Though Chance the Rapper and Ye share a long history, it appears they haven’t connected in quite some time.
Ahead of his upcoming album Star Line, Chance joined the New Rory & Mal podcast, where he was asked if Ye would appear on the project.
“I haven’t talked to him in a long time,” Chance said around the 37:45 mark. “He’s one of the most influential people in my music. He was at my wedding, our kids have hung out together. I always love Kanye, but just being honest, I haven’t talked to him in a while.
“I feel like I’ve been hella busy — I’m working on shit,” he added. “He’s obviously been busy. I be trying not to take opportunities to diss motherfuckers or add too much to the story.”
When asked if he planned to reach out to Ye once things calmed down, Chance replied, “No.”
“The way that I think about my world is, I be thinking about my day. So what I gotta do that day and what I’m working on for the next two weeks, maybe six months,” he explained. “My relationships and how I view people as friends and stuff is just, ‘Have I loved this person? And have they ever willfully and intentionally betrayed me?’
“I got friends that I haven’t talked to in five or six, seven years. It’s not like I’m anticipating some conversation, something where it’s like, ‘Alright, now it’s my time to fix you and tell your ass what you’ve been tweaking on.’ No shit like that.”
He went on to say that he and Ye aren’t “necessarily peers,” and that despite their collaborations, Ye was — and still is — one of his idols.
“I’m also a lot younger than them n***as. There’s also different ways that people can even have friendships because we’re not necessarily peers. My first album that I consciously wanted to have was The College Dropout. So I have a different reverence for him, or just understanding of how my life went and how it influenced things I do.
“I think most rappers got a rapper that was they first album, and probably from they city. So imagine if yours was Kanye West, and imagine if you worked with them, and imagine all that shit,” he reflected.
“I’m always gonna have my own opinions and I’ma always state my opinions,” he added. “For the most part, I’ma just be me, I’ma let people be them. And so no, there’s not a time where I’m like, ‘Man, I gotta make sure I hit up Kanye before I put this album out or after I put this album out,’ or anybody.”
The two first teamed up nearly a decade ago on The Life of Pablo, released Feb. 14, 2016, with Chance appearing on the opener “Ultralight Beam” and contributing writing to several tracks, including “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1,” “Famous,” “Feedback,” and “Waves.”
Ye later appeared on Chance’s Coloring Book mixtape cut “All We Got,” which dropped May 13, 2016.
Chance’s second studio album, Star Line, arrives Friday.
