Minnesota State Fair The Subject Of 2024 Grandstand Performer’s New Song

Heading into the start of the 2024 Great Minnesota Get-together, I wrote a piece about how one of the Grandstand performances was going to be extra special this year.

Of the nearly two weeks' worth of nightly performances, the second show of the fair was a unique one.

A show unlike the rest at the 2024 Minnesota State Fair

Chance the Rapper headlined the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand on Friday, August 23. The show was one of only a very small number of live performances he had done this year, and was by far the largest to date, with no other ones on the schedule.

Leading up to the fair, the Minnesota State Fair performance was the only show listed on his website. Even after that, he has no other shows announced. That, by itself, is unique. All of the other acts at the Grandstand are on tours, whereas this was a hand-picked one-off show.

In an interview leading up to the fair, Chance the Rapper had some nice things to say about the fair, commenting “I hear it’s the state fair. Texas has a big one, too. But if you are going to play a state fair, Minnesota is the one to play, right?” Besides headlining in 2024, he had previously served as an opening act to Macklemore in 2013 at the fair.

As it turned out, the most unique show wasn't exactly the highest-attended show, but fans still turned out for the performance and he ended up with a song about it all.

Among the songs he performed during this only major show on his calendar this year was a new song called "3333", which actually talks, largely, about the show he performed at. How meta is that?

Chance the Rapper's new song "3333" and Minnesota State Fair references explained

The new song "3333" was officially released as a streaming single on August 30, but Chance the Rapper hasn't specified whether or not it will be included on his new album "Star Line Gallery", which he is finishing up.

The performance at his August 23 headlining date at the Minnesota State Fair is not only a sizable part of the song, but it also plays heavily into the visuals in a music video he dropped for the song.

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The song walks through the struggles he's faced throughout his career, playing for small crowds but just enjoying sharing his passion and performing for the fans who showed up, regardless of the crowd size. That's where the Minnesota State Fair comes in.

The conclusion to the song "3333" talks about the number of tickets sold for his headlining show at the 2024 Great Minnesota Get-together.

Now, this isn't the exact final ticket number, but it does play into his recurring use of his favorite number 3 as part of his brand.

Referring to it as a "loose recounting" of the details behind the show, the lyrics explain the situation, saying:

3,333
That's how many tickets people paid to come and see
Your boy front and center Minnesota State Fair
The agents blowing up my brother, said "It ain't there"
The venue hold 14,000
At this point you should probably think of pulling out and
What they gon' say when videos coming out
Saying "He was on the top but he fell from the mountain"

The lyrics go on to discuss advice from people around him about being worried about the optics of a bunch of empty seats at a show before he declares "Man, I don't give a f**k" and pivots back to the ongoing theme of the song about his love for sharing his art with whoever wants to enjoy it.

At the end, he once again shouts out the Minnesota State Fair, saying:

Shout out to the Minnesota State Fair
Cancelling tickets ain't fair
But I'll be there

According to the Star Tribune, the actual ticket total was 4,110 for the show - a little more than the 3,333 mentioned in the song. Despite the crowd being on the smaller side, fans reportedly had a good time and Chance put on a good show.

The Star Tribune even reports that he commented to the crowd about the opportunity to cancel after low ticket sales, saying "I want you to know that whole ticketing thing, I’d perform for one of y’all."

Here's that video I mentioned, which has a lot of footage of Chance around the Minnesota State Fair.