Following the Hollywood premiere of the 2019 rendition of the Disney classic The Lion King, Chance the Rapper has shared the backstory on how he ended up getting involved with the production thanks to a timely Donald Glover suggestion.
Wednesday, Chance shared a note to Instagram detailing his lifelong fandom of all things Lion King (including the Timon & Pumbaa TV series) and revealed the "blur" that became his relationship with the production.
"When my big bro Donald got [cast] as Simba, he did the coolest thing ever and told director Jon Favreau to call me in as a consultant to keep the original flavor," Chance said. "So for about a year I would go to the LK studio and see early animations, scenes, music direction or assemblies and they'd always be out of this world amazing."
From there, Favreau started asking Chance to contribute "singing stuff" and "some lines" to the film, which Chance said in his note Wednesday will go down as an "amazing" Disney entry.
Chance's advance praise for Favreau's film is among an assortment of similarly stoked early assessments, with the general consensus—though some had mild bones to pick about matters of the uncanny valley and a few music-related moves—being that the new Lion King is a worthy supplement to the beloved original.
The anticipated film arrives amid a summer of similar moves by Disney in the forms of updated takes on Aladdin, which dropped back in May, and the upcoming 2020 revival of Mulan.
