Early Life
Vic Mensa was born Victor Kwesi Mensah in 1993 to a Caucasian American mother and a father from Ghana. Growing up in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, where he still lives, the talented kid started exploring his passion for hip-hop music from an early age.
By the time Vic turned 20 years old, he was already a local hip-hop veteran with a solid tenure with the group Kids of These Days. The group’s breakup in 2013 marked the beginning of a new era for Vic, who then went on to form a group of his own.
Career
SAVEMONEY, Vic’s new group, allowed him to create some buzz around his new persona – Vic Mensa. In 2014, he started touring with Wale and J. Cole and collaborating with fellow up-and-comers such as Damon Albarn.
It took him only a year to get noticed by the industry’s most prominent heavyweights and land a major record deal with Roc Nation. Until the label eventually released his debut album, The Autobiography, in 2017, Vic patiently spent his time learning from the greats.
After having collaborated with top artists such as Kanye, Pharrell Williams, and Weezer, Vic made a commercial breakthrough with The Autobiography and scored major nominations from the Grammy Awards and NAACP Image Awards in 2018.
In the News
Two of Vic’s singles have stirred controversy since then, one accusing him of domestic violence and the other speculating him as a gay man.
As suggested by his hit song There’s a Lot Going On, he did physically abuse his ex-girlfriend and has apologized many times since. The second interpretation of the song Free Love was false, though, as this hip-hop artist is straight.
For more controversy around Vic, stay up to date with The Shade Room.
