The 2017 GRAMMY Awards marked a big career moment for Chance the Rapper. Not only did he walk in as a seven-time nominee, but he won his first GRAMMYs that night — and not just one, but three.
In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, revisit Chance the Rapper’s acceptance speech for his Best New Artist GRAMMY. Flanked by his then-manager Pat Corcoran and his music director Peter CottonTale, the rapper — whose birth name is Chancelor Bennett — expressed gratitude for both of those team members in his speech, but put his faith front and center.
"Glory be to God. I claim this victory in the name of the Lord," he began. "I wanna thank God for my mother and my father, who supported me since I was young."
The Chicago-born star then listed the names of more people who helped him get to where he is today, offering special thanks to "all of Chicago" for being his geographic launchpad into his musical career. "And I wanna thank God for putting amazing people in my life like Pete and Pat, who have carried me since 2012," Bennett continued, pointing to the two men standing behind him.
As music started to play — indicating that it was time for the rapper to conclude his speech — he joked that he wasn't going to stop talking until he'd finished what he wanted to say. "Oh, I'm gonna talk. Y'all can play the music if you want," he said with a smile.
After giving God one more shout-out, Bennett thanked his team for helping him remain an independent artist — a very successful one at that. "I know people think independence means you do it by yourself, but independence means freedom. I do it with these folks right here."
That night Bennett also won GRAMMYs for Best Rap Performance for "No Problem" (with Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz) as well as Best Rap Album for his 2016 mixtape, Coloring Book.
Press play on the video above to watch the rapper's full Best New Artist acceptance speech, and check back to GRAMMY.com every Friday for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.
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