Chicago boasts a rich hip hop heritage, but Vic Mensa remains one of its most important sons. For the 27-year-old rapper, artistry and activism are interlinked: he won’t stop until he’s transformed his city for the better.
Text: Nicolas-Tyrell Scott Photography: Lawrence Agyei
Vic Mensa is busy adjusting his camera, trying to get it right. He changes it from mobile to laptop view, the neon blue lights from across the room transforming his hue, before he disappears entirely. After a few seconds, he returns again. “Well, that didn’t change anything,” he says sarcastically, signalling his unhappiness.
This kind of perfectionism shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who follows him closely. For the last couple of months, the 27-year-old rapper’s social media output has detailed a rigorous work ethic: his Instagram feed currently serves as a complete visual archive of the creation of V TAPE, his most recent release, alongside strategic teasers of upcoming collaborations yet to see the light of the day. For Mensa, the studio – working, creating – has served as a safe space throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
But he’s also been learning to live in the moment. Leaning back into the black leather sofa behind him, his white t-shirt instantly contrasting with it, he explains how he owes much of this to The Power Of Now Journal, Eckhart Tolle’s bestselling guide, which argues in favour of a renewed focus on day-to-day living. The Chicago native says he was recently swayed into revisiting the book by a close friend, who’s currently serving a 15-year prison sentence for gun charges. (In the past, Vic has shared his thoughts on the sentence in relation to the crime at hand – which saw James shoot someone in the leg. We don’t touch on it today.)
“Seeing his optimism, considering his current life circumstances, makes me see the world in a different way,” Mensa says, ironically still in a studio in his hometown, now more comfortable with the camera quality. “Recently, I sent him [The Power Of Now] and he asked me later on if I’d read it all. When I said I hadn’t, he told me to go and finish it. It’s really shifted my perspective.”
Mensa has always kept an open mind – particularly in regards to his own mental health. He started meditating at around 16 years old, during high school. A year or so earlier, he began seeing a psychiatrist and was prescribed antidepressants. Throughout his subsequent career, he has regularly used his platform to speak out on these issues: during a 2017 appearance on Larry King
