It seems kind of reductive to simply call Vic Mensa a rapper—you can add actor, entrepreneur and philanthropist to his Roc Nation presence with the slightest glance at his career arc. But while his star has steadily grown, you could say that the biggest success has come closer to home. Fact is, Vic Mensa has changed his attitude toward everything.
From New York City, via Zoom, Wednesday April 26, 2023
Hey Vic, it’s early morning in NYC, what are you up to?
I just left the gym. It was a pretty intense workout, so I’m just checking my bearings right now—and I have been for the last five minutes.
So you’re a morning workout guy?
Honestly, no. During Ramadan I started doing everything much earlier than I had ever considered. I was waking up at 4:30am to eat and prepare before I began fasting, so I was actually working out around 5am. I’m not biologically predisposed to do this, but I just made the decision to do it. In the end it was kind of beautiful. It felt strong for my mental health, as it enabled me to do my self-care routine and start working before people had even woken up.
It sounds like you’re in a good place right now?
You know, usually, my mind is predisposed to devalue myself and my accomplishments. But gratitude is important. It’s a valuable tool, almost a weapon of success. I even have gratitude for the things that have even gone drastically awry. If I learn from what one can consider a failure that serves me now and has made me a better man, then I have gratitude for it.
What’s the main thing you have gratitude for today?
I think, actually, my concept of it has been altered by the idea of constant gratitude for the basics. Gratitude every day for waking up, or for having my freedom. I get calls from the prison all day long, and have so many of my friends from Chicago that have been killed. So I have gratitude for the base level blessings in my life.
Most people don’t even consider these things in their day
It dawned on me quite recently. I really just started to shift my entire relationship with myself and the world around me. I would largely attribute that to a handful of books and experiences. But honestly, Islam has been influential in a seismic shift in my consciousness.
Your faith changed your mindset?
Seriously, Islam has been cataclysmically impactful for me, largely because of its doctrine of discipline. As I learned to implement this into my life, everything has just gotten better. Not just the discipline to get up and workout when most people are asleep, but to be intentional about my thoughts. Doing that has completely revolutionised the quality of my life.
Your backstory often references an upbringing in Chicago where to be violent was to be a man. How did that affect you?
I like to think of Chicago as a microcosm for every hood USA. Chicago gives you the truth about America. Chicago is a place of immense opportunity and tremendous limitation. It’s a cultural melting pot, and it’s a violent war zone.
As a man in most places in the world, certainly in America and 1000 percent in Chicago, we value ourselves through our capacity for violence. But that’s a global issue—whether you’re in the trenches in the South Side, or the trenches in Baghdad. We got young men in gangs over here with AK-47s and you got young men, basically, in gangs over there with AK-47s. They’ve been indoctrinated into a culture of violence, just like I was. That’s the idea of masculinity that was fed to us. I can’t say that I have broken free from it entirely. I’m still brainwashed in many ways.
It’s still a struggle?
Well, now I feel like my peace is so much more powerful. But growing up, if somebody insulted me in a certain way, if they challenged me in a certain way, then I had to be ready at all times to go to the ultimate degree, because ‘how could I live with myself if I just let it go?’ Ultimately that’s so foolish. It puts me at the mercy of anyone who wants to take me outside of my peace.
Do you face provocation in your day-to-day?
Let me tell you about something that happened recently. It was very difficult for me. It exposed some of my growth, but also some of my room to improve. So, I was leaving my car in Chicago to go to the studio, and saw two blue-collar 50-something year-old white dudes screaming racist remarks. They were mad because the young black kids that worked at the restaurant downstairs from the studio didn’t want them to smoke while dining. They were like, “Don’t tell me about my cigarette you n****”. I went over and I took a calm, educational approach—at first, and more or less was telling them to stop saying what they were saying. But the situation was not getting any better, and I’m getting more and more upset. Eventually I started to make something of a scene, and people were starting to notice that it was me. I started to walk away, he said something else so I came back, and it evolved into me making some threats. I left though, eventually.
How did you feel you handled yourself?
Ultimately I wasn’t happy with it. Obviously this guy is ignorant and wrong, and I’ve learned to just not react to so many things. But I think that this dimension of virulent racism is not something I’m trained and disciplined in just letting slide. Ultimately, there should be nothing people can say that makes me want to jeopardise my freedom and my peace. I still have work to do in that regard. I would probably let the next situation slide entirely. I don’t condone it, but I also don’t want to be at the mercy of other people’s ignorance.
That’s easier said than done, right?
Well, I’ve had other situations, where I feel like I’ve done a whole lot better. Times when I’ve faced extreme provocation, and people came at me with hatred and threats of violence. I was talking to my imam, and he told me ‘put God between you and those who wish to do you harm’. So, when people said they were looking for me, trailing me. I told them ‘God bless you’, I just put my prayers up. Eventually, the whole situation kind of dissolved. I was sitting there, meditating on it, and I just thought, wow, this is a game changer. To realise that I have power in a way I didn’t even understand. I can dispel hatred just by steadfast determination in love. I transcended beef with prayer—who knew you could do that?
Vic Mensa’s new track $WISH (feat. G-Eazy and Chance The Rapper) is out now
Photography by Jamil McGinnis and Max Friedman