Chance the Rapper Says He May Drop 'Chance' and Just Go By 'The Rapper'

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2026 — Chance the Rapper is thinking about taking a very familiar word out of his name — and keeping an even more familiar one. In a new interview on Raven-Symoné and her wife Miranda Maday's Tea Time podcast, the Chicago rapper said he has been toying with dropping "Chance" from his stage name altogether and going by just "The Rapper."

"I'm gonna take off the Chance," he said. "I just wanna be The Rapper."

It is the kind of reveal that lands differently when you hear how he got there. The artist born Chancelor Jonathan Bennett, 33, told the hosts that fans have encouraged him for years to shorten his alias to simply "Chance." People would tell him, as he put it, "Yo, you should drop the 'Rapper' part out of your name cuz you're more than rap." His response, essentially: no chance. He explained that he wants whatever he does to be attributed to hip-hop and under the influence of hip-hop — "I wanna carry rap the same way that rap has carried me through life."

Love of the art form

The potential change is not about distancing himself from hip-hop — quite the opposite. During the conversation, Chance said the idea has been on his mind for a while, adding, "I just really love the art form, I really love words." He described writing and performing as the core of who he is, and said he wants his name to reflect that relationship with rap rather than move away from it.

"It's been something that I've been thinking about a lot," he said. "I just really love the art form. I really love words. I think the greatest rappers like myself are etymologists and linguists at heart, people that really just love language. And so the writing part of it, the performance part of it, is so much of my identity."

Dionne Warwick called it first

There is a delicious irony buried in this story, and it goes back six years. In December 2020, Dionne Warwick found herself trending after logging on to Twitter to share something that had been on her mind: "Hi, @chancetherapper. If you are very obviously a rapper why did you put it in your stage name? I cannot stop thinking about this." She promptly announced, "I am now Dionne the Singer," and kept the bit going, warning, "If you have 'The' in your name i'm coming for you. I need answers today."

Chance, apparently awestruck by the unexpected mention, took a moment to respond: "Sorry I'm still freaking out that u know who I am," he wrote. "This is amazing! I will be whatever you wanna call me Ms Warwick. God bless you." Warwick, who was not done having fun, answered back: "Of course I know you. You're THE rapper."

Six years later, Chance is seriously considering making it official.

A comeback in progress

The name idea arrives after a turbulent stretch in Chance's career. Following the enormous acclaim surrounding his 2016 mixtape Coloring Book — which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100 hit as a lead artist with "No Problem" featuring Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz, reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200, and won Best Rap Album at the 2017 Grammy Awards as the first streaming-only project to win — his 2019 debut studio album The Big Day debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 but was met with a much harsher critical and fan response. Its supporting tour was eventually canceled, and Chance went six years without releasing another album. He has since acknowledged how deeply the backlash affected him, saying in 2025 that the criticism caused him to second-guess himself and his future in music.

Star Line, released in August 2025, marked his first full-length since The Big Day and the beginning of a more deliberate return to the spotlight. The anniversary tour — performing the landmark 2016 mixtape in full — has been the victory lap. The run kicked off in August and concludes October 11 in Pittsburgh. "Expect to have a good time. Expect to sing really loud," he told YouTube Music in September.

Where the idea came from

The "Tea Time" episode itself — Season 2, Episode 89, released October 1 and running just over an hour — was billed with a teasing episode description: Chance was joining for Tea Time, and the hosts "may or may not reveal a new name he's been toying with." Beyond the name talk, the conversation roamed through touring life, Ghana and the Black Star Line, his mother and family, what hip-hop means to him, Chicago, Harold's Chicken, and a lost Coloring Book song — plus, per the episode notes, "very importantly, why he doesn't like vegetables."

For now, Chance the Rapper remains Chance the Rapper — and whatever the marquee eventually says, the sentiment behind the possible change is clear. This is not a rebrand away from anything. It is a man who has been carrying the word "rapper" since before he was famous, deciding that maybe the word itself is the name. "I just really love the art form, I really love words." If he does take off the "Chance," the art form gets top billing — literally.

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