Chance The Rapper says he experimented with “a lot of drugs” after the release of his mixtape, Acid Rap.
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In honor of the 10-year anniversary of the career-altering project, the artist sat down with Complex to open up about his previous struggles with substance abuse. When the Chicago native was propelled to stardom, he quickly took advantage of the resources that became easily accessible—drugs.
“The way that I was living at that time. I had everything in excess,” Chance The Rapper told the outlet in a video interview. “Right after I dropped the project, I went on a few tours where I really didn’t make any more. Then I went on my first tour, my headlining tour, where I made some money.”
After he embarked on his first headlining run, he rented a “crib.” It marked his first time living without his parents and under a different roof in another city. With freedom at his fingertips, the rapper used “a lot, a lot, a lot of drugs.”
The “Cocoa Butter Kisses” singer said that the legal substances would turn him into a “different person” and a “lesser person” than he is now.
He quickly recognized that he had a problem.
“If I hadn’t had my spirit tugged on—literally—and a calling to become a better version of myself, then I would have died for sure. Then I would just be the representative of acid, and I am so much more.”
The hitmaker continued to acknowledge the toxic side of the entertainment industry and how many musicians find themselves in dangerous situations in order to write from real-life experiences.
“Entertainment, is entertainment,” declared the artist. “We like it because it’s something that’s recorded that we could experience in that one time and then hopefully come back and listen to it and it sounds the same. But it takes away the humanity from the people who make it.”
This is far from the first time Chance The Rapper has displayed his vulnerability. Nearly five years after Acid Rap, the musician told the publication about his battle with anxiety.
‘I think anxiety is also something that I’m just now being exposed to. A really big conversation and idea that I’m getting introduced to right now is black mental health. ‘Cause for a long time, that wasn’t a thing that we talked about,” he said.
“I don’t remember it. I don’t remember people talking about anxiety; I don’t remember when I was growing up, that really being a thing. Now I’m starting to get a better understanding of that part of my life, [ but] I’m scared of medication and shit like that,” he continued. “I’m cool with self [medication]—I like to smoke weed and shit, to chill out, but now that I’ve gone through so many different stages in a short period of time I’m not really trying to try no new drugs, even if they prescribed. I’m chilling.”
Chance The Rapper is slated to headline a show at the United Center in Chicagoland on Saturday, August 19. The hometown show is set to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the breakout project and how far he has come.
Chance recently (April 30) dropped a re-imagined version of “Juice” in its “original glory and format.” Listen below:
Photo by Julia Reinhart/WireImage
