Spending time at a city council meeting isn’t what most would think of as a typical activity for a rapper. But on Wednesday (November 8), Chance the Rapper circumvented expectations by taking Mayor Rahm Emanuel and council members to task for their plan to build a $95 million police and fire training campus in Chicago. During an impassioned three-minute speech, Chance explained why he believes that $95 million could be spent more wisely.

“We should understand financially, this proposed plan doesn’t make sense,” Chance said. “We don’t have $95 million. They’re just asking for $10 million today to purchase the land. But we don’t have the rest of the money to do it, so why let them go ahead with this right now? There’s a lot of different services that need to be funded. Mental health services, which I’m sure you heard people say before. Obviously, schooling is my big thing, but there’s a lot of ways to transform the city that don’t have anything to do with police training.”

Chance later detailed how places like a pool, a new library, and a museum could better help the children of Chicago. He ended his plea by saying, “You guys have a lot of power here. That’s the reason I showed up at 8 a.m.”

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Mayor Emanuel was present at the meeting, but not while Chance was speaking. Despite the rapper's best efforts, a vote of 48 to 1 — in favor of the training campus — went through.