Chance the Rapper: 'Obama gave me career advice'
U.S. President Barack Obama cornered Chance The Rapper for a career chat during a recent White House event.
Chance, real name Chancelor Bennett, joined the likes of Nicki Minaj, DJ Khaled and Alicia Keys at the presidential home in April (16) to talk about criminal justice reform and the My Brother's Keeper initiative, a mentorship and support programme designed to help young men of colour.
Obama proved he was also a fan of the 23-year-old's music when he
included the artist on his summer playlist, and the rapper reveals
the President's oldest daughter, 18-year-old Malia, is also an
admirer, especially of his third mixtape, Coloring Book, which has
been available to stream for free online since its release earlier
this year (16).
"I think they were both (Malia and sister Sasha, 15) in school the
day that I went up there recently, but Barack was talking about it.
Or, uh, President Obama was talking about it (Coloring Book),"
Chance told America's GQ magazine.
"He didn't say it publicly. (After the My Brother's Keeper meeting)
everybody takes a group photo, and he's signing stuff. And he keeps
pushing me to the back, and I'm like, 'I don't understand why he
won't sign my s**t.' And he makes me wait 'til the end, and then he
brings me up to his office, and we had a really good conversation
about what I was working on. He told me I needed to start selling
my music."
Chance is equally as fond of the President as he is of the rapper,
and the MC claims he would still be a fan even if the 55-year-old
politician was a waiter.
"He's a good man. Even if he wasn't president... he'd be just a
good man," he praised.