I don’t think Chance The Rapper woke on Monday morning with the intent to become a trending topic on Twitter, but after being roasted online for endorsing Kanye West for President, life had different plans.

 

Most people, me included, were confused as to how Kanye releasing a song paying tribute to his late mother could be a prerequisite for the presidency, but I think we’ve seen that stranger things can happen. If that wasn’t enough to set Twitter abuzz, Chance sent a string of follow-up tweets, including one asking why Joe Biden would be better than Kanye West.

Seventeen thousand replies later, and Chance says he’s heard the answer: People trust Joe Biden more than they trust Kanye. He understands why, but says he doesn’t feel the same way. This is where I should note that Chance is a longtime friend, collaborator and, essentially, protégé of West. So, perhaps his cloudy judgment is riddled with bias.

At the end of the day, Chance slowly backed away from his support of #Kanye2020, saying he understands Ye probably won’t be running for president, since no paperwork was filed. He also saw that his tweet storm caught the eye of Terry ‘I’m advocating against Black supremacy’ Crews, and that appears to have helped make him realize the error of his ways — not wishing to die on this hill. 

 

What happened to Chance The Rapper? He’s here asking people why they trust a former Vice President more than Kanye West? Kanye can’t even keep his promise when it comes to an album release date. Why would he be the one to make great strides on the issues Chance cares most about? Like reparations, prison abolition, universal basic housing, education reform, and universal basic income.

Chance has been a well-respected artist in and out of the rap community. The success of his 2016 streaming-only mixtape Coloring Book actually led to a change in Grammys eligibility rules for “free” projects, like mixtapes — although the Grammys won’t admit it. He ended up winning the Best Rap Album Grammy for that project.

After an extended break he released his debut album, The Big Day in 2019, which was met with a lukewarm reception by critics. But when it comes to hip-hop, who cares about the critics? It’s about what the fans think. Unfortunately the fans hated it, boiling it down to memes about Chance sounding like a corny Christian rapper, and his only lyrical subject matter being how much he loves his wife. 

Did we build up the image of Chance The Rapper to be cooler than he actually is? Only time will tell. There was a period of time when Donald Glover was criticized for statements that ranged from politically incorrect to downright offensive in his comedy and music. But Donald appears to have evolved, and now he’s the coolest guy in the room. Perhaps Chance The Rapper’s glow-up is still on the way.