Chance The Rapper: "I Never Really Liked the Idea of Rap Being a Competitive Thing. It’s Not."
He also opens up about his past Xanax addiction and being Kanye West’s “biggest fan.”
Chance The Rapper opens up some very personal issues and more for his latest interview. Speaking exclusively to Billboard about past trials and tribulations, his current state of mind and approach and more, Chance reveals that he had a very serious Xanax addiction for several months, criticized rap’s competitive nature, writing for Kanye West as his “biggest fan,” among other interesting topics. This is certainly worth a read or two, so check out the entire feature here and run through some select quotes from the article below.
Experiences with Kanye West:
Settled again in Chicago, Chance tattooed a directive above his heart: “Get back to work,” written backward so it would face him in the mirror. Chance wrote parts of five songs on West’s The Life of Pablo, observing how his idol (“I’m literally Kanye’s biggest fan”) rented out an entire studio and acted as ringmaster, simultaneously directing different rooms populated by writers, engineers, producers, seamstresses, even magicians. “I watched him knock out six, seven songs that way,” says Chance. “I stole that.” To finish Coloring Book, he rented out the Chicago studio and with his team slept there overnight on inflatable mattresses.
On Drugs:
He moved to Los Angeles in 2014, after the success of Acid Rap, and developed what he describes as a bad Xanax habit. “I don’t want to present it as a Behind the Music thing,” he jokes. “I looked up and months had passed, and I hadn’t made enough music.” He also found that he belonged back in Chicago: “I missed a lot of weddings and funerals.”
He also has become less open with his drug and cigarette use. “Kids would tell me they tried acid for the first time listening to Acid Rap, asking me if I wanted some. I realized the responsibility of being a popular artist.”
