In an extensive interview with Complex, Chance The Rapper has suggested that his next project will be his first real album, and because of that, he might actually charge money for it. Up until now, Chance—who has rejected the siren song of major labels—has positioned his releases as mixtapes since they’re primarily distributed through free streams, and he “kind of [hates] the fact” that his songs can’t really chart because of the way streams are counted differently from normal purchases. He acknowledges that charts don’t really matter, but it sounds like he’d just appreciate being able to know how well a track or an album is doing.
As Chance fans might recall, he actually helped convince the Grammys to change the rules last year to allow for streaming-only albums to be eligible for awards—a change that resulted in Chance himself winning a few Grammys in February. However, these days he think it “would be dope” to have an album that’s available for purchase instead of having to rely on streams. That being said, Chance points out that “this is all hypothetical” and that “there is no album,” so he could easily change his mind about this at some point.
The rest of the interview touches on Chance’s experience as a father and how his career has changed in the last few years, and it comes shortly after Chance announced that he’s donating $1 million to Chicago’s public schools.