Chance the Rapper Makes History, Brings the Fun Back to SNL with His Performance of "Somewhere in Paradise" & "Sunday Candy"

Seeing one of your favorite artists win in some aspect of their life is always gratifying. You feel like their success is your success. You want nothing more than that artists' greatness to be witnessed by as many people as possible, and that's exactly how I was feeling watching Chance the Rapper on Saturday Night Live last night.

The SNL episode (which was one of the funnier episodes in a long time) featured Chance with Donnie Trumpet and The Social Experiment as the performers, and let me be the one to say that they dazzled last night. Not only did Chance unveil a great new song "Somewhere in Paradise" with Jeremih, but he used the stage to make a few statements and treat the performance like his last. The first performance of "Somewhere in Paradise" was great. Chance exhibited high energy. There were these grand jazzy gospel sounds created between the band and the background singers, while Chance's preachy vocals kept the performance fun but heartfelt. I saw the happiness in the Chicago artists' face and that made me happy. Chance is the first independent artist to ever perform on the show. He made history last night and I'm glad that it happened in my lifetime. The entire strength of the performance grew as it went on, Jeremih came out and slowed up the pace of "Somewhere in Paradise". Giving the performance a more personal feeling, the trumpets and trombone became a bit more pronounced and Chance broke out in dance, sending the energy out the roof. He ended it on a high note with all the attention squarely on him and I loved it. There have been a lot of boring performances on SNL but that first set definitely was not one of them.

Chancelor's second set didn't stop impressing. He performed a calmer rendition of "Sunday Candy" that made me see the song in a whole new light. I saw the song as a love piece, a Christmas anthem, a ballad that can truly be passed down through the generations. The performance again had the gospel elements with the vocals, but this time had violin in the mix, making it orchestral. The brass section kept it jazzy, the music was lively, organized and above all, fun. Together SOX is killing it out here and as an independent, Chance is in a lane that's all his own. It was a great performance that made me wish I could have been there, but just writing about it, sharing it with you guys and having the video is more than enough.

Check out the full set below.

Lead Photo Creds: hypetrak.com/okayplayer.com

Video Cred: nbc.com