Chance the Rapper Responds to Critics Who Say He ‘Fell Off’

Chance the Rapper is confronting his critics.

During his appearance on “The Breakfast Club” on Tuesday, the Chicago MC was asked how he responds to those who say he fell off following the release of his 2019 debut album The Big Day.

“How hard is it to not feed into criticism you may see of yourself online? Because there is a lot of chatter online. They like to say Chance the Rapper fell off, that’s their language,” said Charlamagne Tha God.

But Chance won’t let the criticism get the best of him. “To me it’s like, I could do one of two things: I could either agree with it, or I could live my life. If I agree with it, then that means ‘The Breakfast Club’ fell off, ’cause y’all don’t have people that fell off sitting in your chair I don’t think, usually. And so I feel like I gotta stay on my path.”

Chance went on to say that he’s been dealing with criticism since he was a teenager. “Ni**as was saying I fell off when I was in high school,” he said. “I made four mixtapes! Ni**as was telling me in high school, ‘Your last tape was better.’ I’m like, ‘Ni**a, I’m 15!’”

However, he did admit that the judgment weighs on him at times. “I can joke about it, but it is tough, but it’s like, I don’t know, what can I say? Tell people that my feelings are hurt?”

He’s been able to channel that energy into his music including his latest collaborations with Vic Mensa and Joey Bada$$.

“The best thing that I could do… Man, when I get up with Vic, we just go and we just write and we just make shit. It’s so undeniable,” he said. “I’m so good at rapping… At this point, I gotta put the words on the screen ’cause motherfu**ers really loving that shit. It gives people goosebumps.”

The Big Day debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, but it didn’t receive the same critical and commercial success as his Grammy-winning 2016 mixtape Coloring Book.

Chance also had some words for fans who like to value rappers like they’re commodities. “I could listen to people that think about artists like they’re fu**in’ Pokémon cards, like these commodified trading cards that’s like, ‘Oh, your fu**in’ 2K rating just went down.’ Like, f**k them ni**as, these ni**as is lame as hell!” he said. “They’ve never been on. If I fell off, at least I was on.”