CHANCE THE RAPPER Talks Chicago, Mixtapes and Mentors

Summary

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The Adam Friedland Show

Episode: CHANCE THE RAPPER Talks Chicago, Mixtapes and Mentors
Date: October 31, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Adam Friedland Show dives deep into the life, career, and influences of Grammy-winning Chicago artist, Chance the Rapper. Across an hour-long conversation marked by humor, candor, and cultural reflection, Chance and Adam touch on growing up in Chicago, the importance of mentorship, the evolution of mixtapes, navigating celebrity and personal life, the Chicago music scene, and the ideals behind Chance's new album, Starline. The tone is conversational, irreverent, and insightful, with both host and guest swapping personal stories and dissecting broader trends in music, society, and their own lives.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Chicago Roots and Upbringing

• Chance’s Background: Grew up in Chicago, maintaining lifelong friendships and deep neighborhood roots. (00:07)
• Family's Political Activism: His father worked for prominent politicians like Obama, Harold Washington, and Rahm Emanuel. His grandmother's activism inspired this engagement.
  • "My grandmother was very, like, politically active at a young age...this is where Fred Hampton is organizing the Black Panthers..." — Chance (09:59)
• School Life: Attended magnet and selective enrollment schools, which fostered his artistic growth. Touched on participation in Jewish Student Union for social reasons ("the pizza" and friends) and after-school writing clubs.
  • "Jewish Student alliance was more for the pizza..." — Chance (19:08)

2. Friendship, Scene, and Mentorship in Chicago

• Connection to G Herbo: Both "from 79th," staying connected to their home and community activism.
  • "Herb does for the hood... he has a school, he works with mental health facilities..." — Chance (09:07)
• After-school Programs (“Young Chicago Authors”): Influential for Chance and his peers, including artists like Vic Mensa, NoName, Mick Jenkins, Saba, and Lucky. (20:36, 33:10)
• Importance of Scene:
  • "There is a value in, like, having a cohort, like a group of niggas that are all trying to do the same thing." — Chance (34:10)

3. Mentors: Dave Chappelle and Brother Mike

• Dave Chappelle:
  • Met in 2014, maintained close personal and artistic relationship—Chappelle was at Chance's wedding, giving crucial advice on self-determination and the value of creative autonomy.
  • "You have to be strong enough to walk off and take your ball...they gonna wait till you come back and ball out like Jordan wearing a 4 or 5." — Chance citing Chappelle (25:04)
  • On albums as "yearbook photos": Documenting points in life, not one's entirety.
    • "You want to create...But it's important to take that yearbook photo because that's what you are. You're a documentarian." — Chance (25:54)
• Brother Mike Hawkins: Mentor to an entire Chicago generation—"rapper, poet, revolutionary"—hugely influential on Chance and peers.
  • "My mentor was this dude named Mike Hawkins and we called him Brother Mike..." — Chance (32:27)
• DJ Rashad: Footwork legend, another mentor and big brother (39:30).

4. Mixtapes, Albums, and the Power of DIY

• The Mixtape Ethos: Mixtapes exist "outside the market" but impact it deeply; they're about grassroots, hand-to-hand culture, not commercialization.
  • "It's its existence outside of the market while having an influence on the market." — Chance (27:13)
• Evolution of Releases: Adam and Chance discuss distinctions between mixtapes and albums, referencing Lil Wayne and Future.
• Chance's ground-breaking approach: For his project "Starline", he's produced physical CDs equipped with NFC (Near Field Communication) technology for digital connection and ownership.
  • "You could just tap your phone straight to [the CD]...and a link will populate and come down and it'll take you to the album." — Chance (59:47)

5. Celebrity, Public Persona, and Navigating Personal Life

• Relationship in the Spotlight: Opened up about his divorce and the public's reaction to his personal life.
  • "When you put out...the work, but you also just publish the cover. People don't have to open the book..." — Chance (54:53)
• Internet and Parasocial Boundaries: Discussed how the internet has erased distance between celebrities and fans, intensifying scrutiny and projection.
  • "There's a value in being outside when you're me in that, like, the type of fan that I have is so at random...so many demographics..." — Chance (41:11)
• On Criticism: Willingness to be public and open, given the nature of hip hop and art as vulnerability.
  • "That's a big part of being a rapper is being open about your public life... your personal life." — Chance (56:04)

6. Community, Culture, and the Chicago Music Tradition

• Chicago’s Musical Legacy:
  • Spoke on the influence of blues, house, and footwork from Chicago—its history as a creative epicenter influencing global pop and dance genres.
  • "Chicago as, like, a culturally rich city, like, we have always been progressive and always been, like, on the forefront of, like, music..." — Chance (37:32)
• Footwork & Dance Subcultures: International reverence for Chicago's footwork scene, emblematized by DJ Rashad and others. Surprised by global hip hop and dance fans treating Chicago styles with more seriousness than locals. (38:18–39:33)

7. On the New Album: “Starline”

• Concept & Background: Named after Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line shipping company. Album explores black entrepreneurship, self-determination, economic injustice, and historical cycles (from sharecropping to current cannabis industry inequities).
  • "So this whole album, it's called Starline. It's named after the Black Star Line, which was started by Marcus Garvey in the 20s..." — Chance (61:55)
• Lead Single - “Tree”: Personal and political; addresses evolving attitudes toward cannabis and broader issues of ownership and access for black Americans. (60:35)

8. Music, Media, and Scene Commentary

• Regional Shifts in Hip Hop: Discussed Chicago’s rise as a center of rap, spurred by artists like Chief Keef and the media attention that followed (“My Block Chicago” documentary, Vice). (51:07–53:50)
• Media Representation: Critiqued how media often commodifies black pain/talent and shapes narratives for outsiders.

9. Funny, Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On Jewish Student Union:
  • "I was in the JSU." — Chance (07:51)
  • "Jewish Student alliance was more for the pizza. There was a Jewish pizza. No, dude, in this day and age..." — Chance (19:08)
• On Teachers and Bullying:
  • Adam: "Teachers are losers." (15:40)
  • Chance: "I don't...my teachers was losers. Teachers in general...back in the day..." (15:51)
  • Adam: "You develop a personality by being terrified, right? That's..." (18:06)
• On Footwork
  • Adam: "Can you do it?"
  • Chance: "I can. I won’t." (38:53)
• On NFC CDs:
  • Adam: "You invented a new thing. It’s like when two iPhones touch..." (60:13–60:17)
• On Denzel Washington:
  • Adam: "I'm going to name my first son Denzel Friedland." (65:47)

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Mixtapes:

  • “It’s its existence outside of the market while having an influence on the market.” — Chance (27:13)

• On Yearbook Photos & Albums:

  • “You want to create...But it’s important to take that yearbook photo because that’s what you are. You’re a documentarian.” — Chance (25:54)

• On Mentorship:

  • “You have to be strong enough to walk off and take your ball...they gonna wait till you come back and ball out like Jordan wearing a 4 or 5.” — Chance, quoting Chappelle (25:04)

• On Fans and Connection:

  • “My fans are really, really invested in, like, me as a person...I get stories that like me up, like, stories about how music genuinely saved their life.” — Chance (41:11)

• On Celebrity and Social Media:

  • “Everything is politicized, even if we’re not politics...that’s the way the media works.” — Chance (57:17)

• On Album Concept:

  • “...for the first time, I think at the forefront of hip hop, highlight black entrepreneurship, black self determination...” — Chance (62:25)

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Core Timestamps

• 00:01–00:26: Opening banter about relationships, introducing Chance.
• 06:46–09:30: Chicago upbringing, politics, family legacy.
• 14:21–15:15: Chance's early career and first mixtape ("10 Day").
• 20:05–21:35: "Sweet naivety" of making art as a young person, after-school writing circles.
• 23:05–26:00: Meeting and learning from Dave Chappelle.
• 32:27–34:10: Music mentors (“Brother Mike”), Chicago scene.
• 36:15–39:33: Chicago's influence on blues, house, footwork, and cross-Atlantic impact.
• 40:45–42:11: Returning after a six-year break, the meaning of a "comeback," fan connection.
• 54:13–56:17: Navigating public scrutiny post-divorce.
• 59:11–63:17: Launching Starline, NFC technology, album concept, black entrepreneurship.

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Episode Highlights

• Hilarious, freewheeling conversational tone—jokes about faith, old teachers, bullying, masculinity, and Jewish pizza.
• Serious, nuanced perspectives on artistry, community, race, social media, and mental health.
• Glimpses into behind-the-scenes music culture, shifting industry models, and the enduring power of mentorship.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode offers a warm, intimate portrait of Chance the Rapper, weaving together local history, music theory, personal struggle, and sociopolitical commentary. Listeners come away with a deeper sense of how Chicago shaped Chance—and, in turn, how he’s trying to reshape the industry through his music, business ventures, and community focus. The conversation is both a love letter to Chicago's creative legacy and a compelling look at how artists navigate fame, change, and creative ambition in the digital age.

