Vic Mensa Says Using Drugs For Creativity Nearly Led Him To Suicide

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2022 BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! - Vic Mensa & aja monet
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 08: Vic Mensa performs during 2022 BRIC celebrate Brooklyn at Lena Horne Bandshell at Prospect Park on July 08, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Jason Mendez/Getty Images)
Vic Mensa reflected on his past substance abuse during a new cover story for "Spin Magazine."

Vic Mensa opened up about his history with drug use during a new cover story for Spin Magazine published on Monday. In the piece, he reflects on how he began using mushrooms as a teen, but things became much worse over the years as he went on to use drugs as a "creative crutch." Eventually, he says that it made him suicidal.

“The first drug I really felt dependent on was mushrooms,” Vic Mensa admitted to the outlet. “I started doing them abusively. Probably 100 times a year when I was like 19. But it wasn’t soul-searching. I started to lean on it as a creative crutch, and eventually it just stopped working and I started having bad trips — I would feel like my throat was closing and I was dying.”

Vic Mensa At A Brandon Johnson Rally

CHICAGO, IL - MARCH 30: Rapper Vic Mensa performs at a rally for progressive mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson at the UIC Forum on March 30, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. Johnson is set for a runoff against Paul Vallas on April 4th 2023 for the next Mayor of Chicago. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

He continued: “In the pursuit of boosted creativity I started doing a lot of molly and ecstasy. I was going to the bathroom in the middle of a studio session and railing molly with the powder falling on the ground. And I’m rolling up a dollar bill, on my hands and knees railing it off the bathroom floor — definitely with piss mixed up in it. That stopped working, and just tanked my serotonin."

From there, Mensa explained that he started using Adderall when he would crash on molly. “When the molly crashed, I was so depressed and started snorting Adderall,” he added. “Then that stopped working. I would use each drug to the max until it stopped working. And then I was feeling like I couldn’t create, because I needed these drugs but the drugs weren’t working. And so I was hellbent on killing myself. I was on a full warpath of suicide.”

Mensa explained that he was able to figure things out after an enlightening ayahuasca ceremony in San Diego. “When I did that first ayahuasca ceremony, my question for the medicine was: ‘Why do I feel so much pain?’” he revealed. “And I had a vision of seeing my mother’s blonde hair from my 5-year-old eyes. A higher voice came to me and said, ‘I used to want blue eyes. That is the root of my pain.’ I thought that was so revealing. It’s the first place I can really pinpoint it to within this lifetime: a sense of unworthiness because of not looking like my parents.”

Vic Mensa's Spin Magazine Cover

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About The Author
Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.