ABC News sat down with Chance the Rapper recently to talk about how he's committed to staying independent, despite continued interest from prominent labels. ABC's Robin Roberts visited Chance before one of his shows, talking about his groundbreaking year. Discussing why he continues to put out his music for free as well as his hometown Chicago and its gun violence issues, Chance shares a couple thoughts on his success and how Chicago can become a better place.
Speaking about why he releases his music for free, he said, "I wanted to give the idea of freedom back to artists, and one of the biggest things is control of how you release your music." Each of Chance's projects thus far have been released for free, including this year's phenomenal Coloring Book. Following up the question, Roberts asked about how he's able to turn down record deals, especially when it comes to saying no to Kanye West. "It's not easy at all, definitely not telling Kanye. It's definitely hard keeping that resistance, but I wanna teach people that it's doable without."
When asked about the gun violence in Chicago and what's behind it, he responded, "I think a lot of it has to do with legislation, just, our gun laws and education—we could definitely use better schools. But there are also a lot of really cool programs that already exist, like Young Chicago Authors and just a lot of programs for kids out there that do have that support system and do give kids opportunities to have a safe space to be in and grow."
Watch the full segment above.
