On Aug. 12, for the 88th time, the Bud Billiken Parade hit the streets of Chicago. Considered to be the largest African-American parade in the country, over a million people came out to see a wonderful celebration of Chicagoland youth culture, featuring dance squads, drill teams, and marching bands. During the parade, grand marshal Chance the Rapper passed out over 30,000 backpacks to help local kids prepare for school, courtesy of his SocialWorks nonprofit and STATE Bags.
At the end of the parade, there was a surprise concert featuring Chance as well as Future and Jeremiah. At the concert, the crowd was treated to a videotaped speech from former grand marshal and one-time leader of the free world, President Barack Obama.
“I felt obliged to say congratulations to you for being a grand marshal,” Obama said. “You never know what might happen. The Bud Billiken Parade stands for so much of what the community is about,” he continued. He then thanked Chance for helping a community he served for many years. “Chance, I’m grateful for everything that you’ve done ... you are representing a kind of young people that come out of Chicago and change the world.”
In addition to giving thousands of backpacks to Chicago-area students, Chance the Rapper and SocialWorks have donated millions to improve the education system in the city. Chance’s work earned him the 2017 BET Humanitarian Award. “Chance has consistently used his musical platform to support a number of impactful educational, social and political initiatives — positively impacting both local and national communities,” BET said in a statement.