Civic-minded badass, Chicago native, and newly minted Grammy winner Chance The Rapper made time to chat with Illinois governor Bruce Rauner today. Their meeting was the result of, well, a lot of things, if you think about it. We now live in a world where a reality TV host is president of the most powerful nation, and where an actor turned governor filled that reality show host’s vacancy. The line between politics and art is gone, if indeed it was ever in place. And now that Twitter has become the de facto briefing room for public officials, Rauner posted a congratulatory message to Chance after his Grammy wins.
This kicked off a brief conversation between the two, where they appeared to agree that they needed to combine their, uh, talents (what Rauner brings to the table remains to be seen). Well, The Chicago Tribune reports the meeting went down Friday, and Chance says the governor only offered “vague answers.” The Tribune describes the artist as “disappointed” and “visibly flustered” following their meeting, but quoted him as saying “I’m here ’cause I just want people to do their jobs. And I did speak with the governor. I asked him about funding CPS with that $215 million that was discussed in May of last year and was vetoed in December over, you know, political arguments and (stuff).”
Rauner, on the other hand, says the meeting was actually productive—at least, as far as these things go. The governor said that while it’s obvious Chance is “very focused on getting quickly more money for CPS right now, and I share his passion,” he would need a little more time to work out funding shortfalls with the artist. He did say he’d like to continue to meet with Chance about these issues.