Record Report: Vic Mensa Awarded ‘4 Mics’ For ‘INNANETTAPE’

‘INNANETTAPE’ delivered, as promised.

Vic Mensa is a rapper’s rapper. In 2013, despite the plethora of pop stars (Jay Z, Kanye West, Eminem, Drake) that have snuck through the bottleneck of rap’s trenches on their way to Billboard supremacy, the rap game itself still appears to be wide open, and rapper’s rappers always find a way to be relevant (see: Nas, Life Is Good, 2012). Still, things done changed, and Chicago’s refreshing new home front has paved a slightly more refined path to success, despite the core pillars of hip-hop being more than effervescent in that region of the country. Yeezus was released this year, and never before has Kanye interpolated so many vast genres and subgenres into his instrumentation. It’s a recurring theme in hip-hop that requires artists that have already excelled in the pure art form of rapping to wander into dangerous waters. Vic Mensa, however, isn’t scared of lions, tigers or bears, to be cliché. The very dangerous waters artists find themselves drifting into—willingly or unwillingly—is the very vicinity the former Kids These Days frontman was born in, and his embracing of that concept allows INNANETTAPE, his debut solo project, to live as not just a solid rap project, but quite possibly one of the best sonically composed rap albums of this year.

The mood is light but serious. While song titles like “Fun” and “Yap Yap” might suggest a tone of recklessness and jovial abundance, Vic takes his time to get serious. On “Time Is Money”, Mensa relays a message from his father: “My pops told me make money but the money you make don’t make you”, before cleverly subverting the power of the dollar with the subsequent “Save money, hope the money you save gon’ save you”. On “Holy, Holy”, Cam—Save Money producer and part of the multi-headed J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League monster—provides an eerie flute-driven melody supported by muffled bass lines that meshes into a sound so effortlessly heart-wrenching, it prompted Ab-Soul—who makes a well-placed guest appearance on the song—to talk about his late girlfriend, the singer Alori Joh, who reportedly committed suicide in February, 2012.

Over-rapping is a problem these days, and while it almost seems as if Vic could possibly fall victim to such tendencies, the inner Rick-Rubin-laying-on-the-couch-not-really-producing-anything-just-letting-rappers-know-when-enough-is-enough in Mensa’s head prevents him from doing so. It’s a delicate balance, getting one’s point across and allowing the intended wholesomeness of any one instrumental its proper breathing space, and it’s one that Vic hasn’t completely mastered, but, considering the delicate stage of his career, is leaps and bounds ahead of most in his category. “YNSP”, the DJ Dahi-produced anthem that finds Mensa referring to a conversation he had with No I.D. with a hint of dismissive arrogance, is probably the best example of this. Stripped of the Dahi backdrop, “YNSP” would almost sound like a Rap City freestyle, but even with a demanding slew of bars, when performed live, it rings off as the signature song he expected it would be, rather than an indecipherable, cacophonic array of metaphors that only make an impact when they’re read on paper.

The signature “trap rock” production that helped catapult Vic Mensa to solo prominence on his projects with Kids These Days is evident on INNANETTAPE in appropriate proportions. The under-21 spitkicker uses the pure drum kicks and melodic ambiances to explore a train of thought that makes stops at pain, loss, love, sorrow, the struggles of being independent, the greatness of being independent, arrogance, disdain, depression, and back to love. Love of self, love of the culture, love of music, and love of someone else. It all intertwines on Mensa’s ambitious, but successful debut, and it’s the expansion of these themes that can make him not just rap’s next star, but music’s.

-Khari Nixon (@KingVanGogh)