GHANA IS THE GATEWAY

WORDS BY SARAH OSEI PHOTOGRAPHY BY PRINCE BAFFOUR-ASARE

As Chance the Rapper embarks on a new artistic chapter, we meet him a world away from his native Chicago in Accra—a place where creativity and community abound.

Chance the Rapper is in a period of transition. Literally, when we talk, he’s just got back to Accra, where settling in, catching up with friends, and trying to secure an Internet connection delays our interview. But on a deeper, more profound level, Chance, the artist, the man, is in flux too, and this place is the home for that. After a trip in December 2021, the Ghanaian capital has become a place for him to manifest inspiration and progress.

In recent years, Accra has emerged as the destination for Black people in the diaspora and Africans across the continent. From Beyoncé to Kendrick Lamar, many superstars have made the pilgrimage, all grasping at something colossal. Chance made his own journey amidst this African renaissance. He spent a week, it changed everything.

It all started in Chicago, where Chance the Rapper vaulted to success as a teenager, swiftly becoming one of the city’s leading MCs. In the years since, he’s remained independent, adding gravitas and perspective to the rap scene, and focused a good deal of his attention on his role as a leader in his community. There is an authenticity, a rawness to his work that can be confounding—critics are as quick to exalt his works as they are to tear them apart. It’s been three years since his last much-disputed album, The Big Day. One would expect an artist with something to prove to cater to their immediate audience, go the traditional route, give us what we know. But Chance has a track record of mastering the unexpected.

For the next stage in his career, Chance gave himself a carte blanche. The journey to Ghana left him more ruminative, more intentional, more of an artist than he expected himself. He returned with “Child of God,” his first solo release in over a year, doubling as an art exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, then another release followed at Art Basel. But his venture into the fine arts isn’t a novelty; Chance is ready to write the next chapter of an abundantly creative career and it’s part of a story that goes back generations. “It had to be Ghana,” he tells me, “Ghana is the gateway.”

“WHEN YOU’RE IN PURSUIT OF PURE ART YOU GOTTA BE GUIDED BY TRUTH. EVEN IF I DON’T HAVE IT FIGURED OUT I MAKE SURE TO GIVE MY HONEST PERSPECTIVE.”

THE LAST TIME YOU VISITED GHANA YOU STAYED FOR JUST A WEEK. HOW DID YOU FIND COMMUNITY SO QUICKLY?

I came to disconnect from a lot of the stuff going on in Chicago, and to reconnect with Vic [Mensa], who I’ve known since we were kids. It definitely made our relationship stronger than it’s ever been. I also built a community here immediately, and met a lot of what I hope to be lifelong friends.

AS AN OBSERVER, IT LOOKS LIKE THIS TRIP CAME AT A VERY CRUCIAL TIME FOR YOU CREATIVELY.

Accra injected a lot of creativity and purpose into what I was doing. It also validated what I had been thinking for a while—it gave me confidence as a director and as an artist to work more comprehensively with visual artists. It made me understand what it means to be Black globally and how even though Black Americans specifically get a very, very important perspective there’s so many different experiences of Blackness depending on where you are in the world. Ghana has been super pivotal in terms of the advancement of Black people globally. It was important to come here.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT ACCRA THAT ALLOWED YOU TO FEEL THAT CONNECTION?

The love is permeating here. It hits you deep. When I first came to Accra, I didn’t expect it but—and I hope that I can still sound modest saying this—but people knew my shit. And not just my most famous stuff, but my B sides. I was very impressed, but the first thought that came to mind was, Why haven’t I played a show here? And I think that we need to come together as artists and create a sustainable way to always tap back into our people back home.

I’VE BEEN LISTENING BACK TO YOUR OLD STUFF AND WE DON’T TALK ENOUGH ABOUT THE LONGEVITY IN HIP-HOP THAT YOU’VE HAD. HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCESS?

