Chance The Rapper has explained that his charitable actions have been influenced by the life of pop icon Michael Jackson.
For quite some time now, we’ve known that US musician Chance The Rapper is quite a philanthropic fellow.
While he was named Chicago’s Outstanding Youth of the Year back in 2014 for his activism, this trend has continued, with Chano posing as a Lyft driver to raise money for schools, donating $1,000,000 to the same cause, and even saving a man from a burning car.
However, if you’ve ever wondered why this selfless musician has decided to engage in such activities, it turns out that you have to point your attention towards Michael Jackson.
Speaking to Forbes recently, Chance The Rapper reflected on his time at school, noting how he would love to have had Kanye West speak to his class, while revealing the inspiration for his philanthropic efforts.
“The greatest of all time, highest I think maybe for overall celebrities, but most philanthropic musician is Michael Joseph Jackson,” Chance began. “I think he donated over $600 million to charities and more afterwards.”
“Obviously in his music it was extremely provocative, gets the people going. The only person I can really think of off the top when I think of charity that’s a musician is Michael Jackson.”
“That’s how I’ve always thought about it cause most of the people that I grew up listening to were hip-hop artists and I don’t really remember there being a lot of…Ye gave back to the people, but it was in a very different way. It was always through his music. I can’t really think of anybody else.
“No one tells anyone what to do with their money, but there is a certain stereotype of black successful artists and their money and I think me giving money to charity wasn’t because I feel like I wanna go against the grain or that’s what I was supposed to do as a rapper,” he added.
“It’s really because it’s on my spirit cause I want everybody who listens to my music to just do what weighs on their spirit.”
In related news, Michael Jackson has been in the headlines a lot lately due to allegations raised by the film Leaving Neverland.
While Jackson’s estate has called it nothing but a “tabloid character assassination”, it seems as though the allegations made have carried some weight, with radio stations around the world dropping Jackson’s music in response, and even his iconic episode of The Simpsons being pulled from streaming services.
Check out ‘All Night’ by Chance The Rapper:
