Grammy Award-winning music artist Chance the Rapper has featured as a guest on NBC's "Ellen DeGeneres Show" where he declared that Jesus has inspired him to be a more generous person.
The Chicago-native has been on the promotional circuit and during Wednesday's episode of "Ellen," DeGeneres asked why it's important for him to give back to the community.
He responded, "My understanding of a lot of stuff is based on Jesus."
Chance is well-known for his philanthropy in Chicago schools. In 2015, he helped raise $100,000 for Chicago schools through the Get Schooled Program.
In addition, last year he donated $1 million to his city's Public School Foundation to help support the arts in the school system. He explained, "Jesus teaches to care for your neighbor and care for people that aren't necessarily your blood, but still a part of your body because we're all humans. That's an impactful thing that I understood more as I got older."
The music star also pointed to his parents, saying that they had played a core part in educating him and raising him to be generous and to help others. He told the TV host: "My parents, since I was young, definitely instilled into me that when you see people that are in need, you don't just want to pass them by. You want to try and do something beneficial to help them before you leave, because that's your imprint. So I guess it's a mixture of my parents and Jesus."
In an interview with Queen Radio on Apple Music's Beats 1, Chance spoke about his wife, testifying that she "saved" him by abstaining from sex. "My wife literally saved my life by becoming celibate and going and getting baptized," he said, admitting that before he witnessed her commitment to faith he never really knew where his strength came from.
He said, "This is all after Coloring Book, after I proclaimed that I love Jesus, and all that stuff. You're never fully, fully sanctified. So I had to keep figuring it out. I had to do the Grammy's by myself. I had to do a lot by myself. Then when my girl — who is also the mother of his child — was gracious enough to have me back, it changed my whole life."
