Vic Mensa has grown exponentially as an artist as well as a human, and he has now opened up about his journey, a huge part of which was has been sobriety.
On Tuesday (September 5), the Chicago native took to Instagram to celebrate two years of clarity. Sharing a series of fitness photos in which he can be seen working out, the 30-year-old talked about the lengthy yet rewarding process of setting himself straight.
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“In many ways i would liken it to running up hill — at first it is difficult, but after time your strength increases, your endurance increases,” he wrote in the caption. “Two years i’ve been raw dogging life [crying laughing emoji] I’ve had to learn how to face my emotions head on, nowhere to run to, nothing to hide behind. I have thought a lot about the difference between fun and joy.
“Many of the things I’ve always done in the pursuit of fun didn’t actually bring me joy, were actually antithetical to the pursuit of joy. I’m at a point where if an action is not actively furthering my goals, professionally, mentally, spiritually, physically… it doesn’t have a place in my life right now. I’ve gotten used to saying no. N-ggas know i might show up to the club for 6.3 minutes but more likely not at all.”
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He concluded: “I’m building the best version of myself brick by brick, day by day, moment by moment. Everyone doesn’t have to see it, they don’t have to honor it, but i promise you, by the time im done they will respect it.”
Check out Vic Mensa’s post below:
In music, too, Vic’s tone has evolved a great deal as his insights continue to enrich the Hip Hop domain. During an appearance on The Daily Cannon in late August, he discussed the subject matter of “Blue Eyes” and how he began writing it years ago.
“I started writing it six–seven years ago, actually,” he said. “I had gone and done ayahuasca for the first time and I heard a higher voice that told me, ‘I used to want blue eyes, that is the root of my pain,’ and I thought that was so heavy.
“I knew I had to write a song, but it wasn’t until I left Ghana last year — my aunt, she had a wound on her face, and my father was telling me, ‘I asked her 10 years ago to stop bleaching her skin,’ and that broke my heart.”
Mensa proceeded to explain that she developed skin cancer as a result of the practice, which is what eventually took her life.
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Speaking about the distorted self-image issues that continue to plague postcolonial countries to this day, he explained that it is “a huge issue across Africa, across the Caribbean.”
