Was it a prayer or a curse?
Chancelor Johnathan Bennett, known professionally as Chance the Rapper, didn't know exactly what his grandmother meant when she offered him an astonishing prayer one day.
In an interview with GQ magazine, Chance revealed that one day during the time when he was still doing drugs, he went to his grandma's house in Chicago only to be greeted by a stern-looking face.
Chance's popularity as a young hip hop artist was on the rise at that time, but his grandmother seemed not impressed at all.
"I don't like what's going on. I can see it in your eyes. I don't like this. We're gonna pray," she told him.
She then spoke out loud, "Lord, I pray that all things that are not like You, You take away from Chance. Make sure that he fails at everything that is not like You. Take it away. Turn it into dust."
Chance was dumbfounded. "I'm thinking, like, damn, I don't even know if God likes rap! You know what I'm saying? Is she praying that I fail at everything I'm trying to do?" he said.
Also at that time, the hip hop recording artist learned that his unborn daughter had been diagnosed with a heart problem.
He decided to accept his grandma's prayer, realising that it's the push he needed to make his way back to God.
His baby's health problems also prompted Chance to "pray a whole lot." He was eventually rewarded when his daughter Kinsley Bennett was born without health complications in 2015, according to God Reports.
A few months later, Chance decided to turn his life around for good. In February 2016, he tweeted, "Today's the last day of my old life, last day smoking cigs. Headed to church for help. All things are possible thru Christ who strengthens me."
More blessings from God followed. In May 2016, Chance released his third mixtape, "Coloring Book," which streamed 57.3 million times in just its first week alone exclusively over Apple Music.
In the album, Chance showed his newfound faith in God, with his inclusion of Christian thoughts and candid admission of sins like lust, addiction and pride in some of the tracks.
In "Blessings," he proudly sings, "I'm going to praise Him, praise Him 'til I'm gone, good God!" and "When the praises go up, the blessings come down."
With "Coloring Book," Chance won the 2016 BET Hip Hop Award for Best Mixtape, BET Hip Hop Award for Best New Hip Hop Artist and Soul Train Music Award for Best New Artist.
