Vic Mensa’s back and forth with DJ Akademiks on Everyday Struggle back in 2017 shocked viewers at the time. In the interview, Vic blasted Akademiks for his “Chiraq” campaign on streaming platforms and accused him of glorifying violence in Chicago even though he isn’t from the streets.
Paper Magazine asked Mensa how it felt to see Drill make it big internationally.
“It’s really astounding, man. It’s beautiful. Ghanaian Drill is interesting too because it’s this ping-pong effect where Drill music from Chicago then inspired the UK, who transformed that sound plus Grime into a UK Drill scene; which then ping-ponged and inspired Pop Smoke and them to do the New York Drill scene, which then ping-ponged and inspired the Ghanaian kids to make Ghanaian Drill,” he said.
He continued, “The Drill movement was always conflicting for me,” he shares. “While I loved the artistic expression in the music, I also had a front-row seat to the real-life accompaniment to that music. Friends of mine were killed in the midst of Drill rap beef and all that sh-t. That was why I got into it with Akademiks. Because a kid that I grew up with and went to karate with when we were five years old ended up being a street n-gga, gang banging, et cetera. He was also a very talented rapper. When he got killed, there was music involved, there were big Drill artists involved, and I heard about it on Akademiks’ parasitic platform. So that’s why I was upset.”
