Chance The Rapper and Kanye West's history is pretty well-documented. Chance is a huge fan of Ye's music. He's often cited The College Dropout as one of the first hip-hop albums he ever listened to. In 2016, the pair linked up for "Ultralight Beam," the opening track from Ye's The Life of Pablo. On that track, he raps "I met Kanye West, I'm never going to fail," a line that did not age the best in the immediate aftermath.
After "All We Got," a track from Chance The Rapper's Grammy-winning mixtape Coloring Book, the two did not make another song together. However, Chance continued to speak highly of Ye's artistry in the following years. Now, ahead of the release of Star Line, Chance sat down with Rory & Mal to discuss the new album, his divorce, and where things stand between him and Ye these days.
When asked if anything from previous collaborative sessions was going to make the album, Chance confirmed that there wasn't. He added that they did one together that "could've been raw."
"I haven’t talked to him in a long time. He’s one of the most influential people in my music. He was at my wedding, our kids have hung out together. I’ll always love Kanye, but just being honest, I haven’t talked to him in a while."
"I got friends that I haven’t talked to in five or six, seven years," Chance said when Rory asked if he'd be interested in having a chat with Ye after the album settles and things are back to normal. "It’s not like I’m anticipating some conversation, some thing where it’s like, ‘alright, now is my time to fix you and tell your a** what you’ve been tweaking on.’ No s**t like that.”
Chance The Rapper Star Line
Ultimately, it does not look as if Chance The Rapper is jumping at the opportunity to have a conversation with his former collaborator. He also pointed out that even though they've done music together, they're not really in the same peer group. Chance is 16 years younger than Ye. That age difference makes their dynamic a bit more complex since they did not come up together.
“I let people be people. I’m always gonna have my own opinions and imma always state my opinions,” he said. “For the most part, imma just be me, imma let people be them. So no, there’s not a time where I’m like, ‘man, I gotta make sure I hit up Kanye before I put this album out or after I put this album out,’ or anybody.”
Star Line released on Friday morning, six years after The Big Day. Fans are calling it a return to form after the debacle that was his debut album.
