Provocative New Artist
Rapper Vic Mensa is on a political crusade
This past June, Chicago rapper Vic Mensa released his EP There’s Alot Going On which he allowed fans to download free as they long as they registered and pledged to vote. The method of release wasn’t the only political aspect of the album. The songs themselves touch on a variety of hot button issues—from the fatal police-shooting of Laquan McDonald to the Flint, Michigan water crisis (he also released a separate single, “Free Love,” in support of LGBTQ rights). On the title track of his EP, Mensa—who’s also developed a working relationship with Kanye West—gets personal by addressing his own struggles with addiction and depression. “I had to really come to terms with a lot of things in my past,” said the rapper. “Things I’ve done, things been through. Just being as brutally honest with myself as I could be. It was kind of like talking to the mirror. I had to be real with myself.”
