Chance the Rapper and Ye don’t really talk anymore.
The Chicago rapper sat down with the New Rory & Mal podcast as he rolls out Star Line, his first album since 2019’s The Big Day, and was asked about his current relationship with Ye (formerly Kanye West) and if some of the music they’ve worked on in the past was going to be on his upcoming project. “Nah, there’s nothing from those sessions on this album,” Chance said around the 37-minute mark. “There was one that could’ve been raw.”
He added: “And I was gonna say…honesty is the best policy — I haven’t talked to him in a long time. He’s one of the most influential people in my music. He was at my wedding, our kids have hung out together. I’ll always love Kanye, but just being honest, I haven’t talked to him in a while. I feel like I’ve been hella busy — I’m working on sh–. He’s obviously been busy. I be trying not to take opportunities to diss mother—-ers or add too much to the story.”
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He was then asked if he would try to talk to Ye once he drops his album and things settle down a bit, and Chance gave sort of a vague answer as he tried to choose his words wisely. “The way that I think about my world is, I be thinking about my day. So, what I gotta do that day and what I’m working on for the next two weeks, maybe six months,” he tried to explain.
“My relationships and how I view people as friends and stuff is just, ‘Have I loved this person? And have they ever willfully and intentionally betrayed me?’ I got friends that I haven’t talked to in five or six, seven years. It’s not like I’m anticipating some conversation, some thing where it’s like, ‘All right, now it’s my time to fix you and tell your a– what you’ve been tweaking on.’ No sh– like that.”
Chance continued by pointing out that their friendship dynamic is complicated because they aren’t “necessarily peers,” and that he holds Ye and his debut album in high regard.
“I’m also a lot younger than them n—as,” he explained. “There’s also different ways that people can even have friendships, because we’re not necessarily peers. My first album that I consciously wanted to have was The College Dropout. So I have a different reverence for him, or just understanding of how my life went and how it influenced things I do. I think most rappers got a rapper that was they first album, and probably from they city. So, imagine if yours was Kanye West, and imagine if you worked with them, and imagine all that sh–.”
He finished his answer by saying he’s in no rush to talk to his former collaborator.
“I let people be people. I’m always gonna have my own opinions and I’ma always state my opinions,” he said. “For the most part, I’ma just be me, I’ma let people be them. And so no, there’s not a time where I’m like, ‘Man, I gotta make sure I hit up Kanye before I put this album out or after I put this album out,’ or anybody.”
Back in 2022, a clip surfaced online of Ye yelling at Chance while they were in the studio, and the Coloring Book rapper told The Morning Hustle radio show that he was actually there to check on Ye’s mental health, and that the experience made him “evaluate” their friendship.
“I did come out there to check on my friend,” he admitted. “Me and a lot of other people still have love for Ye. But he’s human, he’s not perfect. He was obviously going through it at that time. … It made me evaluate my friendship with him, for sure. I had never been so close to him going through an episode. At the end of the day, I definitely love the dude. That’s my guy. It sucks that sometimes people can exploit a moment that is a genuine moment.”
Chance the Rapper’s Star Line album drops at midnight ET (Aug. 15.)
You can watch the full episode below.
