--- title: Dave Chappelle Jimmy Fallon Describes Meeting Kanye West description: Kanye, never change canonical: https://time.com/2881734/dave-chappelle-describes-the-first-time-he-met-kanye-west-and-its-amazing/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-16T15:53:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:47.538Z og:title: Dave Chappelle Describes the First Time He Met Kanye West og:description: Kanye, never change og:url: https://time.com/2881734/dave-chappelle-describes-the-first-time-he-met-kanye-west-and-its-amazing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dave Chappelle Describes the First Time He Met Kanye West twitter:description: Kanye, never change twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Dave Chappelle Describes the First Time He Met Kanye West and It's Amazing by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 16, 2014 3:53 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 16, 2014 3:53 PM UTC In advance of a string of shows at Radio City Music Hall, Dave Chappelle has been hitting the late night talk show circuit – and it’s the gift that keeps on giving. During a stop-over on _The Tonight Show_, Chappelle recounted that time he was mistaken for member of The Roots, the show’s house band and let Jimmy Fallon thank him for abruptly departing for South Africa and leaving a gaping hole in the comedy scene: “In the meantime I got famous. So thank you for that,” Fallon quipped. “That helped.” But the best story to emerge from the appearance was the first time Chappelle met a then-unknown rapper named Kanye West. Chappelle gave West his first appearance on television as a musical guest on _The Dave Chappelle Show_ back in 2003\. “You could tell that he was going to be a star,” the comedian said on [_Fallon_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4SYIfhzMmU#t=369). “I didn’t know him until he did the show.” While making the show, Chappelle, West, Jay Z, Common and [Talib Kweli ](http://entertainment.time.com/2013/06/19/talib-kweli-on-the-burdens-of-being-hip-hops-outspoken-conscience/)were listening to Jay Z’s just-released _Black Album_ at Chappelle’s studio. On track 12 of the album (“Lucifer”), Jay says, “Kanyeezy, you’s a genius. You did it again!” Chappelle said that at that point, “Kanye stood up. First time he spoke all day, and he goes, ‘Stop the record! And rewind that.’ ” Later, West took a phone call during which he announced, “‘Hello? No, I can’t. Because I’m at the edit for the _Dave Chappelle Show_, watching sketches that no one’s seen before.’ ” West paused for a moment before declaring, “‘Cause my life is dope and I do dope s–t,” before hanging up the phone. Time may pass, but Kanye remains the same. **MORE**: [Dave Chappelle Will Return to NYC Spotlight at Radio City Music Hall](http://time.com/139611/dave-chapelle-new-york/) **MORE**: [Dave Chappelle Says He Never Quit His Comedy Central Show](http://time.com/2858180/dave-chappelle-comedy-central-show/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2881734/dave-chappelle-describes-the-first-time-he-met-kanye-west-and-its-amazing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2881734/dave-chappelle-describes-the-first-time-he-met-kanye-west-and-its-amazing/"},"headline":"Dave Chappelle Describes the First Time He Met Kanye West and It's Amazing","datePublished":"2014-06-16T15:53:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:47.538Z","description":"Kanye, never change","url":"https://time.com/2881734/dave-chappelle-describes-the-first-time-he-met-kanye-west-and-its-amazing/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Kanye West","jimmy fallon","Videos","The Tonight Show"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2881734/dave-chappelle-describes-the-first-time-he-met-kanye-west-and-its-amazing/","name":"Dave Chappelle Describes the First Time He Met Kanye West and It's Amazing"}}]}] ```