Chance The Rapper is really a man that can do it all. New Orleans’ Dillard University awarded him an honorary doctorate, and invited him to deliver the commencement speech at the university’s graduation ceremony yesterday.
NME reports that Chance encouraged the graduates to “surpass greatness.”
“Walk right up to the edge of what your heroes have accomplished and think to yourself, ‘What’s beyond this? I don’t know. I’m scared to go on,’” he said.
“And that is the moment when you have become as great as your greatest inspiration. And that’s also the moment when you cannot stop.”
He then went on to reference some of music’s greats, starting with Beyoncé and working his way back. But not before he made an absolutely massive call regarding her Coachella performance and Michael Jackson.
“Beyonce’s Coachella performance was better than any performance Michael Jackson ever did.”
He then clarified what he meant by saying, “Living up to your heroes is amazing, but it’s not good enough.”
“The difference between goodness and greatness is going beyond,” he continued. “You have to push forward and surpass their greatness in order to pay homage to their struggle. Don’t be afraid. Beyoncé had Mike. Mike didn’t have Mike. Mike had James Brown. James Brown had Cab Calloway, and so on and so on.”
Watch clips from the speech below.
https://twitter.com/KarenCivil/status/995414364378279936
