"Victory Mensa" is what Hot 97's Peter Rosenberg calls young Vic from Chicago. It's a fitting name, because the rapper, since dropping his debut mixtape, Innanetape, in 2013, has not taken any Ls: performing/collabing w/ Damon Albarn/Gorillaz; touring w/ J. Cole, Danny Brown; co-writing ("All Day") and landing high profile features on Kanye West creations. He also dropped two well received EPs, There's Alot Going On and The Manuscript, and that brings us to The Autobiography, Mensa's debut album. Executive produced by No I.D., the Roc Nation artist just might have accomplished the elusive task of satisfying both the purists and those that lean (ahem) toward the "cloud rap" camp. Vic touches on politics, personal issues, and other complex topics, and his cool, honest "young rap god" persona (sometimes angst-ridden) is the engine that drives the tracks. He constantly switches between melodic, focused, emotional, and deliberately ignorant flows, and the music never ceases to be fun, no matter how serious the theme. The production complements this vibe: soulful samples meet rolling hi hats and beefy low end work, and the trap cadences are accented with rock inklings. It's an impressive offering from the young Chitown rapper, check out "OMG," "Rollin' Like A Stoner," "Say I Didn't," "We Could Be Free," and "Gorgeous."

• white vinyl pressing
• music label: Roc Nation 2017

reviewed by nakaveli 12/2017