Chance The Rapper Praises Kirk Franklin’s Influence, Reveals Ideal Future Plans

Chance The Rapper gave a lecture to students apart of Harvard University’s Hip-Hop Archive & Research Institute recently (April 30). The program’s mission is to “facilitate and encourage the pursuit of knowledge, art, culture and responsible leadership through Hip-Hop.” With that in mind, the Ivy League college brought in the emerging Chicago rapper to discuss a range of topics.

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In a Q&A session, Chance gave an insightful conversation from subjects about an artist’s integrity, to a talk about misogyny in Hip-Hop. He also spoke highly of Kanye West and how much respect he has for the rapper/producer. “Everything he says is on purpose and very calculated, and he feels exactly how he feels,” said C.T.R. about his hometown’s superstar.

Known for his far-reaching influences on Acid Rap, Chance was asked about the role of Gospel in his music. The MC revealed, “One of my favorite, if not my favorite artists—definitely my favorite composer—is Kirk Franklin.” He then spoke about his proudest moment happened when his band The Social Experiment played a cover of the theme song for the children’s show “Arthur,” “Wonderful Everyday: Arthur.” The moment notably featured involvement from Wyclef Jean, Elle Varner, Francis & The Lights, and Jesse Ware, among others. “It’s not really a Rap song, it’s not really my song, but I love that song,” he noted about the cover of the famous Ziggy Marley tune

Moving away from simply music, Chance was beautifully specific regarding his personal goals. “I just want to get old in Chicago and be with my homies and make dope music,” said the 22 year-old about his simple but ideal future.

As the conversation came to an end, Chance expressed his happiness at the number of Black students in attendance at the lecture. He jokingly made comments about the Ivy League students who attended the lecture, by saying “I thought you guys were troubled kids and I was coming to talk to you about getting your lives together!”

You can read the full conversation on the Hip-Hop Archive website.

Related: Chance The Rapper Covers A Children’s TV Show Theme Song (Video)