With hip-hop having taken over as pop culture in America right now, it feels like Vic Mensa, and ‘Rage’ in particular, is rock penetrating that once again - to continue the comparison made by Jay, it’s the hip-hop generation’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Produced by Vic himself, alongside Mike Dean, the track is a centerpiece on ‘Traffic’, and an important song for Vic’s career. “The themes that are explored in there, the addiction themes and the leg...
In Conversation: Vic Mensa | Features | Clash Magazine
8 years
...r next meeting would be in LA, where they would - as the line says - bump D’Angelo & The Vanguard’s ‘Black Messiah’ album from beginning to end. “He had one of his people bringing us so many shots of DeLéon Tequila. And he had this crazy candy room in his house - we were going through these gigantic gumball machines. He had a bag of joints rolled up, like a gallon ziplock bag of joints rolled up. I was just fade...
In Conversation: Vic Mensa | Features | Clash Magazine
8 years
...y catch up with the Harlem mogul in Miami during Art Basel at the end of 2014. “I went to his crib in Miami and he is Puff Daddy to the max. He’s in the pool, shirt off, talking on the phone with his chef cooking kale that tastes like chicken,” he recalls.
In Conversation: Vic Mensa | Features | Clash Magazine
8 years
...fella logo on his neck - an icon in hip-hop from the infamous chains that the label’s signees would proudly display around their necks - and take to Soundcloud to drop ‘Heir To The Throne Freestyle’. The track pays homage to when Jay, Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel, Freeway, Oschino, Sparks, Young Chris and H Money Bags rolled through Funkmaster Flex’s Hot 97 show back in 2001 for a legendary freestyle session. Using the same instrumental - Notorious B.I.G’s ‘Who Shot Ya?’ - Vic showed that he was ready to go, spitting at an incredibly high level and reminding listeners that he was as apt an MC as anyone who...
In Conversation: Vic Mensa | Features | Clash Magazine
8 years
Of course The Roc - whether in its initial Roc-a-fella record incarnation, or Roc Nation through to this generation - has always been held in high esteem by hip-hop heads, and Mensa is no different. Having grown up memorising ‘Reasonable Doubt’ and with ...
In Conversation: Vic Mensa | Features | Clash Magazine
8 years
...ame day that the elevator went down with Solange, so he had plans that day,” Vic remembers. “There were stars aligning at that time.” Rolling into the office with his newly bleached Super Saiyan hair, Vic played Jay album cut ‘City On Fire’, which includes the words “it’s contagious” in the chorus. Having just watched Nirvana’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the previous day, Jay would draw parallels to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. “Nirvana is my favourite band,” enthuses Vic. “I h...
In Conversation: Vic Mensa | Features | Clash Magazine
8 years
...n as Vic soars over production that rebels against the trap-heavy turn-up anthems that have flooded the market lately. “The things that push me, and motivate me, are The Smiths and Morrissey, fucking Jay-Z’s ‘The Blueprint’, that’s the type of shit I’m putting myself next to in the levels of artistry that I’m trying to achieve - in my own way.”
In Conversation: Vic Mensa | Features | Clash Magazine
8 years
...Utero’ and ‘Nevermind’; they are just so meaningful - that music that really started my fire is just so timeless that I’m not comparing myself to a standard of Internet popularity and current music.” And the new songs - which will appear on his forthcoming debut album ‘Traffic’ - are relevant-yet-timeless, connecting from first listen and growing deeper on repetition as Vic soars over production that rebels against the trap-heavy turn-up anthems that have flooded the market...
In Conversation: Vic Mensa | Features | Clash Magazine
8 years
8 years
...th anything,” Vic admits, of his defiance to sit on one signature sound like so many others. “It can make things hard for myself, but it also pushes me. Because there’s never a moment where I’m like, ‘Okay, I’ve done it, I’ve achieved my mission.’ The things that inspired me as a kid, Jimi Hendrix, 2Pac’s ‘Dear Mama’, Nirvana ‘In Utero’ and ‘Nevermind’; they are just so meaningful - that music that really started my fire is just so timeless th...
In Conversation: Vic Mensa | Features | Clash Magazine
8 years
8 years
816,069