Quotes from Chance The Rapper

When I write, I work off of a theme, an emotion, a narrative - thinking of it and then expounding on it.

I'm a good man, and I'm gonna become a better man.

I made the decision that I was going to make rap music in, like, fourth grade, so it's been something I was saying for a long time.

I dont really like meetings, I like recording and performing music. I need to set myself up for when the time does come that I need better distribution or just a bigger team behind me.

The whole point of 'Acid Rap' was just to ask people a question: does the music business side of this dictate what type of project this is? If it's all original music and it's got this much emotion around it and it connects this way with this many people, is it a mixtape? What's an 'album' these days, anyways?

People don't want rap to be anything other than it is. But genres expand. My contributions, no matter how they sound, will always be rap, because they'll always be black.

I never really liked the idea of rap being a competitive thing. It's not.

I'm definitely tired of playing 'Acid Rap.' I'm definitely tired of playing 'Juice.'

For me, performing is the biggest part of being a rapper. There's nothing like the feeling of screaming your story to people.

I don't make Christian rap, but I am a Christian rapper.

I think even before I knew I wanted to be a rapper, I wanted to be an entertainer. I was really into Michael Jackson as a kid.

I used to be the class clown. I was the funny kid. That's why it was so hard for people to understand that I rap, because for a long time, they didn't take me seriously for who I was. By, like, eighth grade, I was really rapping.

I think politics is a reason why a lot of stuff doesn't get done. There's a lot of favors, and a lot of people are held back by their intentions of being re-elected or the things that they owe their party or constituents.

It wasn't until I left that I realised it's not weird to grow up in certain cities and, by the age of 27 or 28, for all of your friends to still be alive. I can think of a lot of kids that I knew in Chicago who were supposed to grow up but didn't.

I think it's so dope that I'm here in Chicago and contributing to the music scene that's thriving. People are so happy Chicago's shining that everyone is willing to say 'I represent Chicago.' That wasn't always the case.

Anything is respectable in its own realm.

I had already been making music for my whole high school life, and '10 Day,' which took me a whole year to finish, was about working with a lot of different producers and learning all of the aspects about being a rapper, from shows to recording to studio etiquette to marketing.

If you can give away free music, you can give away free electricity, free water. Those tiny jabs at a larger infrastructure are what make revolutions.

Whats better than followers, is actually falling in love

I've come to understand that art is awesome and beautiful because it's a reflection of life - but it's just a reflection, and the real thing is my daughter.

I don't necessarily think, as a person of influence, that it's always my job to influence people regarding my opinion.

I think I always knew I wasn't gonna have a regular job.

I would largely attribute my identity - as it relates to music labels and corporate music giants - to Dave Chappelle and his relationship to and firm standing in Hollywood.

There's nothing like doing a show at home. When you do a show in Chicago, there's just a certain love that you don't feel anywhere else; it's like home base.