I really don’t know what I’d call success. Do I feel successful? Yes, but I know I’m not done. I’ve always been someone who’s constantly adjusting goals, from when I first had the ambition to be a rapper. At one point my dream was to be on the radio, then to perform on SNL, meet Kanye West, and win a Grammy. Now it’s Art Basel and making music into fine art…I never would have imagined this when I started. But I think young Chance would be very proud of me now.

THIS BRINGS ME TO “CHILD OF GOD.” CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THIS NEW CREATIVE CHAPTER?

It’s radical and definitely very vulnerable for me. I wanted to see Black art and rap treated with reverence in the arts and we did that. Coming to Ghana and meeting the artist [Naïla Opiangah] helped me create what I believe is my proudest work. It challenged me to go back to a dream I didn’t have the confidence to complete. To tap more into visual art, especially as a filmmaker. I’m trying to put more emphasis on not just “the Rapper” side of Chance, but to translate my vision in more spaces than I even thought were possible at first.

WITH THIS PIECE, THE PROCESS SEEMS TO BE JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE FINAL WORK.

The song changed so much because of Ghana, and Naïla’s painting changed my whole outlook on it. I had the idea for the video showing Naïla creating the artwork. This was my first time taking on cinematography, and my main focus was composition; telling this uninterrupted story of the art coming to life. The song is about that voice that tells you you can get through those moments you didn’t think you’d survive, and its meaning became much more profound through the process. Its original title was “Do Your Thing, Child,” but at the end— seeing this 6 by 12 foot painting that she had created over three days while we filmed her—I realized it was a nice name for a song but this is high art. [That] title wasn’t radical enough. Radical because the piece itself is an embodiment of Blackness, all these bodies ascending as one and they’re all Black women. It’s incredible. Naïla had a fear of her work being sexualized because she painted Black women nude, but I think us having the agency to change the name to acknowledge those figures as the singular concept of “Child of God” made it a powerful thing.

CAN WE EXPECT YOUR ALBUM STAR LINE GALLERY TO BE A CONTINUATION OF WHAT YOU STARTED WITH “CHILD OF GOD”? HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THIS PROJECT?

Inevitable. It’s a continuation of a bigger story. Ghana had to be the backdrop for what I’m doing, and this album is so indebted to that. The name Star Line Gallery is in reference to the Black Star Line, Marcus Garvey’s shipping line that operated as part of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. It transported African Americans across the Atlantic to Ghana and back and was one of the few ways to make that connection. Even after the CIA stopped it in 1922, it had already set something off. Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah was for the betterment of all African people. When he announced Ghana’s independence on the Black Star Square that he had built, it was a continuation of Garvey’s story, of our story. It’s not surprising that Ghana is the gateway again for a lot of Black people to return and connect, and that it had to be a part of my journey, too. Connecting with the amazing creatives in Accra and creating art that defies the boundaries of art, the scope of what we’re expected to achieve under the banner of the “Black Star” feels like a full circle moment.

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THE PEOPLE WHO MIGHT NOT UNDERSTAND THIS NEW PATH, WHO WERE EXPECTING SOMETHING MORE TRADITIONAL FROM YOU?

When you’re in pursuit of pure art you gotta be guided by truth. Even if I don’t have it figured out, I make sure to give my honest perspective. And even when it’s uncomfortable or the Internet critics don’t approve, you can always count on me to create art that’s true. A lot of artists start out with the need to speak for something, whether it’s for themselves or their community, but I’ve seen it so often how over time the urgency diminishes and it’s easy to get caught up in all the things that come with making it. I’m glad that I didn’t lose focus, my path has been quite straight in that sense and [it’s] never wavered from the essence of art.

EARLIER ON I ASKED ABOUT YOUR IDEA OF SUCCESS AND HOW THAT HAS CHANGED. WHAT ABOUT LEGACY?

Legacy doesn’t mean much. What people will say after I’m gone, that’s not something I’m occupied with. I know a lot of people will say very good things about me. Then there’ll probably be others who’ll speak badly about me and my life. It doesn’t matter, I won’t be there to hear it. Since becoming a father, I understand that all of it means nothing if my daughters don’t know how much they were loved by their father and how capable they are. That’s my legacy.