Things To Do |

Chance the Rapper interview: Special Olympics headliner has new music on the way

It’ll be a busy week for Chance the Rapper. He’s finishing up the follow-up album to his Grammy-winning 2016 release “Coloring Book,” which he says will be out in a few days. He’s preparing to begin work on another album with Kanye West this month in Chicago. And he’s producing and headlining a major multiact charity event, the Special Olympics 50th Anniversary concert Saturday at Northerly Island.

The rapper, born Chancellor Bennett 25 years ago in Chicago, has turned his career into a series of intersecting artistic and civic projects, a tradition that has been part of the city’s musical fabric for decades. The Staple Singers marched with Martin Luther King Jr., Curtis Mayfield wrote anthems that became the soundtrack of the civil rights movement, Common has formed a foundation for underprivileged youths alongside his musical and acting careers, and Jamila Woods is an educator and executive at Young Chicago Authors besides being an acclaimed poet, performer and songwriter.

“I look up to Mavis Staples and Common, and especially Curtis Mayfield in terms of my life, in the way he talked about revolution,” Chance says. “It’s part of my family — my own great-grandmother marched with King. As a family we felt like we were supposed to be part of the community. My dad made me read about Jesus as a kid. The way I was raised and the way I understand the world, you have an impact being alive and being around people, and an obligation to make it as beneficial as possible to everyone around you.”

His alignment with certain civic causes often has a personal connection: donating $1 million to Chicago schools (he was a Chicago Public Schools student), sponsoring regular open-mic events for teen artists at the Chicago Cultural Center (where he developed his craft as a teenager), leading a march of fans at one of his concerts to an early voting site during the last presidential election (his father has been an adviser to two Chicago mayors and President Barack Obama).

His commitment to Special Olympics is no different.

“I haven’t done as much work as possible with the intellectual and physical disabilities community,” he says. “But overall we’ve been about access, just trying to make sure everyone is given their chance at greatness. And greatness isn’t something segregated. When I looked into the history of the Special Olympics, that it started here 50 years ago and how many (Special Olympics) athletes we have in Chicago — 7,000 — I felt we should be a part of it.”

The idea merged with the launch of his own production company, Social Function Production, with his concert lighting designer, Michael Apostolos, who was still attending St. Patrick High School when he first started working with the then-relatively unknown rapper a few years ago. It’s the latest facet to a growing, self-contained operation that has made Chance one of the most successful independent artists in the digital era.

It enables him to book shows and write and record music on his own timetable rather than working for a multinational corporation. At the same time, he’s not averse to striking one-off deals with companies if they can help him achieve certain goals. In 2016 he gave Apple Music exclusive rights to distribute “Coloring Book” for two weeks in exchange for $500,000 and a promotional TV commercial. Chance would say only that his new album will be out this week, not how it would be made available. He prefers to keep his options open.

“I’ve never been against selling music,” he says. “Music has value. I put my music out there for free because I wanted people to see and notice it as a beacon for what I’m doing, in terms of how unorthodox I wanted my approach and my delivery of each piece of music to be. On the other side, it’s not really difficult for me to make music and deliver it to the fans, because there are so many more platforms now, a bunch of streaming sites. The bigger concern for artists now is navigating the legal issues of owning your music, your publishing, your distribution. It has been difficult for me to release music with artists who work with the majors. A lot of stuff I’ve worked on hasn’t come out since ‘Coloring Book’ because it’s hard” when collaborating with artists limited by record deals.

The musical drought may be ending, though. “I got that feeling when people do something that has a new feel to it,” he says of his new album. “I’m excited for everybody to get that. It’s going to come out just in time for the Special Olympics.” (Editor’s note: Chance the Rapper announced via Twitter July 17 the album would not be released in time for the event.)

His long-discussed collaboration with West may also be closer to reality, he says. They “casually” worked on two songs a few weeks ago while Chance visited West in Jackson Hole, Wyo., where West was completing a series of albums for himself and artists such as Pusha T and Kid Cudi.

“We’re up in the mountains around these wild animals — it’s very different out there — and we got some music done, and then he asked me if he could do an album with me,” Chance says. “I don’t know of a timeline on it yet, the trajectory of it, but he’s coming here to work on it some more. We’ve just started making it, but I don’t want to manipulate the situation and impose any time frame, because that can hinder you.”

At the time of their Wyoming collaboration, West was feeling the backlash from fans about comments he made in support of President Donald Trump. Chance, though not a Trump supporter, defended West when he wrote on Twitter that “black people don’t have to be Democrats.”

“I think what Kanye has done successfully is speak his mind unapologetically, come under fire for it and bounce back in an awesome way,” Chance says. “That is his dance that he has been doing forever. We had a little conversation about it and we don’t have the same politics, we’re not the same dude, we might disagree. I know the same thing goes for all black people — we’re not monolithic. Because of our disenfranchisement in this country it’s perceived that we have to serve one party, one movement, and that’s just not the way it is.

“I responded the way I did because I was watching people go crazy on someone who is a mentor, a friend, an older brother. Plus, I understand as a Chicago resident about how f—– up all political parties are.”

By speaking out, artists — and especially artists of color — put themselves at risk. And for many young black men in Chicago, every day holds the threat of violent death. One of Chance’s friends, rapper Rodney Kyles Jr., was stabbed to death in 2011. Another friend, Kevin Ambrose, was shot to death while waiting at an “L” stop in 2013, prompting Chance to tweet, “I’m scared I will die in Chicago from gun violence. … We’re not supposed to be dying like this.”

These circumstances led Kendrick Lamar to speak out at his United Center concert in 2017 when he brought Chance on stage. “Forever you must protect Chance,” Lamar said.

“I understood what he was saying,” Chance says. “It’s a reality. I’ve known Kendrick since 2012. He’s been very instrumental in my life and he understands that my place in the industry from an anti-establishment perspective can put me in danger. It’s not like he’s protecting me from a hit, but where I stand with my faith, where I stand on police, equality, it can make me a target.”

Yet Chance says he’s never been in a better place than he is now. A few years ago he acknowledged that he felt like he was in “limbo.” He was still “figuring it out” as a 22-year-old trying to forge a career and build a family after the birth of his daughter, Kensli, with his girlfriend, Kirsten Corley. The couple recently announced their engagement.

“Being a dad changed (my) approach to everything,” he says. “It’s made everything a lot stronger. It’s built on a foundation of marriage, which just closed my family up. I’m more confident in everything I’m doing. I feel I know how the story will end, so I can write it way better, so there is no misunderstanding.”

Chance the Rapper with Usher, Francis & the Lights, Smokey Robinson, Daya, Jason Mraz, O.A.R.; 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island, 1300 S Linn White Drive, sold out; www.livenation.com.