VIC MENSA does his native Chicago proud. The son of a Ghanaian father and an American mother, MENSA, who grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, has advocated for his city since he began rapping in the mid-2010s. Early co-signs from Kanye West made MENSA an instant sensation in his hometown and across the U.S., which made for many eager listeners when he dropped his first EP for Def Jam, 2016’s There's Alot Going On. That project blended meditations on race and police brutality, topics he continued exploring on his 2017 full-length debut, The Autobiography. After a string of well-regarded releases, he shared Victor in 2023, which found him exploring his own internalized racism and newfound sobriety.