Chance The Rapper Stops by Windy City Live and WGCI, Announces 'Warmest Winter' 2016 Coat Drive

         Photo by Rene Marban

         Photo by Rene Marban

Chance The Rapper stopped by Chicago radio station 107.5 WGCI's Chicago Morning Takeover on Tuesday, December 15th and announced a partnership with The Empowerment Plan to co-present the 'Warmest Winter 2016 Coat Drive.' The Empowerment Plan is a Detroit non-profit that hires previously homeless women to make sleeping bag coats for the homeless. For more information head WarmestWinterChicago.com. The following day, December 16th Chance stopped by ABC Chicago's Windy City Live to further speak on the give-back program.

While in the WGCI studios Chance talked on a variety of other topics including the city's handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting, Spike Lee, Chi-Raq, becoming a Father and his recent appearance as the first independent artist on Saturday Night Live.

Photo courtesy WGCI

Photo courtesy WGCI

“They’re not even glorifying it, it’s just a misrepresentation, it’s not what we’re going through right now. We don’t care about colors, we don’t care about flags, it’s not two rival gangs, it’s not the Bloods and the Crips, that’s a recycled story that he’s telling. We’re into it with people a block over from us because BDs kill BDs, GDs kill GDs, we don’t care about that. The reason why we’re dying isn’t because there’s two head gangbangers that are into it, we’re dying because we all have PTSD. You know, post-traumatic stress disorder. Kids as young as seven and younger than that have seen people murdered in front of them so that starts a paranoia in your mind that you’re walking around with and when you’re walking around thinking that people are trying to kill you, you shoot when you get scared, it’s a problem even I have, it’s a problem a lot of people suffer from. I feel like he didn’t address that, he said we’re doing it because of gang life or because our male ego is being compromised when we don’t fight but that’s the smallest part of it, we’re people who are scared.”
— Chance The Rapper on Violence in Chicago

On Laquan McDonald:

"My overall view of the thing is that all of them are guilty. Anybody who had knowledge of the tape and kept it secret is guilty. Anita Alvarez is guilty of giving trumped up charges to Jason Van Dyke. Let's not forget that name, we talk about Laquan McDonald a lot and I just want to point out that it is a deflection technique to make you look at the victim of the crime as a suspect and what he did with his life. Jason Van Dyke killed Laquan McDonald and he should be tried with second degree murder and manslaughter and not first degree because that's premeditated and Anita Alvarez gave him trumped up charges so that he could be acquitted of that. Just remember, Jason Van Dyke has not been convicted of any crimes yet."

Check out video from Chance's visit on WGCI below: