The Best Chance The Rapper Features

Since 2012, Chance the Rapper has popped up as a featured performer on a number of artists' songs, bringing his own unique style and flair. He’s been featured on songs with everybody from Childish Gambino to Justin Bieber to Kanye West. We've got 15 of his best ever guest features catalogued here, ranked for you.

chance the rapper
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chance-the-rapper

chance the rapper

Since getting his first major cover story courtesy of Complex in 2013, Chance the Rapper has shot up in rap’s hierarchy, jetting to the upper echelon based on his talent, work ethic, and charisma. He became the first independent artist to win a Grammy and perform on Saturday Night Live. Then he became the face of campaigns for both Kit-Kat and Nike. And as a casual side venture, he’s also working to fix the inequalities in Chicago’s school systems.

Not bad for a 25-year-old.

As he continues work on the follow-up to 2016’s Coloring Book, Chance has been keeping himself relevant by appearing on other artist’s tracks, most recently on Cardi B’s debut album Invasion of Privacy. In the world of rap, an artist’s success can be measured, at least partially, by the quantity and quality of their guest appearances on others’ tracks. While we’re still waiting for the long-rumored collaboration album between himself and Childish Gambino, Chance’s guest verse catalogue remains varied and deep, spanning across several genres with a wide range of artists.

He’s teamed up with megastars like Justin Bieber and Kanye West, but he’s also popped up on tracks with everybody from friends to childhood idols, bringing his own unique style and flair to each to further establish his own lane in popular music.  He’s touched on everything from lost love to Gucci belt-assisted booty rubs, advocated against both drunk driving and Xanax usage, and taken time to twice mention his affinity for having just a mattress and no bed frame. He’s shown off varied flows, rhythms, contributions, and topic matters, but throughout it all, carried with him the same energy he’d bring to his own music.

Without further ado, here are the best Chance The Rapper features.

15. “I’m The One” DJ Khaled f/ Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper & Lil Wayne

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A playful and poppy good time, “I’m The One” is Chance’s biggest mainstream success for a reason. Smack dab in the middle of equally fun Quavo and Lil Wayne verses, Chance’s delivery at the beginning of his part—“She beat her face up with that new Chanel/She like the price, she see the ice, it make her coochie melt”—sets the tone for the smooth ease with which he presents the rest of his verse.

14. “Hello” Busta Rhymes f/ Chance The Rapper

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Over a twinkling beat that masterfully employs an “I Got 5 On It” sample, Busta Rhymes gives Chance plenty of time to shine, allowing him to go off for a 48 full bars, none of which are wasted. You can hear Chance come into his own as the verse progresses, asserting himself in a teasing—but appropriately borderline terrifying—manner. From the second he starts off with a twist on Lil Wayne’s “I’m Goin’ In” verse, you know you’re in for a treat.

13. “You Song” Lil Wayne f/ Chance The Rapper

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The Life of Pablo wasn’t the only highly-anticipated musical release that Chance had a hand in delaying. In a 2013 interview on MTV’s RapFix with Sway Calloway, Chano mentioned that Lil Wayne delayed Dedication 5’s release solely to get Chance’s verse. A feature on a Lil Wayne song is pretty dope, but a feature on a Wayne tape is a blessing, especially for a young artist like Chance, who grew up on Wayne’s legendary mixtape run. In his verse, Chance takes the time to wax poetic to a woman fine and sweet as Kool-Aid in a wine glass, and then hammers home the point on the chorus: “This is not a love song/This is a you song/I just happen to love you.”

12. “All My Friends” Snakehips f/ Tinashe & Chance The Rapper

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On this song, Chance takes the opportunity to put together a PSA on Xanax, something he’s rode against as the new heroin. Just like Kendrick’s “A.D.H.D.” and “Swimming Pools,” it’s a song warning against the pitfalls of partying. But thanks to its beat, the song fits ironically well at pretty much every function. Shout out to cognitive dissonance.

11. “Life Round Here” James Blake f/ Chance The Rapper

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James Blake and Chance were once on the cusp of musical bro-dom greatness, but some miscommunication over a living situation seems to have put a stopper on that. Thankfully, their collaboration on Blake’s “Life Round Here” survived the fray. Chance’s verse here is a spiraling, anxiety-inducing wonder, played perfectly with a rapid-fire delivery that falls headfirst into a frantic beat switch-up.

10. “They Don’t Like Me” Childish Gambino f/ Chance The Rapper

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Chance’s first major co-sign, his appearance on Donald Glover’s 2012 mixtape Royalty, gave him a platform to showcase his nasally sing-song for a new audience, one very eager to receive him. The Chicago rapper slides perfectly over the skywlkr-produced beat, which honors the legendary Dem Franchize Boyz, simultaneously dropping Edward Scissorhands references and warnings against drunk driving. “It’s not even a feature on a track. It’s kind of like a dope ass cosign where he just let me have the track,” Chance said in a 2012 interview.

9. “Child’s Play” SZA f/ Chance The Rapper

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Played out over a slow-burner of a beat which samples Orlando artist XXYXX’s “About You,” SZA’s cloudy vocals packed full with literary and childhood references pave the way for Chance’s verse, a breezy, natural, accompaniment to such a spacy song. His opening lines, “I got Ls on my record/Weed on the vinyl/Keys open doors when the keys are albino,” compliment the drug-influenced nature of the song, and his “Y’ar see!” is bound to be stuck in your head with the same tenacity as whatever that Walmart yodeling boy was doing.

