Chance The Rapper said the '90s created too many fake gangsters, but now things have changed, and it's okay to be yourself.

"There's always been a quiet conversation and joke that if you're not hard, if you're not from impoverished neighborhoods, if you're not certain constructs of a black stereotype, then you not black," he explained in an interview with NPR. "Niggas kinda ran with that in the '90s, I think and that's why there were so many fabricated hood niggas. But now, a lot of black people have a lot more pride in being who they are and understanding that part of the black experience is living and being who you are. I think it's more accepted on the main stage."

"The fact that [being yourself] is able to be a main stage or mainstream image and accepted and celebrated is because of folks like Kanye," said the Coloring Book rapper. "[He] came in the game and was like 'This is who I am and these are the types of things that I love and I'm excited about them, and I don't necessarily have to carry myself as anybody that I'm not.' And people picked up on it."

[Related: Chance The Rapper apologizes for dissing Dr. Dre.]