--- title: Chance the Rapper: Surprise Tiny Desk Concert at NPR description: Chance the Rapper's surprise 'Tiny Desk Concert' performance at NPR caused staffers to literally lose their chill. canonical: https://time.com/4807977/chance-the-rapper-tiny-desk/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-06T19:58:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:44:14.417Z og:title: Everyone Freaked Out Over Chance the Rapper's Tiny Concert og:description: Total freakout og:url: https://time.com/4807977/chance-the-rapper-tiny-desk/ 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: Everyone Freaked Out Over Chance the Rapper's Tiny Concert twitter:description: Total freakout twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Everyone Lost it When Chance the Rapper Showed Up For This Surprise Concert > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ff316914-635e-4d4b-b25e-3b3768dfffd4&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 6, 2017 7:58 PM UTC  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 6, 2017 7:58 PM UTC The folks at _NPR_ are not strangers to having musical artists around, especially thanks to [their famed “Tiny Desk Concerts.”](http://time.com/3547338/t-pain-auto-tune-video/) However, the staff collectively lost any semblance of cool when a special guest came for a surprise “Tiny Desk Concert” — none other than [Chicago’s current favorite son, Chance the Rapper](http://time.com/4631321/chance-the-rapper-on-kanye-west/). According to social media posts by the employees, the performance by the [three-time Grammy winner](http://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/4742682/chance-the-rapper/) was announced over the PA system, which immediately sent the staff into a frenzy that one bemused staffer likened to [_The Leftovers_](http://time.com/4803878/the-leftovers-finale-review/). Besides capturing the frantic energy of the moment, the tweets also revealed that the rapper performed three of his songs, covered Stevie Wonder, and read a poem before lifting a donut from a staffer’s desk at the close of the concert — because honestly, wouldn’t you do the same? See the NPR staff freak out in all their glory below. > [](https://twitter.com/GeeDee215/status/871819784798777344) > [](https://twitter.com/AbbottRabbit/status/871810117888598016) > [](https://twitter.com/allyssapollard/status/871815703040602112) > [](https://twitter.com/AditiHBhandari/status/871824673541165057) > [](https://twitter.com/AbbottRabbit/status/871815529195081728) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4807977/chance-the-rapper-tiny-desk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4807977/chance-the-rapper-tiny-desk/"},"headline":"Everyone Lost it When Chance the Rapper Showed Up For This Surprise Concert","datePublished":"2017-06-06T19:58:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:44:14.417Z","description":"Cue mass pandemonium","url":"https://time.com/4807977/chance-the-rapper-tiny-desk/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","NPR","chance the rapper"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"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":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4807977/chance-the-rapper-tiny-desk/","name":"Everyone Lost it When Chance the Rapper Showed Up For This Surprise Concert"}}]}] ```