Chance the Rapper: 'Working with Kanye West is 75 per cent lectures'

Written by . Published: May 18 2017

Kanye West spends 75 per cent of his time in the recording studio giving "lectures" to his collaborators, according to pal Chance The Rapper.


The Stronger hitmaker is known for his outspoken views and has made a habit of using the stage and his social media platforms to share his rants with fans, and Chance reveals his hip-hop idol is just the same when he hits the studio.

The 24-year-old helped Kanye write five songs for his The Life of Pablo album, including Ultralight Beam, on which he also features, while the producer/rapper returned the favor by delivering a verse on All We Got for Chance's Colouring Book mixtape last year (16).

Recalling the development process of The Life of Pablo tunes, Chance tells Teen Vogue magazine, "He's very big on multitasking. We'll have a studio rented out, and he'll bounce between rooms working on different songs, writing for a second or adding or subtracting productions. He'll also put a bunch of people in a room that he thinks might have good ideas and try to see what they come up with."

And Kanye tries to amp up the energy of his collaborators by giving them his impassioned takes on worldly matters.

"Twenty-five per cent of it (studio time) is productive ideas flowing," Chance continues, "and then 75 per cent is lectures from Kanye, where he tells you exactly how he views the world - just very straight Kanye, honesty that definitely gets your creativity and strong opinions out on the floor."

While some may find the interruptions distracting, Chance welcomed the open discussions because they gave him an opportunity to build up his own confidence by arguing his point.

"I think it helped me find myself," he shares. "I'm a young dude from Chicago who grew up with Kanye as my image of hip-hop. Finding your voice in a room where you have to challenge Kanye is scary - but it's also life-affirming."