Between I TAPE in 2021 and now, Vic Mensa’s been laying low following his guilty plea for possession of shrooms in the Dulles International Airport. Despite this, the outspoken Roc Nation rapper and activist refused to stay silent about the benefits psilocybin has on his own mental health and that of others dealing with anxiety and depression.
His latest album Victor, comes off the heels of those bold statements, positioning him now as a victor over his past addictions and bad decisions. The crackled Black abolitionist speech sound bites, spiritual morale, and self-progressive energy are all impressionable messages strung throughout Victor but the album itself is not impressionable enough to create a pleasurable listening experience that will have listeners running back for seconds.
On “Victor,” the trumpets sound to signal an arrival. “Close my eyes and write my Grammy speech while sitting in a cell,” he begins. The stacked drums and horns come to a halt for the hook where Vic declares his triumph over past charges, “Rich n**** in jail, I guess I’m locked and loaded.” The word play is endlessly clever and not a surprise from the Chicago rapper, but the horns seem to be doing all the work and drowns out any chance for a melody.
Songs like “RUMORS,” “LVLN UP,” “all i kno,” and “$WISH” seem to fit only as hype songs for an NBA highlight clip to be forgotten once the commercial comes on.
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Vic does add more intriguing elements to Victor through some of its features. Jay Electronica has great chemistry with Mensa on “The Weeping Poets,” almost rapping his breath away over an ominous choir backdrop. Common seems to fit snug like a puzzle piece in between the ascending piano keys and comforting trumpet sounds on “$outhside Story.” Mensa also seems to be enjoying himself on this track, setting aside the morbid monologue he spits on “The Weeping Poets.”
It’s nice to hear Vic return to his brash rap roots, but his most tolerable tracks on Victor are the R&B/neo-soul selections like “STRAWBERRY LOUIS VUITTON:” a ride-along song with your lover heading to a picnic on a clear Chicago day. Another soulful ballad, “Sunset on the low end,” plays with tonal shifts, sweet guitar strums, and a thick bassline to add a whimsical touch to such a serious album. But two bearable tracks out of 18 makes for an album not worth mentioning.
Victor is a piece where Vic Mensa is living in his own unapologetic truths and discovering what it means to dive deep within yourself. The album can belyrically challenging: perfect for old Hip Hop heads who appreciate bars more than beats. But for those not looking to be preached to or hyped up, it’s not quite so sweet. The problem with this album lies in its lack of replay value not because there’s no substance but more-so too many substantive bars with little to no rhythm.
Still, through inner peace, Vic Mensa’s clear-headed return allows him to drop off some of his most focused material in years; but not so much his most sensory-pleasing material.
