Even for those sometimes underwhelmed by his studio recording efforts, a freestyle session or two is always enough to have us reeled back in when it comes to the classic case of Vic Mensa. In a schedule of appearances in Los Angeles at this year’s BET Awards and France’s Cannes Lions Festival, the Chicago native had time to stop by the Power 106 studios to sit down with Justin Credible and DJ Sourmilk to deliver on a fiery freestyle over one of his very own beats.
There’s no question that the result was anything short of formidable with Vic coming out the gate: “Southside to the south of France/I just got off s flight from Cannes/Couple weeks before I was on the pane to Japan/Rockin’ Louis, but I’m Gucci, shout out Dapper Dan/Just bought a crib in a white hood, I ain’t talking’ Klan.”
As of late, Mensa has been busy man. During that mentioned trip to the south of France, he sat on a panel at Cannes Lions with Havas US chief creative officer and co-chair Jason Peterson for a discussion on what brands could learn from hip-hop in advertising and marketing.
“Hip hop is counterculture in essence. And even as it becomes annexed by the mainstream, it still retains a spirit of counterculture and being something thats to the left of the beaten path. And being a sphere for expression of unpopular ideas at first,” Mensa notably said during the discussion when on the topics“dropping bombs” and how brands can do same to spark movements. “Hip hop is not trying to be anti, but this is a place where we go against convention.”