Chance the Rapper Talks New Album, Kanye West Collaboration

By Variety Staff

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – UPDATED: Chance the Rapper tweeted late Tuesday morning that contrary to what was initially reported based on his quotes in the Chicago Tribune , he will not be releasing a new album this week.

However, the MC did say that the album, the follow up to 2016’s Grammy-winning “Coloring Book,” will be out “in a few days.” Chance talked about the album — as well as a separate forthcoming album in collaboration with Kanye West — in a wide-ranging interview with Greg Kot at the Chicago Tribune in which he discussed his many charitable efforts, including the Special Olympics 50th Anniversary concert he’s headlining Saturday in the city with Usher, Jason Mraz and Smokey Robinson, among others.

“It has been difficult for me to release music with artists who work with the major [labels],” he said. “A lot of stuff I’ve worked on hasn’t come out since ‘Coloring Book’ because it’s hard” when collaborating with artists limited by record deals.

“I got that feeling when people do something that has a new feel to it,” he continued about the new album. “I’m excited for everybody to get that. It’s going to come out just in time for the Special Olympics.”

As for the collaboration with West, which Chance said the pair had begun a few weeks ago in Wyoming, “I don’t know of a timeline on it yet, the trajectory of it, but he’s coming here [to Chicago] to work on it some more. We’ve just started making it, but I don’t want to manipulate the situation and impose any time frame, because that can hinder you.”

While Chance did not divulge exactly how his new album will be released — “Coloring Book” was issued initially as an Apple Music exclusive, then as a free download, becoming the first streaming-only album to win a Grammy — but he did share some thoughts on the process of releasing music.

“I’ve never been against selling music,” he said. “Music has value. I put my music out there for free because I wanted people to see and notice it as a beacon for what I’m doing, in terms of how unorthodox I wanted my approach and my delivery of each piece of music to be. On the other side, it’s not really difficult for me to make music and deliver it to the fans, because there are so many more platforms now, a bunch of streaming sites. The bigger concern for artists now is navigating the legal issues of owning your music, your publishing, your distribution.”

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