Kanye West (left) and Chance The Rapper have contributed to each other’s albums. (Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
You might think being in the studio with Kanye West is a drag due to his famous rants, but for Chance The Rapper, it was inspiring.
“[It’s] insanity,” Chance told Teen Vogue for its June 2017 music issue. “Twenty-five percent of it is productive ideas flowing and then 75 percent is lectures from Kanye, where he tells you exactly how he views the world — just very straight Kanye, honesty that definitely gets your creativity and strong opinions out on the floor. I think it helped me find myself.
“I’m a young dude from Chicago who grew up with Kanye as my image of hip-hop. Finding your voice in a room where you have to challenge Kanye is scary — but it’s also life-affirming.”
The MCs met in 2014, but they only began crafting music together two years later, with Chance being heavily involved with West’s “The Life of Pablo” and West lending his hand to Chance’s third mixtape, “Coloring Book.”
West’s creativity wasn’t just limited to Chance’s session. To get the best ideas possible for an album, West likes to have several people involved.
“He’s very big on multitasking,” Chance said. “We’ll have a studio rented out and he’ll bounce between rooms working on different songs, writing for a second or adding or subtracting productions. He’ll also put a bunch of people in a room that he thinks might have good ideas and try to see what they come up with.”
Since the release of “Coloring Book,” Chance has not slowed down on the music front. He’s gearing up to shoot the video for Chicago musician Jamila Woods’ single “LSD,” on which the rapper is featured.
True to his generous ways, Chance is using the project as a way to help his hometown by giving high school-aged filmmakers a chance to compete to create a concept.
ATTENTION CPS STUDENT FILMMAKERS pic.twitter.com/0u9fR0yX1W
— Lil Chano From 79th (@chancetherapper) May 23, 2017