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Transcript

[Adam Friedland]

You were with someone for 22 years.

[Chance the Rapper]

Who?

[Adam Friedland]

Your ex partner, your ex wife, or you knew her for 22 years?

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, we grew up in Chicago together, so I've known her for, like, most of my life. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Are you single gentlemen now or.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Have you considered doing. Doing what? What the God. Did you get like a girl that looks a little bit like the last one and then make her be naked. What?

[Chance the Rapper]

That is hilarious.

[Adam Friedland]

Hello and welcome to the Adam Friedland Show. Guys, I'm Adam Friedland. Before we get started, as always, I gotta thank our members for supporting the show. We couldn't do it without you. If you'd like to join the Friedland Family foundation, you could do so by clicking the join button on YouTube or clicking the link in the description below. You'll get early access to all of our episodes and your name in the credits if you join at the second or third tiers. Also, we have a Patreon. If you prefer to support the show through Patreon, there's a link in the description below. Finally, last piece of housekeeping. We have merch. The AdamFriedland Show. Check it out. It's good. It's cool. My guest this week is Chicago artist Chance the Rapper. Now, of course, famously, the last time I welcomed a Chicago artist, it sparked a firestorm of controversy in the world of rap. Me and my guest G Herbo had some criticisms for journalist DJ Vlad, who responded in kind with a direct message. Some called it a shot heard round the world. Months later, tensions have remained high between Vlad and G Herbo, who have been trading blows on social media. In that time, I've kept myself. I've kept my head down and I've done some reflection and I'm ready to move on from this maelstrom. In fact, I have a potential gig for DJ Vlad if he's willing to hear me out and what it is. So I finally decided to respond to the direct message and he was open to further dialogue. So with that, let's give him a call.

[Chance the Rapper]

Hello?

[Adam Friedland]

Hello, sir, it's Adam. What's up, Adam? I just wanted to parlay with you real quick and just kind of squash this whatever. Whatever the. Whatever the misunderstanding was. Do you guys ever dj or is it just screen name? Well, I had a long history of

[Chance the Rapper]

DJing before Vlad TV started.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, I'm getting married this year and perhaps. Yeah. Oh, and she's lovely. I was just. Perhaps I would want you to be part of the greatest day of my entire life. Yeah, sure.

[Chance the Rapper]

I'll show up to that.

[Adam Friedland]

Okay. Well, sir, Sir, I. I feel. I feel like my conscience is cleared and have it. Have a great day, I think, I guess. Okay. Live long and prosper. Bye. See you. He bought it. Folks, in this crazy world we live in, we don't need any more beef. We need peace. And if two sworn enemies like DJ Vlad and myself could see eye to eye, you know, let that be a lesson to all warring peoples around the world. And so with that, please enjoy my interview with Chance the Rapper. This episode is sponsored by Roe. Roe Sparks are a 2 in 1 prescription treatment for guys who need a secret weapon. Weapon. It's the new wave. They hit the bloodstream faster because they dissolve right under the tongue. So no more waiting to perform. After Rose Sparks dissolve, they work in 15 minutes on average. They give you the boost to last longer, and they can give you bigger, longer erections. And sparks stay active in your system for up to 36 hours. So you can go back to back round after round and be ready the morning after. Folks, I've been pretty busy on the show, you know, I haven't had a lot of time to have sex, you know, but once that starts up again, I think in the quarter 3, 20, 29, having a big boner is the way I want to be doing it. And doesn't it sound great that there's a product that works as fast as 15 minutes and it lasts up to 36 hours. And it lasts up to 36 hours, which I can assure you is not how long I last with a woman. Best part is it's done 100% online, so there's no awkward conversation with in person providers. If approved, treatment ships directly to your door. If prescribed, new sexual health patients get $15 off your first order of Sparks. On a recurring plan, connect with a provider at Ro Co Tafs to find out if prescription roast sparks are right for you. That's Ro co Tafs for $15 off your first order. And ladies and gentlemen, our next guest is a Grammy award winning, multi platinum diamond certified, I believe. Yeah, Diamond. That's even better than platinum, guys. Diamond certified recording artist, ladies and gentlemen, Chance the Rapper, everyone. Thanks for coming. Thanks for coming, sir.

[Chance the Rapper]

Oh, thanks for having me.

[Adam Friedland]

Thanks for coming, sir.

[Chance the Rapper]

Appreciate it.

[Adam Friedland]

And so I just had.

[Chance the Rapper]

Should I still be standing?

[Adam Friedland]

No, no, sit down, please. I had Herb on the show and I paid tribute by giving him a bottle of 1942.

[Chance the Rapper]

Have you had that before?

[Adam Friedland]

But the liquor store, I think I bought the last one because it was like last week, so they said, this one's good. It's called Kaza Azul.

[Chance the Rapper]

I'm familiar.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you know this one?

[Chance the Rapper]

It's got the ding.

[Adam Friedland]

I see it on, like, Real Housewives. Kind of shows, vibes. Yeah. Like a rich lady who's about to cheat. Yeah, yeah. She like the pool boy. So we're gonna. We're gonna stress out. You have the same. You got. You have the same publicist. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're gonna get stressed out again. You have a hard out at 5. But we're gonna be having this. What is. It's ceramic. So let's do it. You want to do a l'? Chaim?

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

What we do is we drink the bottle.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, you just.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, you. You do grace.

[Chance the Rapper]

It's sort of. Yeah, sort of the same thing. So just tap the bottle.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you want me to do the Jewish stuff?

[Chance the Rapper]

That was it. That was the Jewish Diet Bang.

[Adam Friedland]

No, no, I mean the Jewish prayer on tequila.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you have to say grace before every meal if you're a devout Christian or just, like, if it's a drink, you have to say grace. Or if it's like a full.

[Chance the Rapper]

No, that was more like. That's like some kid I know blessing the bottle. That actually has.

[Adam Friedland]

I don't know, I don't think that. I didn't think of that as religious, but, like, if it's a snack, do you have to say grace?

[Chance the Rapper]

That's a good question. I think you do.

[Adam Friedland]

You do. I think in Judaism too, for, like, for different. This is the most boring conversation. Let's go.

[Chance the Rapper]

Let's have a look at each other's faiths.

[Adam Friedland]

I don't have. I don't. I don't faith. I don't faith. You faith you're a God fearing gentleman.

[Chance the Rapper]

Amen. Yeah, for sure.

[Adam Friedland]

Amen. But we found out today. This is really blowing my mind. You were in the Jewish Student Union?

[Chance the Rapper]

I was in the jsu.

[Adam Friedland]

Why?

[Chance the Rapper]

Because I have, like, a ton of Jewish friends that, like, were really into the same shit that I was into when I was in high school. I went to, like, a really, like, Smoking Bud. Smoking bud? Yeah. You feel me? Like, Like I was on lit mag. You know what lit mag is?

[Adam Friedland]

You got good grades?

[Chance the Rapper]

I didn't get good grades, but I was into things. So I would be into something and. And I would go into. I would just go and, like, join. And lit magazine was like, all of the, like, quirky writer folks at my school. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Girls were there. Were there, like, the girls, the glasses girls. Indie girls.

[Chance the Rapper]

I would like the indies.

[Adam Friedland]

The indie girls.

[Chance the Rapper]

I was into the indies, the indie girls, the A24 girls.

[Adam Friedland]

Here we go. Yeah. The bisexual lighting, the purple light. Sorry. Okay. Thank you for coming on.

[Chance the Rapper]

Thank you.

[Adam Friedland]

Yet it's interesting because we just had Herb on the show, and it's like you're of the same generation, but I feel like you're, like, the good kid side of Chicago, and they were the going outside boys.

[Chance the Rapper]

It would seem that way. That's not the truth. We're from the same hood. We're both from 79th. I've known herb for a really, really long time.

[Adam Friedland]

He's a great guy.

[Chance the Rapper]

He's an amazing dude. And, you know, the hood. The hood is the hood. You know what I'm saying? It's really just about what you do for the hood. And Herb does for the hood. Like, he has a school. He, like, works with mental health facilities. He's got, like, kids that he mentors. Like, me and him are very, very similar. And we talk, like, once a week. That's my dude.

[Adam Friedland]

Let's get to, like, your upbringing, your family and stuff like that. Like, your father was involved in politics? Both your parents were?

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, yeah, My mom a little bit, but my dad, yes, for sure.

[Adam Friedland]

He worked for. He worked for.

[Chance the Rapper]

He worked for Obama. He worked for Harold Washington. He worked for Rahm Emanuel. So my dad, really. I guess I gotta start with my grandmother. My grandmother was very, like, politically active at a young age, and she had all her kids young, like my dad and my aunties young.

[Adam Friedland]

In Chicago.

