Photos: Vic Mensa Packs Political Punch At Hometown Show
By Stephen Gossett in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 29, 2016 2:15PM
I don’t know if the title of Chicago rapper Vic Mensa’s recent EP, There’s Alot Going On, is consciously intended to evoke Sly and the Family Stone’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On (1971). But like that proto-woke funk masterpiece, Mensa’s EP, released this past June, offers a profound leap into mobilized, political waters with no-punches-pulled displays of personal anxiety. Some inevitably complain about the loss of “mixtape Vic,” but the audience for Saturday’s homecoming performance at, appropriately, the Vic Theatre, appeared 100 percent on board with Mensa’s excellent new direction, as he performed the EP in full and concentrated almost solely on recent material.
To thrilling ends, Mensa reprised his galvanizing Lollapalooza setup, with dancers in riot gear alternately miming combat, wrestling with Mensa, or standing menacingly motionless for 10 of the 13 tracks performed that night. During “Shades of Blue,” a stinging critique of the Flint water crisis, the riot police stood militaristically in line as Mensa waged a one-man protest directly in front. (It’s impossible not to draw a visual corollary between it and so many of the summer’s sights in the wake of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling.) Not surprisingly, the highlight was “16 Shots,” Mensa’s impassioned broadside against the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. As the song nears its climax, quick-blinking strobes mimicked police gunfire while the cops-dancers and Mensa mime his shooting death. The symbolism was unmistakable as red, white and blue lights flooded the hall and a blood-red flood light covered the fallen Mensa’s back. At track’s end, Mensa was wheeled briefly offstage, an upper-tier stage platform doubling as gurney.
Even when the stagecraft doesn’t quite gel, as when a dancer sends the row of police actors offstage by distributing flowers, during gay-rights anthem “Free Love,” it bravely risks folly and always complements the music, never upstaging. Pop and theatricality can be a tricky mix; Vic finds the right balance for him.
Another standout was the crowd-pleasing cameo by Savemoney crewmate Joey Purp on their “773 Freestyle” team-up. All rapid-fire bars and booming 808s and trap triplets, it was reminder that Mensa can always effortlessly destroy the fashion of the day should he so choose. And it reinforced that as Mensa progresses—from Chance-y beginnings to compelling deep-house experiments to personal-political topicality—his technical dexterity and artistic curiosity well position him for whatever lane he takes. And his fans will wisely follow along.