Chance The Rapper & Kanye Need To Make More Music

The mashup album of your dreams has arrived. The musical sensibilities of DJ Critical Hype and DJ Clyde have allowed the fantasy of hearing Grammy-nominated Best New Artist and (who he calls) the "greatest artist of this generation" to become less of a fantasy and more of a real, tangible piece of music that you can hold in your hands and hearts. (I guess by "hands and hearts" I mean ears, because that's how music works.) Anyway, I'm talking about this: a Chance the Rapper and Kanye West mixtape called Chance the Dropout — a clever portmanteau of Chance the Rapper and one of Ye's best albums, College Dropout. Fans have heard these two create some fire already (“Ultralight Beam” and “All We Got"), but this mixtape confirms just how dope they sound together. Though the artists will be competing for two Grammys in 2017, Chance the Dropout is proof that these two need to be working on a joint album.

Oh wait, they are. Allegedly. Remember when Chance the Rapper talked about a West collaboration album called Good Ass Job? In a September interview with Los Angeles’ Power 106, Chance discussed the idea. “It’s definitely far from done,” the artist admitted, before explaining why this particular project hits home. “The Good Ass Job, that’s something that’s just been a dream for me." Chance explained that he would watch YouTube videos of West speaking and felt inspired. As for the name, he said, "You know, how you have your College Dropout, and then you go back you have your Late Registration, and then you finally get your Graduation. And after you graduate, you gotta go get a Good Ass Job, so that was a thing in my head forever."

The rapper then noted West's influence and confirmed that work on Good Ass Job has already begun. "All of those things are albums that shaped my life, but I just, I cannot wait to, you know, really just bunker down," he said at the time. "We definitely have at least two songs I could say I know would be on Good Ass Job." Two songs — that's better than zero songs. Though we haven't heard anything about the teased album since September, there's enough there to keep us hopeful Good Ass Job will happen, it's just a matter of when. (West, are you listening?)

Speaking of time frames, the two DJs responsible for Chance the Dropout said it took a year and a half to make. "They are both from Chicago and Chance is always talking about how big of an influence Kanye was and is,” said Critical Hype of the decision to create the tape. “It seemed like a match made in heaven and a great way to bridge the gap of a new and older Chicago artist.” The 23-song blendtape superimposes Chance's vocals with West's beats. It starts with an apt soundbite from Chance. A reporter asks him, "Who is it that you saw that inspired you to take it further with the rapping?" Chance replies, "Kanye. I cannot attribute it to any other single person than Kanye." Chance told Hip Hop DX that when he started making music at the age of 14, the first two sings he ever recorded were "both over Kanye West instrumentals." So now we know that Chance the Rapper might be a prophet.

Featuring cover art from illustrator Ian Klarer, the Chance the Dropout mixtape is available for listening here.