[Chance the Rapper]

In Chicago. And so, you know, Chicago's super politically active space. This is where Fred Hampton is organizing the Black Panthers, where Stokely Carmichael and all these people are gathering and having. So she was, like, really swept up into that stuff. And so she would volunteer her kids for certain things. And then Harold Washington, first black mayor of Chicago, and, like, I think the first. It might have been the first black mayor of a major. Of a metropolitan city. And so she got them all to sign up for that. And that kind of got my dad into politics. And then I think from there, he just always stayed like, you know, it still has, like, this grassroots thing of, like, you know, he was my block club president. Like, my dad was very, like, on some, like, activism shit, but he worked. He did also work for. For. For Barack, too. And so that's your boy Barry.

[Adam Friedland]

Barry.

[Chance the Rapper]

That's not my boy, but you know what I'm saying.

[Adam Friedland]

You met. You've met the Goat before.

[Chance the Rapper]

I met. I met the Goat before, for sure.

[Adam Friedland]

Really? What's his. What's the energy like, what's, what's.

[Chance the Rapper]

He's just like, he is on TV.

[Adam Friedland]

No, he's not.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

As a guy.

[Chance the Rapper]

100%. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

He's like, let me.

[Chance the Rapper]

Or maybe he's just like, he is on tv.

[Adam Friedland]

He says, let me be clear to you.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

And he does this.

[Chance the Rapper]

He does the really. I don't got the Brock impression.

[Adam Friedland]

What do you think he's up to these days? He's got to be so bored.

[Chance the Rapper]

I don't know. I don't really talk to him. So I don't think of him as like a person. Like, I think of like, listen, you're

[Adam Friedland]

best friends with Obama.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah. That's what people. That's what. That's what I feel like.

[Adam Friedland]

That's the.

[Chance the Rapper]

No, I'm. I'm honored that they gave me like, they gave me some. Some shout outs in the past. I got a humanitarian award that.

[Adam Friedland]

Did you make one of his best of lists of for the year?

[Chance the Rapper]

I was on a playlist once.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

Maybe twice.

[Adam Friedland]

That's nepotism. Your dad.

[Chance the Rapper]

It could have been. People know people, you know what I'm saying? Like, that was really what I got into the industry for, was like to

[Adam Friedland]

get to know Obama, to get on the playlist, you know, Obama playlist of the year. Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

What else did he have on that March Madness?

[Chance the Rapper]

I think he did.

[Adam Friedland]

No, he didn't. No, he did it.

[Chance the Rapper]

Maybe not March man.

[Adam Friedland]

No, he has like, he has like, smart stuff on it.

[Chance the Rapper]

No, he doesn't have dumb.

[Adam Friedland]

He doesn't have. I'm on so many drugs.

[Chance the Rapper]

Like, wink, wink on there.

[Adam Friedland]

He's a wink, wink. He has like, I. I cheated on you, but it's only because I'm depressed. The narrative of future as the. Is the best. Yeah. Because you still feel bad for him. He's like, yeah, he's a. I'm so sad. That's why I had to get so much. So much pussy. It's great.

[Chance the Rapper]

He's so much. Is hilarious.

[Adam Friedland]

He's like, I just. It's because I'm so. Because I feel so lonely. And you're like, you buy it too.

[Chance the Rapper]

Can I vape on your show? Is that a thing? I feel like this is more. You hit V. We're drinking, dude.

[Adam Friedland]

To have some more. Yeah, of course, dude. Are there a lot of rape rapper. Are there a lot of rapper vapors? Vape. I did. Are there a lot of vape rap. Vapor rappers.

[Chance the Rapper]

Vapor rappers.

[Adam Friedland]

You hit Jewel. That's old.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, I'm definitely. I'm like, so I don't know I need to be a part of the class action lawsuit because I am thoroughly addicted to these. And I am like, just so I could watch this back later. You are addicted to these.

[Adam Friedland]

It got me so. It made me so addicted. But now I started Upper Deckies.

[Chance the Rapper]

Here's the problem. And this is gonna. This is gonna lose us all our tobacco sponsors. But the I don't have issue. I'm joking. The issue is that, like, think about this, cuz you used to smoke cigarettes, I'm guessing.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

So.

[Adam Friedland]

Which are cool?

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, they look way cooler, faster death. The thing is like, with cigarettes going to like, like weaning yourself off, you know, you get like the patch. You know what I'm saying? Or you get the gum. And there's like a regimented schedule for how you get off of it where it's like, okay to do this much today, then you do this much the next week.

[Adam Friedland]

Does it work?

[Chance the Rapper]

I'm sure hella people quit smoking cigarettes, but this doesn't have a. This has the unlimited. This is just a cart of cart.

[Adam Friedland]

You can do it in bed. I did it in bed. And my girlfriend would be like, you disgust me. It's the least sex. No, it's like you're not like Humphrey Bogart for hitting a jewel.

[Chance the Rapper]

I get that reference.

[Adam Friedland]

No. Girl's like, I've wanted to, like, I want to ride him like a bike because she sees him with a geek bar. You know, it's not a sexy thing. You. No, sorry. Okay, let's get into like, one thing I found interesting about you is that it came kind of out of your education, like your career. Kind of like, it seems like the schools that you went to kind of fostered you becoming an artist. Is that correct?

[Chance the Rapper]

I thought you were going to go in a different direction. What I would say is like, I thought you were going to say. So my first mixtape was called 10 Day. It was about a suspension from high school.

[Adam Friedland]

For weed. For piffin.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, for piffin.

[Adam Friedland]

I got suspended too, but I. Smoking weed. No, for. I told my dad if. If I wanted to go to like this, like this teen summer program. I told my dad I get straight A's and I got six A's and two B's, and I forged my report card and my dad fucking ass ratted on me to the school.

[Chance the Rapper]

This story took 10 left turns. Like, I thought she was going to get in trouble.

[Adam Friedland]

Six things I never. I don't.

[Chance the Rapper]

You said you forged your family and your dad told on you to your school.

[Adam Friedland]

He went to the dean who looked like a mole. This guy looked like a mole.

[Chance the Rapper]

That is crazy.

[Adam Friedland]

I got called in. I got. And I said to. When I got in trouble, I said I was like, I'm lying to my parents, and I'm not really lying to the school. So you got in trouble and then you wrote your first mixtape. 18 years old.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, I think I was. Yeah, I was 18. I started at the end of my high school, senior year of high school and put it out, I think when I was 19.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

And. Yeah, like, the influence of school and me feeling so dissociated from, like, the building or the idea of work or the idea of these adults being teachers and not just being regular niggas that hated us.

[Adam Friedland]

They're losers. Let's be honest. Teachers are losers.

[Chance the Rapper]

So just let the record show. I don't. I don't.

[Adam Friedland]

Some of these guys we had.

[Chance the Rapper]

Oh, yeah, sorry. No, my bad.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

My teachers was losers. Teachers in general. Back in the day. Back in the. I'm talking back in the day. I'm talking in 1943, 1944, in antiquity. I'm talking about, like, stone age. I'm talking about. I love saying. I'm talking about. And you ad lib. It sounds like a song to me.

[Adam Friedland]

Go ahead. This is a track right Now.

[Chance the Rapper]

I was gonna say, like, Aristotle. Okay.

[Adam Friedland]

Pedophile. Yeah. Okay.

[Chance the Rapper]

So let's twist. Let's make a pivot.

[Adam Friedland]

Okay,

[Chance the Rapper]

let's go.

[Adam Friedland]

He was a teacher, though, right?

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Okay, let's go. Talus of Miletus. Right. What used to happen was one person would teach one person. Right. So you get that one on one education.

[Adam Friedland]

A mentor.

[Chance the Rapper]

Typically it's your father, but yes. Or you go to a mentor who's a philosopher and they teach you one on one. What the game is. And now we have a standardized education where we send 30 random kids into a room to sit all day with an adult who just got a divorce.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

And so they had. They owe nothing to this child. They don't think that, you know, and it's not this child. It's 30 childs. And next year they'll have another 30 child. So it's like. And I should be saying children, but you gave me child.

[Adam Friedland]

Whatever. It's. Come on, dude.

[Chance the Rapper]

The point that I'm making, though, is like, it's. I think the issues with teachers are that they're overwhelmed and they're human beings. So when they're. You know what I'm saying, Getting fucking. Fucking markers thrown at them and TikTok challenged all over. Like at a certain point they like, they check out. And I think that, you know, back in the day, Post Stone Age, pre1941, there was a lot more, you know, like direct education or at least like

[Adam Friedland]

more sizable to just be with one adult guy wearing a fucking toga. That'd be annoying.

[Chance the Rapper]

No, that would be whack.

[Adam Friedland]

I would want girls to be there and kind of try to be fun

[Chance the Rapper]

girl, mentor girls could teach you too.

[Adam Friedland]

No, but you're like, but you can't. I mean, I guess what I'm saying is like a school socializes you, right? Like, yeah. The fun part about school is that you like you're terrified to get beat. Like get called gay when you're in sixth grade. Like you're trying to survive and it makes you a regular human being. Right?

[Chance the Rapper]

No facts.

[Adam Friedland]

Apparently they're trying to take bullying away. I'm like, these kids are going to become sociopaths. You develop a personality by being terrified. Right? That's. No, I hate bullying away.

