Chance the Rapper talks 'Star Line,' songwriting and Adobe. Chance the Rapper Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter may receive an affiliate commission. Chance the Rapper's had quite the month. On Aug. 2, he made a surprise appearance at Lollapalooza. On the 11th, he announced his upcoming And We Back Tour. On the 15th, he released his second studio album, Star Line, a project six years in the making. And on Aug. 19, Chance the Rapper, alongside Kristin Chenoweth, Hasan Minhaj and others, teamed on a playful social campaign to celebrate the launch of Acrobat Studio, a brand-new tool from Adobe that's near and dear to the three-time Grammy winner's heart. The Chicago-born rapper chatted with The Hollywood Reporter about his unexpected songwriting process, the journey to Star Line and how creating his very own Adobe Acrobat PDF has brought him even closer to fans. Related Stories Lifestyle American Girl's Hollywood-Loved Historical Dolls Are Getting a Charming Plush Makeover TV ESPN Unlimited Debuts with a Limited-Time Bundle Deal for Disney Fans and TV Lovers Congratulations on your new album. The reception's been insane. Yeah, it's been a lot of love. I'm really, really proud of the work. I haven't gotten to see a lot of the online reviews, but I've been doing a lot of in-person stuff. When I was a kid, the people that were really big deals to me - MC Hammer and Master P, and then a little bit later, Nipsey Hussle - did this thing called "trunk trapping," where they would sell CDs or records out of their trunk and go across the country to meet fans or create fans in person. So, I've been on that really, really heavy, but when I get to people, they're the ones that tell me like, "Yo, everybody on the internet loves this and you're getting a great reception," but I think what I value the most are the stories that people have been sharing with me over the last weeks, not just about this project, but really personal beautiful moments. Yeah, I bet reviews can be kind of all-consuming, so it's probably a nice way to experience the response, seeing it in real life. And you put so much into this album, obviously it took a long time. Tell me about that process. Because I've spent so much time with visual artists making the album, I learned a lot from their practices. And one of the things they do that I think is so cool is called "residency," where they're holed up in some foreign space and they're just creating hella works every day. And that series has an overarching thesis to it or title that connects all these pieces. And even though the pieces are different, they all speak to that one thesis. As I was in residency, whether it was in Ghana or Jamaica or Paris or Venice, I was really picking up hella knowledge. You know, my worldview is as a Black, Christian millennial from Chicago in 2025, and throughout my life, the only thing that changes is the year. I feel like me going to certain places [helped me] learn the histories and interconnectedness of Black populations globally. I had such an American-centric viewpoint of everything because that was all I understood and experienced, that I didn't really realize that there are so many parallels and intersections of, excuse my French, but shit being fucked up ... I'm trying to think of a better way to say that. No, that's perfect. But learning that and learning the recent histories of all these powers and nations and systems really, really kept recentering the project. So any time I got too far out and was like, "OK, but the project needs a dance record," I'd be like, "you know, every song you can dance to, but what is the concept?" Every song on the project started with a title before I wrote any words, so I would conceptually attack each song. Like, OK, this song is going to be called "Drapetomania," and I know what I want it to mean, but the first version of it started out on a romantic disco kind of beat, and then the second one was more like Yeat - I don't know if you listen to Yeat, but Yeat's beats are crazy - and then the third one was a little more like grunge trap, is the best way I could describe it ... heavy metal-inspired trap. Then, finally I got to the place that we're at now, which is heavily influenced by Houston and Atlanta hip-hop, and New Chicago, which is a genre that's burgeoning right now in the city. And each one of those had different verses, different cadences, different hooks, but they were all always going to be "Drapetomania." That's so interesting. I've never heard that before, but it totally makes sense. Also, it's funny, I always write my headlines before I write my stories. Facts! Yeah, you need a concept. I grew up in poetry programs and afterschool, fu