Chance the Rapper sat down on daytime talk show The View amid ample cheering to discuss his music, his success and Chicago. Before he got to that, Whoopi Goldberg jumped right in to one of the most recent headlines.
"I was wondering what you thought of the insanity that happened on LeBron's gate?" asked host Goldberg, in reference to the racist vandalism that occurred at LeBron James' home on May 31.
"It's kind of a common pattern in America's history," responded Chance, measuredly. "People who look like me get to a certain point success– I mean LeBron James, to me, is the greatest of all time basketball player. People want to remind you, well how they view you, as a second class citizen. And you know, it's not much you can do other than keep thriving. Shout out to LeBron."
On that point the conversation shifted to Chance's own success, who won three Grammys this year. He credits a lot of the decisions he's made with the inspiration of Dave Chappelle, and the kind of decision making he has done with his own career.
"I think it's important that you let people know that, you know, even a person in my position, a young black kid from Chicago," said Chance. "You can make your own decisions, decide your own path, say yes and no to what you want to. And I learned a lot of that stuff, and I mean before I even met him, from comedian Dave Chappelle."
The conversation then went on to Chicago, where gun violence went up 58% in 2016. Chance discussed the city's issues with segregation, the issues of funding public education programs, and the poor relationship between Chicago's police and its citizens. When Donald Trump's tweet storm about Chicago was brought up, Chance smirked and kept his comments pretty sparse.
"I've never seen him in Chicago before..." said Chance. "I don't know if he knows what he's talking about."
Watch the entire interview above.