[Chance the Rapper]

It's really funny.

[Adam Friedland]

That's what I'm going to send my kids.

[Chance the Rapper]

They're trying to take bullying out of the schools.

[Adam Friedland]

I did read that you have to bring bullying back because that's really where

[Chance the Rapper]

you're, that's what we're built on.

[Adam Friedland]

I need through Darwinism to find something to survive. You're like, I'm gonna get really good at rap. And I was like, I, I'm like gonna. I, I have to do something.

[Chance the Rapper]

Gotta be funny.

[Adam Friedland]

I have to be funny.

[Chance the Rapper]

Facts. I fucking feel you.

[Adam Friedland]

Right? So like if you send your kids to one of these goddamn sixty thousand dollar a year schools where they're told that they're amazing, they're gonna be fucking does sociopaths.

[Chance the Rapper]

Facts.

[Adam Friedland]

You have to tell them that they suck and the teacher has to be a loser going through a divorce.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yes. That's how we got here.

[Adam Friedland]

That's. Sorry, that's my rant on schools. No, but like you were also in writers programs and stuff like that.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, right after school. Like the fucking Jewish Student Alliance. Jewish Student alliance was more for the pizza. There was a, there was a Jewish pizza. No, dude, in this day and age,

[Adam Friedland]

you can't just, just act like you didn't do it.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, I'm like, when you go to JSU, you get like, there's a dude named Mr. Katz, he orders a whole fucking pizza. And I say whole fucking pizza. I mean a whole fucking pizza for me. He orders like 10 pizzas for everybody. And then I would come in there, I would get pizza. They would. They would talk about a lot of stuff.

[Adam Friedland]

Israel.

[Chance the Rapper]

I can't. I don't know what they were talking about. But what I'm saying is that you

[Adam Friedland]

just like Jewish girls. You like big ones with it. Big ones with a skinny waist. I want to ask a question about, like, your first mixtapes, like, the first three. Like, is there a freedom in, like, making art when you're so young because you're, like, not afraid of, like, being corny? I think that.

[Chance the Rapper]

I think you still have. For the kids that I know, the kids that I grew up with, like, we were all, like, we already believed that we were rappers. We weren't, like, going to grow up and become rappers. Like, we were already taking everything that we did super seriously. So I don't think that there was ever a point where I had. I damn near had more pressure on me when I was making acid rapping and combat. I never really thought about it as a young person. Yeah, because you believe that your existence and your identity is so based on this thing that you.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

That you at least felt like you were when you were in the comfort of, like, I go to fucking school every day. Like, my mom gives me lunch money. Like, versus being 19, being outside, like, having to figure out a way to pay for stuff you like, you. You take it even more seriously. But yeah, all the way back when I was in the after school programs, I was doing, like, fucking. What is it called? It was called Young Young Chicago Authors. You get, like, prompts and, like, imagine all these kids getting up and they're doing poems about, like, real fucking trauma and fucking redlining and, like, we're all, like, with those kids, like, but all the way back in 2010, 22,009. Yeah, we're like the kids wearing keffiyehs and being, like, vocal and being like, we write poetry and we, like, we're radical. Like, that's the kids that I grew up. And then some kids also that grew up, like Lucky and Mick Jenkins and certain people that came out of Chicago that, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, it was a very, very diverse, like, group of people that were in the, like, after school shit that I was in, rapping and stuff as a young age. But everybody took it super serious.

[Adam Friedland]

Right. Because there's such a. There's like a kind of a sweet naivety about being a kid where you're like, I'm a real rapper. Yeah, Yeah. I believe in this. I feel like I think a lot about, like, with music, like, it's like for, like, Nas made illimatic 17, right?

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You know, and it must be like, there's a freedom in expressing yourself as a young person that might, like, you know, what's. Like, you're not afraid of, like, maybe I'm gonna up something or something.

[Chance the Rapper]

Like, you know what I think it is? And. No, you're right. It is a freedom in that you don't have certain knowledge that you, you know, think of as. As fact or like. Or a restrictions or boundaries about what you put out or what you say or how you say it or when you drop it when you're a kid, because there's this little thing in the back of your head that's like, you know, this might not work out. You know, and not in a not as. And like, how I just did, you know, as this gesture, like, oh, this might not work out. So I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do. But, like, I don't got kids. I don't got, you know, I'm saying no real responsibilities. I haven't tasted the success yet.

[Adam Friedland]

So stand up is the opposite, you know, that you don't like most. Most great standups get great. Like, after 40. Like, it's very rare.

[Chance the Rapper]

I've heard that before.

[Adam Friedland]

It's very rare for a young person to be like. Like Chappelle was a phenom.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah. Like, he was a child probably, like, 14. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

I. I started stand up in D.C. where he started standing up.

[Chance the Rapper]

You know, Chappelle's my mentor.

[Adam Friedland]

He's your.

[Chance the Rapper]

He's your Aristotle mentor.

[Adam Friedland]

Yep. He's your. Your.

[Chance the Rapper]

The toga man.

[Adam Friedland]

He's your toga man. He's your number one.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

What has he taught you?

[Chance the Rapper]

A lot of things. A lot of, like, jokes that, like, if I repeat him, I'll get canceled. But, like, he's very.

[Adam Friedland]

But say it's a quote. Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

All right. So Dave Chappelle was talking about. No, I'm just joking. No, but, like, he's like. I met him in 20, I think 14. He had a show before he did the Netflix deal in Chicago, and we bought tickets. He invited me backstage, me and like, my whole team. And we stayed there, like, smoking cigarettes and joking around a piano for, like, till, like, five in the morning. And we stayed connected through that. He was at my wedding. He was like, you know, knows my kids like this. I was just at his 50th last year in New York. Like, this is like, somebody that I really, really look up to. But what he taught me. And what I think really shines through in the album is that, like, one of the most important things that you have is self determination and being able to define who you are and what you're gonna do. And, like, we don't always talk about it because it was so long ago. How old are you, by the way? I'm 38, so. Okay, so we. So do you remember when he was my friend? They blackballed him, though.

[Adam Friedland]

I remember when he went to Durban.

[Chance the Rapper]

But they didn't call it going to Durban. They called it going to Africa. And there's a sensation.

[Adam Friedland]

People said he was on crack.

[Chance the Rapper]

They said he was on crack.

[Adam Friedland]

And. Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

Even though he's a devout Muslim and never smoked crack.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, beyond that, he was the first funniest guy in the world, but he.

[Chance the Rapper]

But he did. And that's what I'm saying is sometimes you make a decision or a. Or a left turn, and media can be strong enough to push you in a direction where you feel like you're not in control anymore.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

Even though you're literally taking control.

[Adam Friedland]

Hollywood likes to do that to black people.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah. And people.

[Adam Friedland]

Period.

[Chance the Rapper]

Kind of.

[Adam Friedland]

You know, I think black guys.

[Chance the Rapper]

I appreciate you saying that.

[Adam Friedland]

I mean, I don't know if.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, but you're probably right.

[Adam Friedland]

I mean, it's like, it's. Yeah. I mean, he's talked about it before, too. Did he give you that type of advice? He's like, if shit gets too hot, just, like, take time to yourself.

[Chance the Rapper]

He talked to me like, he talks in metaphors, and I don't want to butcher it, but he talked about this thing about taking your ball and going home. And the metaphor was about, like, you

[Adam Friedland]

go to the classic, take your ball and go home.

[Chance the Rapper]

You. You go to the court, you play. Everybody wants to play with you and use your basketball. And then when they start playing by weird rules and hacking and fouling you and doing all that shit, you take your ball and you go home. Because they could find another ball. But is it gonna be the same ball? Hell, no. They gonna wait till you come back and ball out like Jordan wearing a 4 or 5. And that same spot's gonna be there for you, but you have to be strong enough to walk off and take your ball. That was one of the things he told me in 2019 that, like. But he said a bunch of things. He said this thing about that I always quote about the yearbook photos. So he says, like, albums, whether it's a, you know, music album or comedy album, these albums are yearbook photos. They're not the photo of you as a human. Even though as an artist you want to do that, you want to create. It's where you're at.

[Adam Friedland]

In eighth grade, I was busted.

[Chance the Rapper]

But it's important to take that yearbook photo because that's what you are. You're a documentarian. Your whole power is your voice and being able to say this thing happens. So you have to take those yearbook photos so that your 38 year old self, your 48 year old, throughout your life, you can look back and people can get all these pictures of you at different times.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. What's the distinction? As someone that came up through mixtapes, what's the distinction there? Because for me, I understood when I was younger, there was the drought and the dedication and those were just like, you could tell Lil Wayne was just like taking people's beats and then just doing the songs better.

[Chance the Rapper]

Jacking for beats is what they call it.

[Adam Friedland]

But like, it seems like, you know, if you're reading this, it's too late. To me, that just registers as an album. Like acid rap just kind of in my mind registers as an album. Like, I don't understand what the distinction is in people's minds.

