Designer Michael Apostolos, Principal of Chicago-based Fourline Creative was Production and Lighting Designer for Chance The Rapper’s series of one-off shows celebrating the 10th anniversary of his 2013 breakthrough mixtape “Acid Rap.” These included a homecoming show at the United Center in Chicago, followed by nights at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and Los Angeles’ Kia Forum. Apostolos described the essence of his design, which gives the artist “a single spotlight that just allows him to be there, raw in his emotions, close to the audience so they can feel like they’re a part of that moment.”
“We’ve been working together for over a decade, so I do have a pretty good sense of the general style in which he wants to go, but it always starts with a conversation with him, some back and forth calls or texts,” Apostolos says. “I ask Chance to paint me a broad picture of what he wants to achieve. He wanted this to be celebratory, big, impactful, but also have some key moments…A lot of songs in ‘Acid Rap’ are moody,” Apostolos adds. “It’s like Chance in his own head, or Chance experiencing real intimate emotional moments. That’s why I specifically designed that smaller thrust, to get Chance away from everyone, away from the band, away from the video wall, away from the production.”
From “Inside the Design” by Michael S. Eddy, PLSN, Oct. 2023, page 38
