June 03--Chance the Rapper's father Ken Bennett, an adviser to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, advised the 23-year-old rapper not to sign with Sony after dropping his "10 Day" mixtape in 2012.
"They were talking about printing up contracts then ... my dad called me and he was just like, 'Son, I know you're in New York. I know you're doing something really important, but remember: don't sign anything,'" Chance said Wednesday during an hour-long talk hosted by the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics. "And I was like, 'Damn, is he in this (expletive)?' And moral of the story, I didn't sign that (expletive)."
The South Side native, who was born Chancelor Bennett, still isn't affiliated with a major label. His "Coloring Book" mixtape, released last month via Apple Music, became the first streaming-only project to debut in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart.
At Wednesday's sold-out event, Chance also touched on his social activism, the media's coverage of gun violence and the influence of his parents, who sat in the front row.