[Chance the Rapper]

I'm like a. What do they call it? Not an etymologist, but a linguistic. So like my whole thing is like attributing power to words and like. Or like reevaluating the power of words or removing power from certain words. And so the, the whole mixtape thing was like a.

[Adam Friedland]

Is it. I'm just around.

[Chance the Rapper]

No, but that's how the world perceives it because it's not commercial, but the right. The thing is that it's. It's hella work. It's hella love.

[Adam Friedland]

You want a Grammy?

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah. It's crazy.

[Adam Friedland]

It is like I don't understand like, what makes 56 Nights of Mixtape and what makes Dirty Sprite 2 an album.

[Chance the Rapper]

It's this existence to me at the time, when I was growing up, when I was putting out my first mixtapes, it's its existence outside of the market while having an influence on the market. So albums are already within the commercial landscape of like, there's a system. There's labels that press records and have control over radio time and all these other things. And then there's, you know, then there's the culture separate from that, where I might burn 50 CDs. And I know all the gas station niggas, I know all the, the radio DJs. I know all these people and I'm gonna make this.

[Adam Friedland]

You do it out the trunk.

[Chance the Rapper]

I'm moving it out. Exactly. So that's the mixtape vibe.

[Adam Friedland]

DJ Paul style, you know so much I love, I love music.

[Chance the Rapper]

Shout out to MC Hammer like niggas don't really talk about it but MC Hammer and Mash op a little bit later. Yeah, they, they really like started that out the trunk vibe. Like Memphis multi state like movements of that shit.

[Adam Friedland]

The Memphis stuff that those DJ Paul like mixtapes like little flies of like that is the cool. It's some of the coolest music in the world. It sounds like it's coming out of hell because the production is so bad. It sounds like it's like coming out of the depths of hell. It's some of the coolest music I've ever listened to.

[Chance the Rapper]

No facts. Yeah, it's freeing

[Adam Friedland]

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[Chance the Rapper]

My mentor passed away, so my mentor was this dude and I'm so glad I got to see on your show. No, my mentor is this dude named Mike Hawkins and we called him Brother Mike.

[Adam Friedland]

He was a rapper.

[Chance the Rapper]

He's a rapper, poet, revolutionary mentor in Chicago.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

And a lot of the people that people with from Chicago, out of my era, Vic Mensa, no name. Mick Jenkins, Lucky X, Nico. I'm missing, I'm missing a lot of people.

[Adam Friedland]

Was Juice in your. In your.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Juice.

[Chance the Rapper]

Juice didn't go to the same after school program. I think he. I don't think he went to you media because he's from, he's from south suburbs. So he like came up. He's a little bit younger than me.

[Adam Friedland]

He like emo.

[Chance the Rapper]

He kind of invented that. He invented that.

[Adam Friedland]

No, there was emo before it, but it was emo, right?

[Chance the Rapper]

Emo. I'm saying like emo in the culture. Like, in terms of, like, he's like, I think one of the highest selling artist all time. Like, his. His.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

And definitely the highest streaming artist all time. Yeah. So his music. And that's not posthumously. That's like, during his lifetime. He's a.

[Adam Friedland]

You know, he's a genius.

[Chance the Rapper]

Genius in his own right. And I got to spend a little bit of time with him before he passed a couple of times and just like, got to pick his brain about that whole era. And he was aware of, like. Like, we thought of it as an after school program, but. But niggas outside of that shit looked at us like a super group, you know? I'm sure you've heard of. Have you ever heard of Saba or Pivot or like. Like, all of these people came from this little. Like, we used to go to this after school program and literally just be kids rapping.

[Adam Friedland]

You were the good kids.

[Chance the Rapper]

We were.

[Adam Friedland]

You and Vic and. And Felix Biederman. You guys were the good kids to you for show.

[Chance the Rapper]

I think the point is, like, there is a. A value in, like, having a. A cohort, like a group of niggas that are all trying to do the same thing.

[Adam Friedland]

Scene.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, a scene that, like, that blew up. I'll take a little.

[Adam Friedland]

Who else is in your scene? Wilco.

[Chance the Rapper]

Shout out to Wilco. They're a little bit older, but. But Wilco's from Chicago band. You know what I'm saying?

[Adam Friedland]

Incredible band.

[Chance the Rapper]

Do you think you're. Do you think your fan base knows Wilco?

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

Shout out to Wilco. Shout out to Jeff Tweedy.

[Adam Friedland]

You feel me, dude? Yeah. You like John Prime? That's another Chicago.

[Chance the Rapper]

I feel like I know that name.

[Adam Friedland]

He's like. He made, like, country music. You have to go now.

[Chance the Rapper]

No, he's a guitarist, right? He's a guitar.

[Adam Friedland]

He's like. Yeah, it's like country folk, but he's from Chicago. Yeah, he's a. He's a God. He died. He died from COVID Damn.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, unfortunately, that's when I might have heard him. I feel like I heard that name recently. Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna check him out.

[Adam Friedland]

How much were you exposed to? Like, like, like old blues. Like. Like Chicago is such a mus. Music city. It's, like, so rich in. In history. I'm reading the. The Keith Richards autobiography right now.

[Chance the Rapper]

And, like, they signed in Chicago, didn't they?

[Adam Friedland]

Well, they like, like being the coolest guy, I guess, when they were like, young men was like, having the best records and they literally. They couldn't get. They, like, had to write to Chess Records to get Muddy Waters Records sent to England.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

And they, like, had this music that no one else in their country had heard, basically.

[Chance the Rapper]

Well, you know, the invention of, like, celebrity as a musician is all kind of based off of, like, trade embargoes, opening up and being like, okay, we can move music and media as like, an export from America. And so people that had never been to these other countries started becoming famous off of that. And famously, a lot of the, you know, like, you know, what we think of as, like, the vanguard of rock were all, like, influenced by, like, Chicago records finally coming out of, like I said, Chess Records.

[Adam Friedland]

They are the. They're the goat swagged out white boy. They never even got the cultural appropriation, like, accusations. The Stones, yeah, they were just doing it.

[Chance the Rapper]

But they went on to fuck with this. Like, they were opening up for Little Richard and for Muddy Waters and, like, literally singing their songs like that. And they. I think they don't get that because they were always open about where their influence was coming from.

[Adam Friedland]

They loved it. They loved it. Lil Richard took the Beatles on tour. He's a God, that guy.

[Chance the Rapper]

100%. 100%.

[Adam Friedland]

Tutti Frutti is a song about butt sex.

[Chance the Rapper]

The architect. That's what he is. The architect of rock and roll, man.

[Adam Friedland]

You know, that song is. It's Tutti Frutti. Big booty.

[Chance the Rapper]

I did know that he was a

[Adam Friedland]

gay, like a psychopath gay guy. That was just unreal. Musician.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Unbelievable guy. I love Little Richard. He influenced, like, Bob Dylan, too.

[Chance the Rapper]

Everybody. He's the architect of rock and roll. That's the, like, the deep thing about, like, all music. And as time goes on, it's like we continue to do shows like this where we can have conversations. It's like there's such a rich history of black people making something raw and then us stealing it, popularizing it. You can call it whatever you want,

[Adam Friedland]

call it, but, like, especially gay black guys, too.

[Chance the Rapper]

They will. They'll.

[Adam Friedland]

Chicago house. Chicago House is like, literally.

[Chance the Rapper]

I didn't know that it was started by gay people, but I wouldn't be surprised because Chicago as, like, a culturally rich city, like, we have always been progressive and always been, like, on the forefront of, like, music getting introduced. So, like, a lot of the, like, you said, deep house, jungle, all that shit comes from house music in Chicago. And that comes from the club scene or, like the basement party scene.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, it's amazing. Like, techno comes from Detroit and house comes from Chicago. And then it was Exported to Europe, and they don't understand that. I feel like when you go to, like, Germany, you go to, like, a, Like a fucking. Like. Sounds like it sounds like the Matrix. It doesn't sound like there's no, like, there's no, like, black. There's no soul in it. It's super different. And it's just like, they. But they're, like, consuming something that they don't realize kind of what it.

[Chance the Rapper]

What's funny, though, is I will say, like, Germany and like, Poland, and I think they have a greater appreciation, I feel, like, and knowledge of the history of something. So just yesterday we was in High park in Chicago.

[Adam Friedland]

Germany loves their history.

[Chance the Rapper]

We met 10, like, multinationals from, like, Korea and Germany and all these other places that were footworkers. You probably don't know. Know what footwork.

[Adam Friedland]

Yes, I do.

[Chance the Rapper]

Okay, so, like, think about how small of a. Like, you're like, most people. My fans don't know what footwork.

[Adam Friedland]

I know what footwork. But can you do it?

[Chance the Rapper]

I can. I won't.

[Adam Friedland]

Today I showed Herb a video of Derrick Rose doing it in high school. Have you seen that video?

[Chance the Rapper]

We've all seen that video. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, my God. He's. He could have been a dancer.

