Kanye's Best Prodigy

In the last decade, hip hop has constantly gone through a massive revolving door of definition. It means different things to different people. To me, hip hop is not limited to rap music, fashion trends, or the way somebody speaks or conducts themselves compared to what may be politically correct or socially acceptable. To me, it is the sum of the three plus several other aspects of life that I believe hip hop not only changes but enhances for those who decide to identify with it. Now, even though hip hop is a multi-faceted phenomenon that has become what rock was in the mid 1900’s (changing speech, what’s considered “cool”, and basically what the kids believe to be the most valuable things at the moment), the undisputed leaders of hip hop, or leader, is rap music. And one of my deepest sentiments I have is that of all of the rappers and rap artists that carry hip hop forward (or backward), there is one (living) that I believe to have the most pull, the most juice and the most noteworthy name in the whole thing: Kanye.

You know his last name.

I won’t explain why I believe this to be true because this isn’t about Kanye and I will most likely make another piece explaining that at a later time. However, one reason why I believe it to be true is the tentacles that Kanye has (forget fashion, forget media, forget rap) in music, period. Now Kanye is not the recruiter or molder that maybe a Dr. Dre or a Jay Z or a Lil Wayne is, but he has been more than his fair share of the reason many stars got their start as a serious name in the industry. Folks like John Legend, Common, Kid Cudi, Big Sean and that is a big understatement on how many people Kanye has helped elevate to a plain they no-doubt wouldn’t have reached without his help. However, another Chicago rapper, who did not get as much help from Kanye as many may presume, is “Kanye’s best prodigy”, as he would say. Chance The Rapper is one of the most quietly important figures in hip hop in recent memory. His rise to fame has been all but orthodox and his personality is as annoyingly jubilant as the former top Chicago MC in his early years.

Chance never signed to Kanye’s GOOD Music label and only has a few songs where he collaborates with him. But the synergy between their personas and outspoken, avid reverence for Kanye on Chance’s behalf has linked their names since the mid 2010’s. Chance has released only 4 projects under his name only but his unmistakably exceptional first three mixtapes and a wide body of work including classic features, an album with his band and two Christmas projects have made this past decade as productive as possible for the father of two who just turned 26 this past Thursday. Involved in this body of work, is a humble bravado that is both authentic and relatable. Much like the pink Polo rocking, backpack wearing college dropout with the soul beats in the early 2000’s.

On Chance’s birthday, April 16th, I posted a screenshot of a track called “Blessings” the outro of Chance’s magum opus, his third mixtape Coloring Book. I captioned the post with a happy birthday wish to Chance and a quote from the song; “KANYE’S BEST PRODIGY”. One of my followers replied to the caption; “No one believes that but you.”

My question is: Who else could it possibly be?

What prodigy of Kanye West is a well-rounded artist, rapper, personality and influencer like Chance The Rapper? Chance is not leaps and bounds a better rapper than fellow prodigies Common, Big Sean or Kid Cudi, but I am sure he is a better artist and has a better body of work as far as discography and non-music tentacles.

During an interview on the Joe Budden Podcast, Chance explained how Kanye told him that he is trying to make a big imprint on history as most human’s contribution to it will be minuscule in the grand scheme of human history. This was used to justify some of the antics or what I called “moments” that make Kanye one of the most polarizing figures in the popular culture.

I believe that Chance has similar intentions. Just with different tactics.

Chance and Kanye’s music both speak for its selves. For Kanye fans, there are very few collections of music in history that will top The College Dropout. And to Chance fans, Acid Rap is the golden standard for modern day mixtapes. I’m a fan of both so I somewhat agree with both of those beliefs.

But what will always be bigger than either of their works of art is the works that they did in the physical world. Even to people who haven’t heard The College Dropout all the way through, they know that Kanye took Taylor Swift’s award speech away that one time, and that time he said George Bush doesn’t care about black people, and that time Barack Obama called him a jackass.

And if they don’t remember that, they remember TMZ and the hat.

Chance, on the other hand, had stayed relevant for close to three and a half years after Coloring Book dropped because of his constant appearances on television commercials and Netflix shows, his philanthropy in the Chicago area, and those “3” hats.

Now, before you get up in arms, I am not insinuating that Chance’s discography holds a candle to Kanye’s. Kanye’s discography is second to none in rap history. But I guarantee you half of the people on Earth who know the name “Kanye West” don’t know the difference between All Falls Down and No More Parties in LA. Rap just isn’t that big yet. Rappers are.

Chance has the perfect body of work. Important music. Check. Undeniable talent. Check. A distinguishable voice and sound. Check. An interest in multiple other things. Check.

Chance has been a Saturday Night Live host, the star of a 20-minute VICE short film, the leader of an instrumental group called The Social Experiment, a drug addict, a Grammy-award winner, an independent artist, and has his own “prodigies”. Acts like Vic Mensa, Noname, Saba, and Francis and the Lights are all talented artists that got their name out there first because of Chance, at least some of their first big songs were collaborations with Chance.

I also am not saying that he is the only artist of the decade that has all of these things. I am just confirming his position as the best example among Kanye’s prodigies.

It’s weird though. Chance didn’t have a Kanye collab until after his second mixtape. So is Chance really the best prodigy of the best hip hop artist of all time? According to him, it’s not a question.

“Kanye’s best prodigy,

He ain’t signed me, but he proud of me”