Chance The Rapper Thinks Cardi B And Nicki Minaj Were Pushed Into A ‘Curated’ Beef

Chance The Rapper postponed his Big Day tour, but that hasn’t stopped the newly-married Chicago rapper from fulfilling his press obligations to promote the recently released album. Today, he stopped by Los Angeles radio show Big Boy’s Neighborhood to talk about the album, remaining indie for all these years, and his oft-maligned spirituality. During the interview, he was asked about the beef between Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, giving a revealing answer that pulled back the curtain on some of the music business’ behind-the-scenes practices.

After revealing that Offset reached out to him personally to appear on Cardi B’s debut album, Invasion Of Privacy, Chance addressed a follow-up question about being perceived as “taking sides” during Cardi’s then-ongoing tiff with Nicki Minaj. “A lot of that stuff is produced,” he admitted. lot of everything is curated before we get to see it. Like, all the information, the way that they phrase it to us, the way they pit people against each other. It’s made for you to accept it a certain way, so a lot of people had to choose a side. I don’t want to speak for them at all, but I feel like to a certain extent, they got pushed into that too and I don’t think that all of that was a hundred percent their feelings.”

He also said that he wanted to be on Cardi’s album from the beginning, but it took some extra prompting from Offset — a close friend, as it turns out — to get him in the studio to record his verse. “Just being honest,” he said of Cardi and Nicki, “They are two of the greatest recording artists. The way that their music touches people, the way they’ve impacted music? It’s been incredible.” Chance said he counts the possibly-retiring Nicki as a mentor, while Cardi is a friend because they’re the same age. “I have a massive amount of respect for them and I think we all should.”

Chance The Rapper’s debut album The Big Day is out now. You can watch him perform “Eternal” with Smino on Ellen here.