[Chance the Rapper]

No, we all. We all grew up footworking. But it's such a small subculture of a subculture of a city in America that the idea that I'm. I'm telling you, I met, like, 10 with thick accents that could footwork better than, like, a random person that grew up in Chicago because of the influence and the reverence that they pay overseas to, you know, DJ Rashad music. That was my guy. That was my guy.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. No, I, I. That music is incredible.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, yeah. Rest in peace. DJ Rashad. That was my big brother. That was another one of my mentors.

[Adam Friedland]

You. You knew him well?

[Chance the Rapper]

Very well. My first tour ever was with me and DJ Rashad.

[Adam Friedland]

Have you ever. Do you make music as well?

[Chance the Rapper]

Have you ever, like, producing?

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

I'm not that good at juke music like that. Like, I got the same, like, two rhythms when it comes to making that, but, like, other rhythms for show.

[Adam Friedland]

It's cool how they. I don't think it. I don't fully actually buy it, but when they say Rick Rubin doesn't know any of the buttons, he's just vibes. He has to know the buttons after all these years.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, I'm certain.

[Adam Friedland]

But being so good at chilling that you can be, like, a super producer. That's the coolest kind of guy you could be.

[Chance the Rapper]

No, for sure. It is about vibes. It is about who you got in the room in the studio. Like, somebody can throw a vibe off or like, set the.

[Adam Friedland]

Dude, we have to go to the studio right now. Get the guitar. Get the guitar. No. Yeah. I want to talk to you about kind of your path because it's interesting because you. You got so successful so young, right. And now you're 32. Right. And like, I think that, like. Yeah. Like, does this feel like. What does the term comeback mean to you in the context of your new album?

[Chance the Rapper]

That's a good question. I feel like. I guess it just means coming back to the fans. It's been six years since I dropped a project and like, my, like, the

[Adam Friedland]

fans I do, they could be annoying, though.

[Chance the Rapper]

What's weird is, like, my fans, like, usually we talk about the whole thing about trading cards, about the, you know, devaluing the human part of people that we consider to be celebrities or famous or whatever. But what's weird about my fans is, like, because it was so grassroots and like, me literally hand to handing mixtapes and like, selling merch and doing small shows and growing over time, my fans were really, like. My fans are really, really invested in, like, me as a person. And so when I meet them, like, I get stories that like me up, like, stories about how music genuinely saved their life. They were in a dark place. Or, you know, I got divorced when they got divorced, or I got married when they got married, or I had this when they had this. And like, they should go to therapy probably. They. They're telling me they're therapist. No, but they like, it's like a. I think there's a value in being outside when you're me in that, like, the type of like, fan that I have is so at random. It's so, like, so many demographics, so many different kinds of people that, like, I never expected. And the stories, they'd be like, you want to sit and listen to it?

[Adam Friedland]

Really?

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

People have said that to me that they were like, I was depressed and suicidal. But the Cometown podcast got me through it. I was like, you should go to therapy. No. Or. Or listen to a. I was gonna

[Chance the Rapper]

tell you when I first saw you, I'm like, man, what's that? Cometown.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, you know, Cometown.

[Chance the Rapper]

I was gonna tell you I was gonna kill myself.

[Adam Friedland]

No, shut up, dude. Really? What from what?

[Chance the Rapper]

No, I'm just joking. I'm just joking. It's not funny to joke about killing yourself, but he gave me hell.

[Adam Friedland]

It's funny you could say it.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Have you. You had a mentorship with. With Kanye as well? Yeah. I mean, like, when I was in 11th grade, like, college Dropout came out. It was.

[Chance the Rapper]

That's so crazy. I think is a compliment.

[Adam Friedland]

He was the best.

[Chance the Rapper]

I think you're younger than me. I know you already told me that

[Adam Friedland]

you're older than me, but I look young.

[Chance the Rapper]

You look young. Yeah. Yeah. When College Dropout came out, I was in fourth grade. That was the first hip hop album I ever had.

[Adam Friedland]

I. I had.

[Chance the Rapper]

No.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, I had Ready to Die. I liked Biggie before that. No, no. Actually, no. No. Fifth grader.

[Chance the Rapper]

Remember when Biggie died?

[Adam Friedland]

No. Yeah. It was on the news.

[Chance the Rapper]

I was not watching the news.

[Adam Friedland]

I didn't watch a Sesame Street. No, no, I. I remember Mace. I remember, like, Harlem World.

[Chance the Rapper]

I remember, like, that's post Biggie. That's towards the end of Biggie's career.

[Adam Friedland]

I remember life after death. Fifth grade, I was sick. I was home from school sick. And I watched Jerry Springer and then Maury, and then I watched mtv, and then I. I heard Feel so Good by Mace, and it became my favorite song. In fifth grade, that's Ill. And then middle school, Eminem.

[Chance the Rapper]

When we was in sixth grade, Mace had a comeback, and he had a song called welcome Back, and that was our bro.

[Adam Friedland]

He also found God and breathe stuff Shake. Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

Breathe, step, shake. Let it go. That's how I learned how to Harlem shake.

[Adam Friedland]

Dude. No, I'm from Las Vegas, Nevada.

[Chance the Rapper]

I didn't know that.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, yeah. You got the second wave, Mace.

[Chance the Rapper]

I got the. You got the first. You got the O.C. that's what I was just saying is, like, you were already a formed hip hop fan by the time you got to Kanye.

[Adam Friedland]

No, I wasn't. Well, well, the other thing is the Jew, the boys my age.

[Chance the Rapper]

What are you stuttering?

[Adam Friedland]

We love. We love rap.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But for me, I'm saying, like, the white boys, our age, imagine your introduction to, like, you said your introduction was Mace. And, like, Mace Loki has a lot of similarities to Yay to Me. And they worked together before Kanye did the welcome Back Mace album.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, he. That's the other thing about Kanye that I don't think people say enough is that he could potentially be the best producer of all time as well. It is crazy to me.

[Chance the Rapper]

Is Yay.

[Adam Friedland]

Are you guys in touch these days? Is he all right?

[Chance the Rapper]

You know what's so crazy is people ask me that, like, I'm his therapist. Like, I don't know. I mean, like, I'm sure that he's, that he's fine. I think he just did like a sold out show and Korea or something like that huge show in Korea. But I, I, like, I haven't, like, I have not texted him recently. That's the, that's the point.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, yeah. You. You want to tell them I'm chill. Some of them are. Okay, I'll try.

[Chance the Rapper]

And

[Adam Friedland]

no, I gotta say this. Like, the anti Semitism is talked about a lot nowadays is really annoying for me because it's like a lot of the time it's just people criticizing Israel and it's like, it's, it's just a bad faith argument and not what anti Semitism is. It's like you criticize a genocide. That's not anti Semitism.

[Chance the Rapper]

Definitely two separate things.

[Adam Friedland]

But the first time, I didn't feel it growing up ever. But when Kanye said, I want the Jewish kids that love me to ask my. Their dads why ye is mad at us. I did get, I got.

[Chance the Rapper]

So you went to your dad?

[Adam Friedland]

I got my feelings hurt. I was like, but I look, I love you. I mean, he's so important to, like, boys my age. When we were in high school, because he was the first. Like, he was like, he went. He worked at the Gap and stuff. Yeah, he wasn't, he wasn't like. It was like, you could be a nerd. Also got to be good at music. But no, I don't. I mean, he's my favorite musician.

[Chance the Rapper]

I think, like, what good artistry should do is make you want to be yourself. Like, I think anybody that ever fell in love with an artist, they were like, damn. It's also, it's obviously like, oh, this person's talented. Their voice sounds good and shit like that. But like, I feel like most people fall in love, like, when it gets past a superficial phase. They fall in love with, like, artistry and like, well written songs and songs that feel like it speaks to them. And they're like, damn, this person is being themselves. And I think like, no matter who that person was, for you, if it was Ye, if it was Stevie Wonder, if it was whatever the fuck it was, like, you feel fall in love with the idea of somebody being themselves. And I think he was. He's always like, unapologetically gonna say the wildest shit that comes to his brain. And I think that, like, for a lot of people when we were younger, it was like, it felt like empowering.

[Adam Friedland]

I don't think he was that wild. Early on. He was talking about, like, when it would Come out. He was at college and stuff and that he wanted to drop out of art school and stuff.

[Chance the Rapper]

I. My college essay, when I was in. When I thought I was gonna go to college, I wrote it, like, from the perspective of, like. I was like, this is. I'm never gonna go to college. I wrote a college essay. That's a repressed memory. I wrote a college essay because I went to a college prep school. So in Chicago, you go to public school for grammar school, and then you

[Adam Friedland]

went to a magnet school.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then when. When you go to. When you go to. And so magnet school is a public school that basically pulls kids from black and brown neighborhoods or different parts of the. From the. Of the. Of the school system. Yeah. Or neighborhoods to go to a school that has, like, you know, that's for smart kids. Right?

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

And then I went to a magnet school, too. Vibes.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. It was embarrassing.

