In 2016, Chance the Rapper put out Coloring Book (an album of the year candidate), released the best verse of the year (and his career), reached a completely new level of fame (he performed on SNL twice in one year), and received critical accolades that put him in the conversation with the best out (SEVEN Grammy nominations, without a label). By all measures, we shouldn't expect more from him at the moment. And yet.

Chance is a productive guy. In December, he dropped a completely unexpected Christmas album with Jeremih, seemingly just for fun. In 2015, he helped put together Surf, the collaborative album from his crew, the Social Experiment, seemingly just to put his friends (and grandma) on. Now, in an interview with BBC1's DJ Semtex, Chance is talking about his debut album: "I don't know exactly the format every time when I'm making something, but a lot of times, I have an idea, and I think what I'm working on right now is an album."

What an album means after a "mixtape" as fully realized Coloring Book is a mystery. After he proved himself to be one of the best doing it last year, we can't wait to find out what Chance has in store next. —Brendan Klinkenberg