Vic Mensa

Coming from Chicago, Lollapalooza is the one weekend of the summer when actual Chicagoans are kept out.

I don't see why clothes have to be women's or men's. It seems pretty limiting. I buy women's pants, women's shoes - everything, really.

There's a lot of times when I feel nihilistic, and lose hope, like I'm just lost in the world. But there's a lot of times when I can kinda be in control of destiny.

People think I'm angry and they're right. There's a lot to be angry about. But I'm also empathetic and ambitious and hopeful and happy at times.

I've been combing through the Wolverine archives and advertisements from the sixties and seventies. I'm looking to take inspiration from designs of the past and bring them into the future.

I have a responsibility to my fellow my community, to my fellow man, and woman. With that said, I create from a place of selfishness, but I'm also cognizant of potential impact on others. And I try to make that impact positive.

I always try to take performances as an opportunity to implant my spirit into the hearts and minds of anyone in a hundred-yard vicinity.

LA is the only place where people know my name and still walk up to me and ask it. And I think that was really representative of a lot of the transplant people in LA. I just found everything so phoney.

I wanted to go to a place with my first album that was just to the root, to the heart of emotion, and just unbridled by anything that wasn't truly in my heart.

My purpose is to unite people, to bring us together. And above all, to be a champion for justice and a vehement opponent of oppression and justice.

Service is key. And as I have more on my plate, and I have more ambitions and more goals and things I want for myself, I'm realizing more and more how important it is to be a servant.

The Clash is pretty much my favorite band, and their songs like 'Rock the Casbah' are political dance tracks.