[Chance the Rapper]

And then when you go to high school, you could do this thing called selective enrollment where you can test. If your school is, like, a good school, you could test into, like, another good school where you don't have to. Your parents don't have to pay, but you get a good education. And I went to. I went to Jones and was, like, exposed to a lot of shit that I wasn't typically exposed to. And it was, like, a very artsy school. And I guess, like, in that time, like, I learned a lot about. I think I lost my train of thought. I feel like I forgot what.

[Adam Friedland]

You went to a school that inspired you to be an artist.

[Chance the Rapper]

To be an artist.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Kanye went to art school, too. He dropped out. For me, it's like, you know what it was? I'll tell you my age again, when the Harry Potter books were coming up.

[Chance the Rapper]

Growing up, I remember that he was

[Adam Friedland]

one year older than me, and I feel like each year he went back to Hogwarts. I was like, now I'm that. And it's like. Yeah. When he wanted to. Like, he wanted to clap Cho Chang. I was feeling that kind of way. Yeah. You know, like, he wanted to take down Cho Chang.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Why am I.

[Chance the Rapper]

Why is that name so.

[Adam Friedland]

Why am I talking. I mean, Harry Potter is so racist in retrospect. Yeah, yeah, they.

[Chance the Rapper]

They asked, but I'm a huge, huge Harry Potter fan.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, me too.

[Chance the Rapper]

I found myself on a lot of my projects. Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, really?

[Chance the Rapper]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

Who's the Voldemort in your life? King Von. No, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'M kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Were those guys nice to you even though you got. You went to a good. Got good grades and stuff? I would imagine it would be a little bit like. I don't want them to think that I'm a nerd. Look, because I was a nerd too, right? And like, the. I used to.

[Chance the Rapper]

Because I like that you.

[Adam Friedland]

Because I like. I like weed. And that's how I got the cool kids to like this. The kids that were being bad.

[Chance the Rapper]

What's the word for, like, you.

[Adam Friedland]

Like what?

[Chance the Rapper]

Like, you vibe with somebody, but I can't even think of the word.

[Adam Friedland]

Thrilling. It's, like, incredible to be around.

[Chance the Rapper]

What do you mean? Resonate?

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

I'm a friendly guy. You feel. I feel like you. But what I was gonna say is, like, the way that Chicago operates, we all gotta. We all gotta see each other. We all gotta work together. So, like.

[Adam Friedland]

So they wanted you to get good grades. They were like, I'm proud of you for getting good grades.

[Chance the Rapper]

It's not like California. I think what you're referencing is, like, when niggas be like, this a. This a good. He's gonna go to the NFL like Kendrick.

[Adam Friedland]

Stay out the streets like Kendrick. Right.

[Chance the Rapper]

I hear what you're saying.

[Adam Friedland]

It's like when I first saw the don't like video, I was like, it was scary to me because there was no girls in it and there were no. There were just boys.

[Chance the Rapper]

I was just talking about that.

[Adam Friedland]

They're in an empty apartment. There was no hoes. Like, rap was always about trying to get a lot of girls right. And I'm like, these kids just have guns and they're. They have their own apartment. Whose apartment is that? They're children. And they. I. If they. And they're your age demographic too. And you and Vic must have just been like a little bit butterflies. No. Before you met the lads.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, it was. I think it's like, come on, you

[Adam Friedland]

could be real about this.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah. No, I mean, they're also younger than me.

[Adam Friedland]

Are they younger?

[Chance the Rapper]

Younger than me. That makes it easier by, like two years.

[Adam Friedland]

That makes it scarier too, because, you know, the younger kids have less of a moral compass, to be honest.

[Chance the Rapper]

They got on before us. Like, if I'm being super real, if it wasn't for Keef Von was later. But Keef Dirk is kind of my same generation and not generation. We all, like, close in age, but like, he was like that second wave. But like, Keith and King Louie both blew up out of Chicago around the same time. 2011, 2012.

[Adam Friedland]

Like 14, 15 years old.

[Chance the Rapper]

Louie's older than us, but Keith. Yeah. Younger than me. And around that same time was when MTV started coming to Chicago to do documentaries. Like a documentary series on Chicago called My Block Chicago.

[Adam Friedland]

The Vice one is really cringe.

[Chance the Rapper]

Vice one is crazy.

[Adam Friedland]

Vice one is racism.

[Chance the Rapper]

The Vice one is like most of those documentaries.

[Adam Friedland]

We're here at O. We're here at O block. Where the child murders are happening.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Like, I saw an interview recently with Sosa where he's like. Like when we were consuming it from the outside, I was like, people. I think people said that he was autistic and that's why he's so good at hooks. Well, no, but then it just. He was like, there's an interview with him last year and he's like, yeah, I just had to get out of Chicago. He's like, now I live in la, you know, he's just. He was like on a lot of drugs, I think, as a kid. Probably.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah. It's also environment, like, you gotta realize,

[Adam Friedland]

like, he just seems so, like, he's doing great.

[Chance the Rapper]

Vegas, right?

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, Las Vegas.

[Chance the Rapper]

Vegas is super different from New York and I'm. And even though it's close, I'm sure super different from la. When I. And when I say la, I mean like in terms of Hollywood, like in terms of how many opportunities there are. It's like Orange County Camera. Well, I feel like Las Vegas is happening. I'm not saying it's not a big city. It's just like Chicago. It's a big city, but it's not a media export. So like you so imagine when, like, if Vegas had a Keef, if like there was somebody that was so, you know, transcendent.

[Adam Friedland]

Jimmy Kimmel.

[Chance the Rapper]

It's like a. Jimmy Kimmel's from Vegas.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, he is. Crazy places to be from. Greg Maddox. Who else is from Vegas? Panic at the Disco the Killers.

[Chance the Rapper]

CSI Las Vegas.

[Adam Friedland]

CSI Las Vegas Shouts OUT CSI Las Vegas. They were kind of the King Von of my childhood.

[Chance the Rapper]

I think there's a. There's a. There's. There's a time period that happened where Chicago became the epicenter of like, of hip hop music. And what was gonna be the new thing that white folks were scared of and the. And that popularity grew so many careers and really created a scene in Chicago that, you know, I think like, put us at the forefront of music for a long time. And even to this day, like, I think Chicago slang, Chicago artists, like, still have a great influence, but it's not New York. It's not la, so.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, for a long time it was only New York and la. That. Atlanta, a little bit. Houston.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

And then.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, everybody has their regional, you know, points in time.

[Adam Friedland]

It was just Common, basically. And then Kanye.

[Chance the Rapper]

Kanye Common, I feel like. And then, you know, you.

[Adam Friedland]

You.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You were with someone for 22 years.

[Chance the Rapper]

Who?

[Adam Friedland]

Your ex partner, your ex wife, or you knew her for 22 years?

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, we grew up in Chicago together, so I've known her for, like, most of my life. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

So in doing the research for this, like, I saw, like, the way people are so wrapped up in, like, you're like, it has to be a product of celebrity that people are like, I thought this was relationship goals, but, you know, like, that people are, like, so invested in it in a certain way. And the first thought I had was, like, going back to that future point, right? Future is like, was it. You think that people are so wrapped up in your shit because they thought of you as like, he's the good, happy, go, lucky guy.

[Chance the Rapper]

I think that's super possible. I think, like, there's an outside. Like, when you put out. When you publish something, you publish the work, but you also just publish the COVID Right. So it's like, people don't have to open the book to, like, know what everything's about. They just have to see it on the shelf. And that metaphor. I'm just saying, like, if I'm a celebrity, like, everybody that watches that interview doesn't necessarily do a deep dive into my music. They're just introduced to me in this video. And so I think, like, with celebrity and with, like, personal lives being shared, I think that there's people that don't have a full context of anything other than maybe something that they've read or, like, something that I've put out there about how long we've known each other or, you know, what the relationship feels like.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

Versus, like, people that are my fans know, like, I was, you know, I got married, like, four years after I had already had my kid. Like, I've known this person for a long time. We've been in and out of things, but we have, like, a, you know, really, really strong relationship. And I think that when I was very public about being married to her and being happy about getting married and being a rapper.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you regret being so open about your personal life?

[Chance the Rapper]

No, I'm a rapper. Like, that's a. That's a big part of being a rapper is being open about your public life and being. I'm sorry about your Personal life and being open to criticizing, to analyze the real world as well as your own vulnerabilities.

[Adam Friedland]

It's a little bit annoying, right? Like, you're going through a personal experience and then people have opinions. Opinions on, like.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, it's only annoying when you don't like the opinions, but, like, when they're good opinions. Don't you like it, like, when somebody's.

[Adam Friedland]

I don't care what a stranger thinks about my. My.

[Chance the Rapper]

You guys turn the camera, girlfriend. Don't care. No, no, no. But I'm just making a point. I was just joking.

[Adam Friedland]

We got a rap.

[Chance the Rapper]

Sorry for saying that. I was just making. I was making a point. I want to go.

[Adam Friedland]

I want to get back to the. The point I made about future, right? Like, no one's Team Russell Wilson. Everyone's like, yeah, future, he's got.