8. “Lonely Thoughts” Rapsody f/ Chance The Rapper

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“Yeah I see the gun but it's a pellet/Yeah the ball is in your court, but it's appellate/They sayin’ Acid was an album, retail it/I said I got way too much soul for me to sell it.” This cut, from Rapsody’s 2013 mixtape She Got Game, features Chance exuding confidence in the aftermath of Acid Rap’s release: stunting and asserting himself with quick lines and poignant references. “I'm so pretty I make mirrors blush” is a brag displaying a level of ego that we should all aspire to achieve.

7. “Girls @” Joey Purp f/ Chance The Rapper

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From the second the beat drops, listeners become lost in the wonder that is “Girls @,” a song Joey Purp’s from second mixtape, iiiDrops. The plucky sounds are reminiscent of a bunch of friends’ making a beat together outside the lunchroom, and the result is a carefree, fun collaboration between two Chicago sons. Chance paints the portrait of his ideal woman, a Ta-Nehisi Coates and OutKast enthusiast; tries to wingman his friend; and then, above all, makes sure to give representation to every woman from tall to small to mid-sized. Chance’s 16 bars help lock down the vibe of a ridiculous night out with the squad.

6. “Confident” Justin Bieber f/ Chance The Rapper

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For some listeners, “Confident” was the first time that they threw on a Justin Bieber song and said, “Oh, this slaps.” The first of what would eventually become three collaborations with Bieber, “Confident” also doubles as Chance’s initial foray into mainstream pop, hilariously documented by this now-deleted Donald Glover Instagram post. Chance rises to the occasion and finishes off the song on a strong note,  not only dropping what was likely the first cuss on a Bieber track (a year after the pop star said his music would never have cuss words in it), but also sneakily referencing some illicit topics (“And she love to hurn the berb, I mean burn the word/That's only legal with a doctor's note” and “It goes her, blank, blank, and rock & roll”).

5. “Fight or Flight” G Herbo f/ Common & Chance The Rapper

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The remix to a cut from 2014’s Welcome to Fazoland, “Fight or Flight” sees Herbo enlisting an established Chicago legend and a future one to speak on the trials and tribulations of growing up black in the city. Chance uses his verse to thank his father, fully aware of how his life might have gone if circumstances were different. “Why Doughboy couldn’t have the same pops that he had on Friday?” he ponders, emphasizing the importance of fatherhood through Ice Cube’s characters in Boyz N Tha Hood and Friday.

4. “Wendy n Becky” Joey Bada$$ f/ Chance The Rapper

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A one-off collaboration released by Joey on Twitter, “Wendy n Becky”  takes a page from Kanye West’s “Homecoming” and finds Joey and Chance trading lyrics about women in their life, each of which double as a metaphor for the artists’ respective hometowns. Joey and Chance go a bit more literal than Kanye did, however, venting some frustrations about their star-crossed lovers. “Cringe when she grin like the Grinch, that bitch had a little heart,” Chance seethes mid-verse, with an unfamiliar snark.

3. “Heaven Only Knows” Towkio f/ Chance The Rapper, Lido, & Eryn Allen Kane

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Another SAVEMONEY collaboration, another banger. The energy that surrounds “Heaven Only Knows” is similar to a Chance mixtape intro—a twinkly beat complimented with choir singing and spacey samples. Chance speaks on his success, drops a couple of brags, and hypes up his crew as he races to keep up with the fast-paced tempo of the song. “Ay yo, why you about to have the hottest tape of 2015? It's stupid,” Chance concludes as the song fades out. “This song is already so hot, I'm actually just glad you let me rap on that bitch.”

2. “Baby Blue” Action Bronson f/ Chance The Rapper

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Next time you have an opportunity, take time out of your day to thank Action Bronson for the service of allowing Chance essentially his own song on Bronson’s mainstream debut album. Skating over a fantastic Mark Ronson production, Chance’s entire verse serves as the most scorching of roasts, biting and jarring, especially coming from a mouth as pure as his. He pinpoints all the worst, tiniest, most annoying things that could ruin a person’s day (working at Friday’s is a terrifying curse, second to a non-working phone charger) and then ends by exposing the true source of his scorn: sadness and confusion.

1. “Ultralight Beam” Kanye West f/ The-Dream, Kelly Price, Kirk Franklin, & Chance The Rapper

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Aside from Adam Levine and a British-accented Nicki Minaj, Chance The Rapper is the only human to have a distinct guest appearance on the opening track of a Kanye West album, and the opportunity is not wasted. The circle of influence on display here, from Kanye to Chance back to Kanye, adds to the overall theatrical feel of the song—a grand entry not just into Pablo, but into the next half of Chance’s career. Released just a few months before Coloring Book and its accompanying tour took the world by storm, the verse serves as a time capsule, freezing him in the moment between fame and superstardom. From “Foot on the devil’s neck to the drift of Pangaea,” to “Look at Lil Chano from 79th,” you’re taken aback by Chance’s calm but deliberate intensity. Each word is delivered at a pace that allows it to sink in before the next arrives. “I met Kanye West/I’m never going to fail” means so much more than a simple reference to “Otis”; it’s a reflection of the significance of the moment, and one only needs to watch the Saturday Night Live performance of the track to see its impact fully visualized.

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