I'm meeting privately with the governor Wednesday. The two of us will address funding education in Chicago. I'm eager to hear his ideas.
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) February 27, 2017
Chance the Rapper has been one of Chicago’s biggest boosters, both in song and in deed. Now, that the fiercely independent rapper’s Grammy wins have gained him the attention of a wider slice of the public, he’s putting that platform to good use and pushing for education reform in his hometown. The Coloring Book rapper just tweeted that he’s meeting with the governor of Illinois to discuss education funding on March 1.
“I’m meeting privately with the governor Wednesday,” he wrote. “The two of us will address funding education in Chicago. I’m eager to hear his ideas.”
The meeting seems to have grown out of a series of tweets between Governor Bruce Rauner and Chano. After his big night at the Grammys, Rauner tweeted his congratulations.
“Congrats to [Chance] for making history as an independent artist and taking home 3 Grammys,” Rauner wrote. “IL is proud that you’re one of our own.”
Chance seized the opportunity and asked for a private meeting.
Thank you Governor, I would love to have meeting with you this week if possible. https://t.co/wFC41NQqGq
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) February 13, 2017
The state of Chicago public schools seems to be something of a pet issue for Chance. When he responded to President Donald Trump’s promise to send in the feds to the city in response to gun violence, he urged him to consider doing something more helpful, like looking into ways to fix the city’s struggling schools.
“I hope he’s coming in to do some type of federal overturn of our state and city budgets in terms of schooling and housing,” Chance said.
