--- title: Chance the Rapper Defends Kanye West in Interview description: Chance the Rapper on why he doesn't necessarily want Kanye West's personality, but admires his boldness. canonical: https://time.com/4631321/chance-the-rapper-on-kanye-west/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-11T17:54:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:40:04.739Z og:title: Chance the Rapper Defends Kanye West og:description: "He’s not somebody that is going to sugarcoat things when he does speak." og:url: https://time.com/4631321/chance-the-rapper-on-kanye-west/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3c4ef2702ce4309/6988b51f8fd2eeac6a3555bb/kanye-west-chance-the-rapper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Kanye West and Chance the Rapper og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Chance the Rapper Defends Kanye West twitter:description: "He’s not somebody that is going to sugarcoat things when he does speak." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3c4ef2702ce4309/6988b51f8fd2eeac6a3555bb/kanye-west-chance-the-rapper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Chance the Rapper On Why He's 'Always Been Able to Defend' Kanye West > Sponsored content. 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(Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images) Paul Natkin—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jan 11, 2017 5:54 PM UTC [Chance the Rapper](http://time.com/4598624/chance-the-rapper-bath-time-playlist/) counts [Kanye West as not only a mentor but a close friend](http://time.com/4624533/chance-the-rapper-kanye-album-rankings/). However, in an interview with [_GQ_](http://www.gq.com/story/chance-the-rapper-profile-2017), Chance said that while [he’ll always defend Kanye, he doesn’t necessarily want to be like him](http://time.com/4580438/kanye-west-hospitalized-celeb-tweets/). “I don’t think I ever wanted to be like Kanye in personality,” he said. “I think I definitely want to, have always wanted to, have his boldness or assurance in myself. But I’ve definitely seen Kanye do things where I was like, ‘I’d never do that.’ I’ve always been able to defend Kanye. When everybody’s like, ‘Kanye’s a nut, Kanye’s a nut,’ I’m one of those guys saying, ‘No, he’s saying some real s—t.’” Chance even went so far as to defend one of [Yeezy’s most controversial moments, when he stormed the stage after Taylor Swift beat out Beyoncé for the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year in 2009](http://time.com/4411055/kanye-west-taylor-swift-kim-kardashian-feud/). “Like when he went onstage with Taylor, I was, like…well…Beyoncé kind of deserved that,” he said. “I’m rationalizing everything that he does, but I can’t say that in the same position I would do the same things.” And for those who think that Kanye’s speeches are candid, Chance says that in private life, Kanye has even more to say. “Being around Kanye, Kanye says crazier sh-t in private than he does in public, which is hard to believe because he says the craziest things in public. He does have a filter. 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