enlisted O’bi to turn it into something else. “They couldn’t use the beat because the dude who produced it already gave it away to another local rapper and didn’t want to give it to Chance,” he said. “Even at the time, I was like, ‘What?’ Because everybody knew he was about to blow up.”
The two rappers headed on tour and wanted O’bi to finish the beat by the time they came back. With just the vocals in his possession, he managed to deliver a gem, crediting the song as catapulting his career. He went on to produce for SZA, J Cole, Lil Wayne, Noname, and many other big names.
“When they came back, I played [the finished beat] for Chance and he lit up,” he explained. “He was so excited, he couldn’t contain himself. When I heard it, I was like, ‘This is a fucking hit.’ I thank all of them for that because it wouldn’t have been made without them. That came from us vibing together. Peter laid down the most important part to that shit, but they left it to me to make it work.”
Not only did the song include verses from Chance and Mensa, but fellow Chicago legend Twista was also recruited for a verse. As two rappers born and bred in the Windy City, it would have been a dream come true for them to collaborate with him, still at the beginning of their careers.