Video: Kanye West Debuts New Track At SNL40 With Vic Mensa, Sia

By Lisa White in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 16, 2015 3:45PM

Even if Kanye doesn't spend much time in Chicago these days, we still have to show him some hometown love for constantly spotlighting some of the amazing artist emerging from our city. And last night Kanye put the direct spotlight on one of Chicago's own, the rapidly rising star known as Vic Mensa.

Mensa has been on our radar for years, his talent standing out when he was just a member of Kids These Days. We're not the only ones noticing his talents since he's moved up in rank quickly with a bevy of awesome songs (many showcasing local talent as well) and recently nabbed a spot at Pitchfork Music Festival this year. But last night Kanye helped Mensa vault to the next level, as he smoothly sung the hook on a new track Kanye debuted during the SNL40 broadcast.

After Kanye opened with an extremely raw and poignant snippet of "Jesus Walks" before singing one of his most recent tracks "Only One," he brought Mensa and singer Sia out onto his minimal (and short) stage to debut live "Wolves." As Consequence of Sound points out, "Wolves" is the opening track from Kanye's still unannounced seventh album.

The track continues a more melodic trend we've seen recently from the new tracks Kanye has released or collaborated on and we don't mind a bit, especially if he's working with and showcasing such beautiful vocalists as Sia and Mensa. Check out the video below for the stark, artistic performance. And in another Chicago nod, check out Kanye riffing on his antics during the Wayne's World sketch with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey. Love him or hate him, you have to at least admit Ye has a pretty great sense of humor and can always laugh at himself.