Vic Mensa just started his run opening for Jay-Z on the 4:44 tour, but he recently found time to sit down for BBC Radio 1’s Piano Sessions series and give an intimate performance. Although his song selection — Radiohead’s “Karma Police” — may seem surprising, the rapper, along with an accompanying acoustic guitarist, actually handles it admirably as he sits behind the piano and turns in a vocal performance that’s faithful to the relaxed pace of the original song.
Mensa’s step into more rock-oriented territory isn’t exactly unprecedented: His former band, Kids These Days, had strong blues, soul, and rock influences, and the group’s only album, 2012’s Traphouse Rock, was even produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. So, if anything, this performance is a bit of a return to Mensa’s roots, and he sounds pretty comfortable with it.
Mensa has been known to play the song if he’s around a piano, and he also previously cited Radiohead as an example of the importance of the album as a culturally impactful format. Mensa also thrives when performing in an intimate setting like this, as he showed during a Malibu performance for Amnesty International a couple months ago.
Listen to Mensa’s “Karma Police” cover above, revisit Radiohead’s original version of the song below, and read our review of his album The Autobiography here.
