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Chance the Rapper Talks Staying Indepenedent

"It's about... that person to person connection," MC says in a chat about the business behind major labels during an interview with Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club.

Chance the Rapper broke down the power of staying independent in an interview with Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club this morning. From the sounds of it, the Chicago native has no immediate plans to sign with a major.

As he explained, staying independent allows for total control of the music from a creative and business perspective.

“It’s about being the manager of the product,” Chance shared. “For us, its about that ground work, having that person to person connection. People that buy my music or invest in me as a product and a person, know me and they feel like I’m connected to community just in a way that’s closer than that third-person relationship when you’re buying an album from Def Jam but you’re supporting this one artist. The label is pushing the product.”

Even though he still feels like a “struggling rapper,” the 21-year-old has done pretty good for himself without a label. He blew up after the Acid Rap mixtape two years ago and recently nabbed a feature on Madonna’s upcoming Rebel Heart album. “There’s nobody that’s gonna say ‘OK, I’m gonna work out the deal for you,” he explained. “We do stuff the way we want to do it.” 

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Elsewhere in the interview, Chance talks about the Surf release with his band, Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment, meeting Malia Obama years ago (his father Ken Bennett worked with Barack Obama before the presidency) and that long awaited solo album set to feature appearances from Frank Ocean, André 3000 and J. Cole. 

“Everybody’s looking for what I’m going to do next and the answer is I’m going to do new music.” 

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(Photo: 105.1 Breakfast Club via YouTube)

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