Vic Mensa has the most potential out of any other up and coming rapper. Vic and his band Kids These Days are playing Lollapalooza on opening day. Here are five things that influence Vic’s music and life.
Photo By Brennan Schnell
Kids These Days
You may ask, "What’s so special about Vic?" The talent is what’s so special about him. He isn't just a solo rapper; he is in a unique band like no other; Kids These Days. The band has influenced Vic's musical sense because it opened his eyes and ears to explore past hip-hop. Vic explains, "Kids These Days opened my eyes to different styles of music. They showed me how all music coexists within the collective fabric of music.
Getting into Rapping
They opened my eyes a lot more to music than genre." Vic got into rapping through his friend Nico who is also a member of Kids These Days. He got into the world of break dancing. Hip hop was a progression for him. It was naturally a better fit. He was into the world of graffiti and that made a spark in his rapping career since everyone who was tagging up buildings would play rap music. Not during the actual vandalism but on spare time.
The Desire to Succeed
Vic has big dreams. Growing up in an area where all he saw was people not being able to live their dreams. He has family in Ghana that he plans to help out when the money comes. Vic says, "I would buy my family in Ghana jeeps. They have crap roads and old cars." Of course when he makes big money he said he would buy cars for himself too but his family would come first. He would also say that he would give back to his neighborhood of Hyde Park. But he isn’t all about the money. He’s more about the success that fame would bring. Some rappers have mottos such as ‘Blowing Money Fast’ while he and his friends have the phrase, “Get Money, Save Money.”
Connecting with the Fans
One year Vic was performing at a small music festival. He remembers one girl who went up to him while she was crying. She was a huge fan of his. She told him that she just loved his music so much. His thoughts on that, "If you can touch people with your music, you got to keep doing it because you must be doing something right. It keeps you motivated to know that people really love your music"
Chicago
"City is the landscape, its work of art in its own." Vic represents Chicago; it's his city, his landscape, his canvas.”
Common is an accomplished Chicagoan that Vic looks up to. He feels that Chicago connection with him. His reason, "He was once in my position, a young rapper from the 'Chi' that's trying to make it big and look at him now... That's going to be me someday" With Chicago as his headquarters, a microphone as his channel and time on his hands, Vic is only going to improve time after time after time. The best thing about all this, we get to see it all happen. Whether it is with KTD or his solo career, the journey for success for Vic has just begun.
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