-Our first guest tonight
is a three-time Grammy Award-winning musician
who's celebrating the 10th anniversary
of his mixtape "Acid Rap."
He's also a coach on "The Voice,"
which airs Mondays at 8:00 on NBC.
Please welcome to the show Chance the Rapper, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Welcome. I'm so happy to have you.
-I'm happy to finally be here, man.
-It's a thrill for me. This is crazy.
I can't believe this has been 10 years since you put this out.
Now, of course, I realize it's only been eight years
since I was hip to it 'cause I'm, like, a nerd, you know?
Not a nerd. I'm, like, a loser.
Like, I always find out about cool music like two years later.
So two years from now,
I'm gonna celebrate my 10th anniversary.
-That's sick, dude.
-But this is sort of the album that changed everything.
Again, you're self-releasing it,
so you're doing it independently.
But after this, you start playing real big shows.
-Yeah. -Which is nuts.
Did you ever -- When you're going out and making this music
and sort of releasing it by yourself,
did you ever think it was gonna lead to something
that was not even international, but just nationwide?
-Yeah, I was like -- I was --
-Good. Got to believe it.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I -- Yeah, no, I just always wanted to --
I was always making music and performing
and doing talent shows since I was a little kid.
So, like, when I decided to become a rapper,
I was always hoping that it would be successful.
I didn't really have a plan B or anything,
but, yeah, no, the shows just kept --
-What were the -- But what were the --
Like, right before you start doing your big tour,
what were the sort of local shows you were doing in Chicago?
Where were the venues?
-It was kind of any stage I could get on.
I played -- I played Reggies' Rock Club
and Lincoln Hall in Chicago.
I used to do shows at, like, the --
at the library if I could.
Man, literally anywhere.
I performed at my aunt's breast cancer awareness rally once.
They liked it. It was dope.
-They did alright? -Yeah.
-Probably a slightly different crowd
than you were used to at the time.
Is it true that you played a few,
like, high school parking lots that had to get shut down?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I used to literally set up
wherever I could, and I'd come out with, like --
I'd have posters that I'd print
with this, like, album cover on it
and, like, have, like, I don't know, T-shirts and stuff
and try and, like, sling them in the parking lots
after school at different high schools.
And then, like you said, I would get shut down.
-Was it good for your reputation when it would get shut down?
-Yeah, you know, actually, that builds, like, some sort of,
like, you know, mystique around it.
You got to get there before the cops come.
You know what I mean?
-I would think that's very helpful, as well.
Did you ever -- I mean, Chance the Rapper,
first of all, it's a great name because it's very on the nose.
-Yeah. Yeah. -No confusion about it.
But I have to imagine you had some other options early on.
-Oh, yeah, well, I had a name when I was in eighth grade.
I was -- I went by Tony Jizzle.
-Okay.
Maybe a wise choice to say goodbye to Mr. Jizzle.
-No, I'm glad that that part of my life is over with.
Very much so an eighth-grade kind of name, yeah.
-You're going out, you know,
sort of to celebrate this anniversary.
And you have a couple new shows.
Can you announce a couple new locations?
-I'm glad that we could announce it here.
Yeah, so we just --
In celebration of the 10th-year anniversary,
we put up tickets on sale for a Chicago show
at the United Center, and they sold out immediately.
So by popular demand, I decided to add two more shows,
one in Los Angeles and another one here in New York City.
-Alright, that's fantastic. [ Cheers and applause ]
You had -- You mentioned Madison Square Garden.
And this is -- I'm sorry, you mentioned the United Center.
But Madison Square Garden once put you up on-screen.
They got a little bit of grief for this,
because if you look at the lower third
of what they -- how they described you.
Your name is Chance the Rapper.
And then underneath, they wrote "rapper."
-Yeah.
-And then you reached out and you said, "In the future,
the titles 'Father' and 'Zaddy' are both acceptable."
-Oh! -That was nice.
[ Cheers and applause ]
And now -- Then you go back. You're at the United Center.
And now it's your hometown venue, right?
And, I mean, obviously they heard you.
And I think it's very nice.
They put you up Chance the Rapper, father/zaddy.
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Laughs ]
-Mid-nacho chip, too. I'm eating.
-Yeah, you never know when they're gonna
throw you up on the screen.
So -- And now you are a dad. You got two girls.
-I got two beautiful girls.
-And that's very exciting. How are they --
Yours are about the same ages as mine.
And I'm wondering -- I think kids are obviously
maybe more drawn to music than late-night television.
Do they have any engagement with your work?
Do they know your songs? Do they like any of it?
-Yeah, they do like my music.
They -- They're really --
They're more into, like, Peppa Pig
and their contemporaries.
Like, they're more, like, into that.
But, like, I have a few songs that they'll listen to.
They like a song called "Let's Go on the Run" a lot.
-That's a good song for kids. That's got some --
Yeah, that's a very sweet song.
-I got to be careful when I'm picking my songs for my kids.
But they like --
-Yeah, that's very funny that I could see, you know --
I know your work enough to know
there are some songs where you'd be like,
"Do not listen to that song by Daddy."
-I didn't mean this. Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
I didn't mean this at all.
No, yeah, no, it's cool. But yeah.
-Would you ever think -- I mean,
in a desperate attempt to gain their affection,
would you do a collaboration with Peppa?
[ Laughter ]
-Out of my own desperation, I'd do a track with Peppa.
Like, if Peppa -- if you're listening right now,
like, I'm trying to work
or at least get some autographs for my kids.
Shout-out to Peppa Pig. -Shout-out to Peppa Pig.
-And the Baby Shark also. -Oh, Baby Shark.
You'd work with Baby Shark? -I would in a heartbeat.
Is this my opportunity to get these features?
Baby Shark. -Any fictional characters. Yeah.
-Thank you, man, for giving me this spot.
-I want to ask you about "The Voice."
We're gonna be right back with more from Chance the Rapper.