Chicago’s own Chance The Rapper stopped by The Joe Budden Podcast With Rory & Mal to speak on his engagement with his longtime partner, his eagerly expected album with Kanye West, and his relationship with the controversial superstar. The two-hour interview touched on sexuality and racism while discussing the idea of an independent artist.
Check out the five top moments in this interview and listen to the full interview below.
Chance’s joint album with Kanye West:
“The project has been something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time,” referencing his upcoming collaboration album Good A** Job with Kanye West. “I don’t think it’s like Kanye’s thing, you know what I mean, he’s about to drop Yandhi.” Chance goes on to admit that the pair has yet to even begin production for the highly-anticipated album they announced Sept. 17, so that there may be a wait. “This is going to be his return to a sound that basically birthed my sound, and my chance to work with the greatest living artist, musically.”
Whether or not Chance qualifies as an “independent” artist:
Chance’s presentation as being an independent artist has been a point of contention for Joe Budden since he was a host on Everyday Struggle, and this was an opportunity for the two to talk about the issue face to face. Between jokes from Budden and his co-hosts, Chance gave his definition of independent: “to me, it means an artist’s ability to own their masters, to own their publishing, to work everything in-house and create their own team.” Budden expressed that the Acid Rap artist received “preferential treatment” from a major corporation like Apple, which wasn’t consistent with the spirit of how he defines an independent artist. Chance insisted Apple’s marketing push does not mean that he does not qualify as independent.
Chance’s relationship with Kanye West:
When asked about the Kanye’ West’s notorious love for Trump, Chance admitted to disagreeing with the 41-year-olds actions but maintained that he has nothing but love for his mentor. “Kanye has said it before, but I think he thinks like for every move at least for the past few albums, he thinks about himself like 300 years in the future and how people will read things, and figures himself as trying to create a bigger blip on the long timeline. A lot of other people will be stuck in a very small space of where their art reaches or where their thoughts reach after they have died. I think he does a lot of stuff for the attention of the masses to get that stuff documented and made into history. But I think also a lot of times, the attention he may be seeking is at the immediate detriment of some people who may need the attention more.”
Chance said he was offered the same Apple Deal As Drake:
Following the impassioned discussion about what it means to be independent, Chance gave the podcast hosts insight into the deal he had been offered before he became a household name. “The whole Drake Apple deal, which I feel like is closer to what you think my s**t is (for the album Coloring Book), was offered to me first. Drake had a deal with with Apple for a long time, where he was their main artist and he put up a couple projects on [Apple Music] for exclusives. And they gave him way more money than they gave me, but I get it Drake’s a way bigger artist than me. They offered me a long time ago to do two projects with them and it would have been Surf and Coloring Book but they wanted a solo Chance project and I didn’t have that at the time.” Surf, Chance’s album with Donnie Trumpet and their band The Social Experiment, ended up being the first album to be offered for free in Apple’s iTunes store, but Chance missed out on the blockbuster deal. He struck a different partnership instead: $500,000 for two weeks of Apple exclusivity for Coloring Book.
Choosing not to pursue acting:
Bennett, who has appeared in films alongside Atlanta’s Zazie Olivia Beetz in Slice, talked about his take on the movie industry. When he was asked about taking other roles he shut it down saying, “I’m done with that s**t now, at least for the time being” he said. “Sitting on a set, in a trailer waiting to like shoot some s**t, then you shoot it three times then they’re like alright we gotta move the camera, wait 30 Minutes and then shoot those lines again, it’s just too fake for me.”