Chicago rapper Vic Mensa appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to perform a medley of new songs, “Shelter” and “FR33DOM.” Recruiting “Shelter” guest Wyclef Jean and longtime Windy City collaborator Peter Cottontale, Vic’s prerecorded performance finds him performing from the floor of an empty warehouse and visually condemning the prison system. For the second half of the performance, red highlighting accentuates a riotous rendition of the defiant “FR33DOM.”
Both songs are due to appear on Vic’s upcoming EP, I TAPE, the follow-up to last year’s V TAPE. The activist/rapper revealed the I TAPE due date via a press release after the performance: March 26. It’s clear that Vic is building up to a larger project, so a C TAPE can’t be very far behind that.
“Shelter,” I TAPE‘s first single, featured the reunion of Vic and his musical brother-in-arms Chance The Rapper. The two rappers came up at the same open mic together and had parallel career tracks early on, but when Chance’s Coloring Book took off, the two apparently had a falling out that lasted for several years. In the meantime, Vic released an experimental punk album, became an outspoken critic of various US policies, and even visited Palestine, deciding to recommit to the social justice cause and apparently getting back to his musical roots. You can read more in Uproxx’s new interview with Vic Mensa here.
Watch Vic Mensa’s The Late Show performance of “Shelter” and “FR33DOM” above.
I TAPE is out 3/26 on Roc Nation.
