Chance the Rapper’s father Ken Bennett, an adviser to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, advised the 23-year-old rapper not to sign with Sony after dropping his “10 Day” mixtape in 2012.
“They were talking about printing up contracts then … my dad called me and he was just like, ‘Son, I know you’re in New York. I know you’re doing something really important, but remember: don’t sign anything,'” Chance said Wednesday during an hour-long talk hosted by the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. “And I was like, ‘Damn, is he in this (expletive)?’ And moral of the story, I didn’t sign that (expletive).”
The South Side native, who was born Chancelor Bennett, still isn’t affiliated with a major label. His “Coloring Book” mixtape, released last month via Apple Music, became the first streaming-only project to debut in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart.
At Wednesday’s sold-out event, Chance also touched on his social activism, the media’s coverage of gun violence and the influence of his parents, who sat in the front row.
