Vic Mensa Gets Inspiration From Home City of Chicago on New Album ‘I TAPE’

Chicago-born rapper, Vic Mensa, is a dreamer. But unlike many dreamers, Mensa puts his ambitions and goals and wildest creative fantasies into action. He’s a man of action, equipped with a mind rich with ideas and hopes. But, for better and for worse, there is nothing especially happy-go-lucky about the wildly successful artist, either. Mensa has seen a lot, heard a lot, felt a lot in his years growing up on the south side of Chicago. It’s one of the country’s most dangerous neighborhoods and, as such, it shapes how its residents view and react to the world. Chicago, in another way, is also something of a crossroads. For Mensa, it meant a place from which to grow into a successful artist. For others, it’s a place that’s led them to prison, both justly and unjustly. 

These are the things Mensa talks about on his new album, I TAPE, which is out now. Whether it’s the heavy new single, “Shelter,” or any of the other six tracks on the record, Mensa is open to talk about pain, suffering, prison and the dearth of justice so many see on a daily basis. We caught up with the rapper to ask him about how he found music, what it means to him and what went into his latest release.