Vic Mensa has an explanation for why he was teary eyed in a viral video about music streaming in June.
The rapper discussed the video on the Oct. 21 episode of REVOLT's Off the Record and explained around the seven-minute mark that he'd dropped LSD before pressing the record.
Mensa explained that his reason for posting the video was to detail being an independent artist who's largely carrying the weight on his own.
"I think I started to just consider the fact that I've been doing this a long time and have never owned my music for the vast majority of the time that I've been creating as an artist," Vic said. "That's an emotional experience to realize that you've put a decade into something and be like, tangibly, I don't own it."
Vic also revealed that he intended to take a microdose of LSD but accidentally had a macrodose because the bottles looked similar.
"So that morning, I had actually accidentally took the macro dose of LSD and I came back home and I was in a super emotional state. But it was genuine, it was genuine emotion," he explained. "And as I've been working on film making and content and social media, I think I've just started to think about turning the camera on in real moments."
Vic added that he was "broke down" about the situation and was "feeling the weight of being an artist in this age" who's "up against significant systemic challenges."
The Chicago rapper realized that he was "tripping" and went outside to meditate before having an epiphany to make an EP, tentatively titled Sundiata. But as the video began to circulate on social media, Vic's manager notified him that it reached The Shade Room.
Although Vic briefly felt like his "life was over," he said he's now at the point of finding equal strength in "vulnerability" and "bravado."
"Doing things that are very uncomfortable for me and in like being vulnerable, exercising restraint. Like, I find more strength in that right now," he said. "I've lived a whole life of proving that I'm a man by physical violence."
In the emotional video, Vic tackled the economic hardships that independent artists face, which puts them at risk for mental health issues.