The CaPC 25 Episode 21: Chance the Rapper’s ‘Coloring Book’, ‘Dark Souls III’, And ‘Firewatch’

Chance the Rapper and his album Coloring Book square off against the duo of video games Firewatch and Dark Souls III for the 23rd slot in our growing list for 2016. Jonathan and Sarah are joined by first time guests Nathan Valle and Andrew Whitworth for this hysterical and somewhat politically incorrect episode of The CaPC 25.

Listen to The CaPC 25 Episode 21:

Coloring Book is the third mixtape from this 23-year-old Chicago rapper that Andrew thinks is a burst of light in a summer increasingly consumed by death and cynicism. It’s mix of horns, gospel choir, and Chicago dance-hall music. It is also explicitly Christian. Chance’s theology seems surface level at first, but is robustly filled out on closer listening. In a world where talk of “blessing” has been reduced to a meaningless hashtag, Chance reclaims its use, challenging listeners to find joy and gratitude among life’s complexities.

Dark Souls III is the final entry in the trilogy of games whose hash tag is #preparetodie. Death is an almost certain fact when you enter the dreary world of Dark Souls and realize how small and insignificant you are in the face of a world steeped in greed and corruption that has tangible effects. Dark Souls III, like the games before it, conveys our inability to change the judgment rendered in a fractured and hopeless reality. It is a reminder that while the law has come to judge, we desperately need another to stave the death that so easily ensnares.

Fire watch is also making a return to the show with a different aspect. Jonathan argues that the game’s metaphor for digital relationships in a pre-digital 80’s environment forces the cynic of digital only relationships to revaluate the influence these relationships can have on a person. The game puts the player in an isolated forrest with only the voice of his supervisor in his radio and during the entire experience they do not meet but the impact each has on the other is profound and moving.

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You can follow Jonathan and Sarah on Twitter: @AlphaBovine and @s_d_kelly
You can follow Andrew and Nathan on Twitter: @ac_whit and @natesemporium

The CaPC 25 for 2016:

• me_IRL (subreddit)
• That Dragon Cancer (Video Game)
• The X-Files (TV)
• The Witness (Video Game)
• Darkest Dungeon (Video Game)
• The People vs. OJ Simpson (TV)
• Better Call Saul (TV)
• The Golden State Warriors (NBA Team)
• The Art of Organized Noize (Movie)
• Driverless Cars
• Christianity Today’s The Church
• Beyoncé 2016
• You Are What You Love by by James K. A. Smith (Book)
• Vinland Saga (Comic)
• Star Wars Rebels (TV)
• Muhammad Ali (Person)
• Lin-Manuel Miranda (Celebrity)
• Bill Cunningham
• Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
• Jesse Williams Speech @ BET Awards 2016
• Pokémon Go (Video Game)
• Stranger Things