CHICAGO — Chance the Rapper has no plans to become Chance the Mayor, ruling out a run for political office in an interview published by Ebony magazine.
Quizzed by journalist Adrienne Samuels Gibbs about the website chano4mayor.com— and a dedicated Twitter account @chano4mayor2k19 — pushing the the Grammy Award-winning rapper — aka "Lil Chano from 79th" — to run for the office on City Hall's fifth floor now held by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Chatham native said he would "never" toss his ubiquitous baseball hat in the ring.
"I would never run for any office or government position," Chance told the magazine.
(Ebony, nevertheless, took the question of the rapper's potential political ambitions one step further, with the cover of the June issue asking "Chance for President?" and a headline inside the magazine trumpeting "B-Boy On The Ballot! Please, Maybe?")
"I'm not into it. I think politics is a reason why a lot of stuff doesn't get done," Chance continued. "There's a lot of favors, and a lot of people are held back by their intentions of being re-elected or the things that they owe their party or constituents. I think when you're in my position as an artist, I can say what I want and talk about the issues that matter."
Speculation about Chance's political fervor reached a fever pitch after he created a $2.2 million fund to save arts and music programs at Chicago schools hardest hit by budget cuts and criticized Gov. Bruce Rauner and urged him to end the budget crisis engulfing Chicago Public Schools.
Chance's comments delighted Emanuel, who praised him for "exposing" Rauner as a fraud — setting off another round of name-calling with the governor's staff.
The 23-year-old Chance is qualified to run for mayor of Chicago — he's a resident of the city, is older than 18 and is registered to vote in the 17th Ward.
Politics has long been on the mind of the rapper, whose real name is Chancellor Bennett. Chance's father once worked for Emanuel, who is expected to decide this summer whether to run for a third term in 2019.
In his 2015 song “Somewhere in Paradise," Chance seemed to have thought about it, at least in passing: "They say I'm savin' my city, say I'm stayin' for good. They screamin' Chano for mayor, I'm thinkin' maybe I should."
