Fans of one of rap music’s biggest stars Chance the Rapper are raving in the twittersphere after the Grammy-award winning tweeted what many thought was a single Filipino word.
Chance tweets ‘Wala’
A tweet from the Chicago-based artist containing the word ‘wala’, Filipino for ‘nothing’, has gone viral. As expected, the joke bandwagon has been hijacked by Filipinos.
Some have recalled one of the greatest moments in Philippine cinema, while some have vented their rainy woes on the unassuming musician.
And because one word can mean so many things, Filipinos are showing how the tweet also brutally answers their problems.
The 25 year-old rapper whose given name is Chancelor Allan Bennet gained worldwide acclaim when his second mixtape Acid Rap released in 2012 became a hit with hiphop critics.
It was downloaded over 1.5 million times from DatPiff.com, a website that compiles free mixtapes from hiphop and rap artists.
However, it was his 2016 mixtape Coloring Book that gave Bennet the fame and prestige usually reserved for the legends and veterans in the industry.
The mixtape debuted at the number eight spot in the US Billboard 200 chart and won Best Rap Album in the 2017 Grammy Awards.
Praise for Bennet comes from his use of Christian themes in his lyrics and preference for Jazz and piano-influenced melodies over traditional rap and hip-hop beats.
Outside of his music, his popularity with fans stems largely from his down-to-earth image and disavowal of the misogyny, vice and violence often associated with the rap industry.
Bennet is scheduled to perform in the Philippines for the first time on August 22, 2018, at the Mall of Asia Arena.