Vic Mensa

Nirvana is my favourite band.

— Vic Mensa

Human beings desire comfort and familiarity.

— Vic Mensa

Everyone's life is for sale in America.

— Vic Mensa

I really make music from the heart.

— Vic Mensa

I mean, Common was and is like my favorite rapper.

— Vic Mensa

Every time Emma Gonzalez speaks, I listen.

— Vic Mensa

I download music everyday, I know music is free and so does everybody else you know.

— Vic Mensa

My brain's always working, and gears are turning 24/7. So I was trying to think of solutions.

— Vic Mensa

I had white family members, black family members, white friends, black friends by the time I was 16.

— Vic Mensa

The things I have to say on and off the record are important, and I say them because I want to be…

— Vic Mensa

I'm from a family of educators. I grew up with books in my house and in my hands and my parents in…

— Vic Mensa

There's always somebody telling you what you're not supposed to like. But that's not the way I grew up.

— Vic Mensa

Emotion is a broad spectrum and I just been to a lot of sides of my own emotions.

— Vic Mensa

I was raised by a woman and I'm the middle child of two sisters who are young Black women.

— Vic Mensa

I don't want only young black people that listen to my music be able to appreciate it. I just want people to…

— Vic Mensa

No I.D. helped me to just identify certain energies that I might not have really represented yet in the music that he…

— Vic Mensa

From a musical standpoint, I was inspired by '90s hip hop, with a lot of drums and the tempos. I'm always inspired…

— Vic Mensa

As an artist, I try not to sound the same as others. Or even as myself. It's a constant, flowing web of…

— Vic Mensa

I just thought I could broaden my impact and my reach by starting a non-profit and putting investment into our community.

— Vic Mensa

There's a lot of times when I feel nihilistic, and lose hope, like I'm just lost in the world. But there's a…

— Vic Mensa

I came from a two-parent household and my father is a PhD from west Africa, but at the same time I grew…

— Vic Mensa

Chicago, I feel, is a microcosm for the segregated, violent environment that is America. I try to not only speak about these…

— Vic Mensa

We've got a lot of love from Chicago, you know we've been selling out big venues in Chicago that other people don't…

— Vic Mensa

I collaborated with so many people from Chicago - so many Black people, young Black women organizations like BYP100 and Assata's Daughters.…

— Vic Mensa

So whether that's taking a bunch of people from Chicago down to Standing Rock or being in Flint, Michigan, or being in…

— Vic Mensa

No I.D. is like an alchemist and he'll only give you so much at one time. It's for the best at the…

— Vic Mensa

I can remember being a young kid, twelve, thirteen years old just with my headphones on, on the train, listening to rappers…

— Vic Mensa

My foundation mainly works in Chicago, and the city needs a lot of help. I'm glad that was able to be incorporated…

— Vic Mensa

I'm inspired by Prince on every level; the whole androgynous thing, the ambiguity in his gender and his foundation - it's amazing.…

— Vic Mensa

I never look at it as if any of my successes were given to me through fate. Getting record deals, making the…

— Vic Mensa

I started taking my mental health seriously, really working with a therapist and a psychiatrist.

— Vic Mensa

By nature I can be a confrontational person. I don't feel like there's anything wrong with that.

— Vic Mensa

Prince is one of my biggest idols of all time, and he's the real King of Pop.

— Vic Mensa

My mother was from upstate New York; she's of Irish and German descent. My father was from Ghana.

— Vic Mensa

The Clash is pretty much my favorite band, and their songs like 'Rock the Casbah' are political dance tracks.

— Vic Mensa

I'm one of the only people I know that often sleeps in boots.

— Vic Mensa

I'm never satisfied with anything. It can make things hard for myself, but it also pushes me.

— Vic Mensa

I just like Kodak Black. I feel like he's pretty self-aware, even if I don't agree with all the things he says.

— Vic Mensa

I think first of all my purpose is to be me. I didn't come here to specifically be a role model or…

— Vic Mensa

I'm from Chicago and that's where I created all of my most prized possesions, which are my songs.

— Vic Mensa