Vic Mensa - There’s Alot Going On

Pitchfork 75

Vic Mensa went very quickly from playing in a band with his friends to crawling on national television with Kanye West to signing to Jay Z’s label. Until now, he hasn’t had much time to take it all into account. On There’s Alot Going On–remarkably, just the Chicago rapper’s third solo release–he finally catches up. The results brim with pain, anger, and confusion, but there’s also plenty of confidence and ambition. Throughout the EP, which is the best and boldest thing he’s made so far, he airs out his mistakes and fears, adding depth to well-produced, invigorating music.

Mensa has consistently been the second-highest-profile member of SaveMoney–the Chicago collective that boasts Donnie Trumpet, Joey Purp, Towkio, and most prominently, Chance the Rapper. At first, he followed closely in Chance’s footsteps, with his 2013 mixtape INNANETAPE often sounding like a knockoff Acid Rap. But he spent 2014 exploring the intersection of house music and hip-hop, resulting in the excellent “Down on My Luck” and plenty of SoundCloud gems. By 2015, he had taken a sharp left-turn toward post-Yeezus aggro-rap. He was definitely not Chance Lite anymore, but his music lacked personality, with high profile collabs (“U Mad” with Kanye and “No Chill” with Skrillex) and aesthetic taking precedence over substance. He seemed like a second-in-command in search of a role to embody: Was he an ODB or a Beanie Sigel or an A$AP Ferg?

With There’s Alot Going On, you can hear him settling into himself, and he opens up like never before. The first track “Dynasty” pairs boasts with a beautiful grandiose instrumental, before the affair gets immediately darker. “16 Shots” is dedicated to Laquan McDonald, the 17-year-old Chicagoan who was shot to death by a city police officer on a highway in 2014. It’s an appropriately angry song with distressing imagery, like a little girl–young enough to have braces–being forcefully shoved to the street by cops. No matter how many listens, the song’s ending will always be sickening and unbearable, as one of the McDonald family’s lawyers, Jeffrey Neslund, describes the murder in plain detail, with just the hum of a bass making it even more ominous. “16 Shots” is not the EP’s best song, but it is its clearest, setting the mood for the entire record.

“Danger” and “New Bae” showcase Mensa as a gifted pop artist. The songs are thunderous yet reserved, allowing his vocals to hold as much weight as the beats. Standout “Liquor Locker,” with a surprising but welcome uncredited Ty Dolla $ign feature, is a cry for help disguised as a smooth acoustic come-on. Mensa doesn’t just want D’USSÉ (a Jay Z favorite), he needs it to free himself from pain, and just wants a partner in his escape. Ty$, meanwhile, is similarly desperate: He promises the best sex ever, but seems to be unable to stand.

The closing title track is a stark admission of depression, addiction, physical abuse, and entitlement. Mensa sings a very pretty hook (“Know I never die/We live forever in my mind/And I sanctify/We live forever, still that life”), but it’s more of a diary entry than functional rap song: For the most part, he ditches any discernible rhyme scheme and punning. But again, it’s a necessary moment for Mensa, as a person and an artist, and has a captivating narrative arc. “There’s Alot Going On” is the most vital song on the EP. It leaves no stone unturned, no minute unrecalled. Vic Mensa likely will no longer ignore his past, as he had on many faceless songs in the past couple of years; he can finally grow toward a promising future.