[Chance the Rapper]

He's, you know, didn't make March Madness. But, like, people.

[Adam Friedland]

What I'm saying is, like, people are like, I. What I found was like. And I didn't know about this because I don't, like, consume this type of media, but, like, the response to your divorce is like, that people were like, had. Were like, felt betrayed or something because it was relationship goals. And it's like, get a life. Like, it's like. I mean, future doesn't get that, right? Because it's like, the assumption is, I was making this point, it has to get pussy.

[Chance the Rapper]

I was making this point earlier. Like, everything that we see, like celebrities are the flagship of conversation. We push product, right? So when any headline that you get from a blog or from a shade room or anything, it's pushing a story, but it's also pushing a specific moral boundary where people have to feel hot or cold on either side. And so everything is politicized, even if we're not politics. That's just. But that's the way the media works.

[Adam Friedland]

It's bad for society, though. No one would, like. No one was like. No one. Like, there was the Beatles or like Elvis Presley. No one would, like, felt like, personally betrayed by their personal lives. Like, that there was a. There was a distance between the. The artist and then the audience. And I think for sure, probably the Internet early.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, probably the Internet has.

[Adam Friedland]

The Internet has blurred that line.

[Chance the Rapper]

Like, remember when, like, women couldn't wear skirts past their knees on tv? Like, remember when, like, people.

[Adam Friedland]

I don't remember that.

[Chance the Rapper]

Well, there was a time when, like, it was controversial to have a black person on TV on sharing the same set as a white person. So I'm saying, like, through Media as it's. As society and culture has revolutionized, there's been more and more like a close relationship to tv. And it's grown as society becomes cooler with things that used to be taboo.

[Adam Friedland]

Are you single gentlemen now or have you considered doing. What the God did you get a girl that looks a little bit like the last one and then make her be naked. What?

[Chance the Rapper]

That is hilarious.

[Adam Friedland]

So you've traveled a lot, right? You said that. I've seen other interviews with you like Ghana was a heavy influence. Tell us about like the. This is. This is the cd.

[Chance the Rapper]

So this is this. This is the cd, right?

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Chance the Rapper]

And people don't typically have CD plays in them. I'm sure you probably don't. So what I did with this project was in an attempt to create a physical handoff between me and my fans because that's what people used to really like is like I could get something that I owned forever that I got from this artist.

[Adam Friedland]

I love something physical.

[Chance the Rapper]

I gave them some physical. But more importantly I wanted to give them something that was functional. So this has NFC technology. I'm sure you know what NFC's are.

[Adam Friedland]

But national Football Conference, that's incorrect.

[Chance the Rapper]

So what NFC is, is. It's a near field communication. So what you could do with this CD is you could just tap your phone straight to it without like using a QR code or anything. And a link will populate and come down and it'll take you to the album. So you can Bluetooth it straight from your phone. So at any point, like if you keep your cd, you could play it on any speaker.

[Adam Friedland]

You're the first person ever.

[Chance the Rapper]

First person?

[Adam Friedland]

Really?

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You invented a new thing. It's like when two iPhones touch and then you.

[Chance the Rapper]

It's the same technology. Like when you use like your intimate. When.

[Adam Friedland]

When you do. When you touch another person's and you

[Chance the Rapper]

feel it and it's like a hot thing happens. It vibrates.

[Adam Friedland]

There's a vibrate. You're like, are we fucking right now? It's a little bit like that.

[Chance the Rapper]

Facts.

[Adam Friedland]

So what do you like? Your first single is. Is called Tree, right?

[Chance the Rapper]

My first song is called Tree. So it was a record that took a long time to put out that I love dearly and I feel like is a good thesis for the project. It's not. It doesn't cover all the topics of the project. But the song itself is about, you know, my mom, my. You know, how we grew up with these certain taboos around weed. You know, like how weed is represented when it comes to hip hop artists and black culture versus how we look at it as a financial like. Yeah, exactly, like a. You know, so there's a, there's a separation there, but it's also mainly about the inequities in the cannabis industry. How niggas go to jail, but other people make billions. There's a, there's a, there's a overarch. I'm sorry, there's an overarching disparity when it comes to ownership and agriculture. Black farmers, access to produce, access to fresh foods and access to the monies that those things make. And there's a microcosm of that is in the cannabis industry. But there's like, there's a larger conversation that I'm having that has a lot of connection to sharecropping and to slavery and just the way that capitalism was allowed to go crazy in this country. So this whole album, it's called Starline. It's named after the black star line, which was started by Marcus garvey in the 20s. He started the first ever black owned shipping and trading company. Owned these big ass ocean liners that would send beans, coffee, all types of stuff for other companies to South America and Central America.

[Adam Friedland]

Did he print off that?

[Chance the Rapper]

He did.

[Adam Friedland]

He had a place called Dirk Has a trucking company.

[Chance the Rapper]

Dirk does have a. So all of this is in line. There's, there's a lot of actual trucking companies that are named Starline because that's typically like a freighting company name. And the point of this project is to kind of like for the first time, I think at the forefront of hip hop highlight black entrepreneurship, black self determination. And I think just shining like. I feel like that's what you see this. So this was painted by Brandon, bro.

[Adam Friedland]

It's painted by art from acid Rapid coloring book.

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, yeah. And what he really focuses on is the composition which is always typically the same with like the portraiture in the center. But he's very really focused on like the fucking background. That's Aurora.

[Adam Friedland]

Aurora borealis.

[Chance the Rapper]

Aurora Borealis. Let's go. Also known as the northern lights. If you're not a nerd.

[Adam Friedland]

Have you ever seen it?

[Chance the Rapper]

I've never been there.

[Adam Friedland]

You gotta go to Iceland. You gotta go to Iceland. Boys trip. Dude.

[Chance the Rapper]

I like the way you said it the first time. Iceland.

[Adam Friedland]

Iceland. But last trip. I think weed should go back to illegal. Personally. It's not cool anymore now.

[Chance the Rapper]

No, facts, facts.

[Adam Friedland]

It's too much weed. You walk around New York, it's just like these and the dispensaries, the Aesthetics. They don't have good. They don't have like. Like cool. Like, they look gross.

[Chance the Rapper]

It's a government scam.

[Adam Friedland]

I think it is, actually.

[Chance the Rapper]

It's a government scam. Remember when they legalized. I keep saying, remember, like, you were there. I'm just saying, like, remember in history.

[Adam Friedland]

I remember all of it.

[Chance the Rapper]

The end of prohibition. Yeah, Same vibes.

[Adam Friedland]

They did that because the great commercial.

[Chance the Rapper]

They did it because of the commercialization of alcohol and how much they could, you know, viably make off of, you know, not allowing gangsters or black folks to be the only people making money off of liquor.

[Adam Friedland]

Really? I think us boys were making a little bit of money too.

[Chance the Rapper]

Hey, man, get in where you fit in.

[Adam Friedland]

You know, I think us boys used to print a little bit off of that.

[Chance the Rapper]

Us boys too.

[Adam Friedland]

I mean, but it must have made, like, hitting beer so cool when it was illegal.

[Chance the Rapper]

You could also go blind. Cause it's somebody's uncle making moonshine. So really regulation isn't bad, but also you don't know who's regulating it.

[Adam Friedland]

I think that's an anti. Anti.

[Chance the Rapper]

That's anti woke.

[Adam Friedland]

That's the anti beer. That's the anti beer propaganda, dude.

[Chance the Rapper]

Big beer.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Beating off does not make you blind. Uncle's moonshine does not make you blind. Anyway, Chance, we have to go Adam free once again. She's upset at me. Are you upset at me?

[Chance the Rapper]

Maybe a little bit. Did you make her upset last time?

[Adam Friedland]

No, no. We were just. Herb was like, I could go all day. He's like, no, we're staying.

[Chance the Rapper]

No. Yeah, we're late to. We got to go to this.

[Adam Friedland]

Where do you have to go?

[Chance the Rapper]

We're going to this premiere. Look up. No, but this is real. Cause your shit is huge. Is green mean that it's on? Is this arcam? It's not live, so you can edit however, but basically, hey, make sure you get my album Starline. It comes out August 15, the same day as Spike Lee and Denzel Washington's new movie that I'm going to see the premiere of right now.

[Adam Friedland]

You're gonna go right now?

[Chance the Rapper]

Yeah, we gotta. That's why we're late.

[Adam Friedland]

You got plus one?

[Chance the Rapper]

I don't have a problem.

[Adam Friedland]

Come on, bro.

[Chance the Rapper]

I had a plus one. But I already gave you it to Taren, so.

[Adam Friedland]

Really, you're better friends with him. Yeah, I guess so. But enjoy it, dude. I'm a big fan of Denzel Washington. Actually, he's one of my favorite actors. I'm going to name my first son Denzel Friedland.

[Chance the Rapper]

Let me write all this down so I can tell him.

[Adam Friedland]

Appreciate you, man.

[Chance the Rapper]

That was fun, man. Sam.