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This EP was released on June 3rd this year. I never listened to INNANETAPE, which was Vic Mensa’s breakout mixtape, but, as far as I know, I REALLY don’t like this guy. The only song I’ve heard from him is called Major Payne, and it’s fucking horrible. Every time I see someone talking about him, they always mention how unique his style is, but Major Payne is one of the trendiest, most generic, mainstream sounding songs I’ve ever heard. I haven’t heard any of the music on this EP yet, but I already hate it. You know why? This project is technically titled “There’s Alot Going On.” Yeah. I know. “A lot” is TWO fucking words. NOT ONE. I don’t even know why that bothers me so much. WHY? Why did you make it one word? Damnit. Not to mention the official cover art, which is mad suspect in my opinion.

Well, I guess “suspect” isn’t the right word to use. If THIS was the the official cover…

…then I’d be a lot more comfortable calling it suspect. HAHAHAHA. Anyway, I really didn’t like that single I mentioned before, but I’ve seen this project getting a lot of praise on Twitter, and it’s only 7 tracks long, so I decided to check this shit out real quick. If there isn’t at least one good track on here I’m gonna be a little pissed. Every song is produced by Papi Beatz.

Track 1: Dynasty

Damn. This beat is dope af. The first verse actually wasn’t bad. Vic was actually saying something interesting. “SAVEMONEY the new dynasty like Death Row in ’93 / The same year my mother’s water broke on 57th St. / Mama Mensa knew she raised a very special man / Young Muhammad in the ring with the power in my hands / To defy the federation like Ali in Vietnam.” The first verse was dope. Wow. I’m enjoying this a lot more than I thought I would. Oh shit… The beat finally dropped for the second verse. This production is crazy. The second verse was pretty good too. It’s not an amazing verse by any means, but it’s much better than I expected from Vic Mensa to be honest. I fuck with this song. This is actually dope. 4/5

Track 2: 16 Shots (Co-Prod. Vic Mensa)

I can tell from the previous track’s outro that this song is about police brutality. The title is obviously inspired by the murder of Laquan McDonald. It’s starting now. He already referenced Rahm Emanuel’s bitch ass. “Ready for the war we got our boots strapped / 100 deep on State Street; where the troops at? / The mayor lying saying he didn’t see the video footage, and everybody want to know where the truth at.” Ok, yeah. This song is specifically about Laquan McDonald. “I can’t imagine if it was my own mama / Got her first born son stole from her; he never had a chance / and we all know it’s ’cause he black / Shot ’em 16 times; how fucked up is that?” The first verse was really dope. This is a far cry from the bullshit he was spittin’ on Major Payne. The hook is dope af. I’m actually not sure who the girl he was rapping about in the second verse was. “They threw a little girl down on the pavement / Pushed her with the bike and said, ‘Stay out the way, bitch‘ / She was bleedin’ on the ground through her braces / This is what happens when niggas don’t stay in their places.” The second verse was pretty dope. I’m not sure what happened with his vocals on that last line tho. Damn. That third verse was fucking amazing. That sounded like some fuckin’ N.W.A. shit. He sounded so fuckin’ mad. That shit was gangsta as fuck. “Somebody tell these motherfuckers keep they hands off me / I ain’t a motherfuckin’ slave, keep your chains off me / You better hope this 9 millimeter jam on me / Or get blown, I hope you got your body cam turnt on.” There are some uncredited female vocals on the bridge and refrain. It’s not bad. Okay, this is actually a really good song. I wasn’t expecting to like a song from Vic Mensa this much. This song is dope af. I definitely fuck with this shit. 5/5

Track 3: Danger

What the fuck… “I got my dick in hand cause I know a lot of y’all niggas running scared.” Umm… I’m not really sure what that line is all about… Well, it’s only one line. I guess I can look past it. I don’t know how I feel about that first verse. “I fucked the world for the first time and she love it.” I guess it was alright. I’m not really feelin’ the hook. This is more of what I was expecting from Vic Mensa after hearing that Major Payne single. I could see this song doing well with a mainstream audience, but this isn’t for me. I don’t think it’s terrible. Honestly the hook is pretty catchy. I just don’t see myself coming back to this personally. The beat is incredibly basic. The bars were pretty shaky too. This isn’t for me. I could definitely see this being a successful radio single tho. 3/5

Track 4: New Bae

“I left my bitch at home, I think I need a new bae / I left my bitch at home, I think I need a new bae.” This really isn’t for me. Wow. This project switched up real quick. I’m sorry to all the Vic Mensa stans out there, but there is nothing creative or unique about this shit. This sounds like a hit song that I would hear on the radio. That obviously doesn’t mean it’s bad tho. I like the beat. Well, maybe I spoke too soon when I said this wasn’t bad. I really don’t like the vocals on this first verse. Vic Mensa’s singing with autotune, and it’s really high pitched. I’m not feelin’ this shit. “Damn she so bad / Goddamn, she look so good every time she get low / I ain’t E-40 baby, but baby girl I’ma tell you when to go.” Wow, this is fucking awful. “Fresh out the shower; I’m licking your asshole.” Alright, I’m done with this song. When I hear a line this bad, it’s clear enough that I don’t like the song. Nothing can make me enjoy this song after hearing a line like that. This shit is fucking horrible. 1/5

Track 5: Liquor Locker Feat. Ty$

Wow, this EP went downhill REAL fuckin’ quick. Ugh… I’m not feelin’ this guitar driven beat. Great. Two of my least favorite things in music: guitars & love songs. I already know that I’m not gonna like this. Why is he singing so much? This is an R&B track. This isn’t Hip Hop. I’m not feelin’ this shit. This hook is wack to me. Vic Mensa shouldn’t sing this much. He’s not a good singer. I don’t think his vocals are terrible, but it’s not good enough for me to want to hear a full song of it. Ty$ is singing now. Nah. This song isn’t for me. I don’t like the beat, and they lyrics are doing nothing for me. I’m not feelin’ this shit. This is wack to me. 2/5

Track 6: Shades Of Blue (Co-Prod. Vic Mensa, Smoko Ono & Carter Lang)

Why the FUCK is the intro to this song so long? I’ve been trying to get this song started for like an hour now, but I keep getting distracted. Jesus. Okay, I’m just gonna start the song over, and I’m not gonna let myself get distracted. Oh. The intro’s only about forty seconds long. What the fuck? “Color of morning pee coming out of the sink.” Oh, he’s talking about the Flint, Michigan water crisis. I guess the first verse wasn’t bad. It’s cool that he’s bringing attention to something so fucked up, but I don’t think I’d wanna hear a song about this more than once personally. I’m really not feelin’ this hook. This beat is pretty underwhelming too. Oh God… “I’m a prodigy in these Prada jeans.” That… That’s so fucking corny. HAHAHA. Wow. That line is SO bad. HAHAHAHA. Nah. I’m not feelin’ this song. I definitely appreciate him trying to bring attention to important shit, but as a song this isn’t good to me. Even if it didn’t have some terrible lines like the one I just quoted, the production & hook are just so underwhelming. I’m not feelin’ this. This is wack to me. 2/5

Track 7: There’s A Lot Going On (Co-Prod. Smoko Ono & Knox Fortune)

I actually kinda like this singing on the intro. The hook is way too dramatic for me tho. This beat is dope. Wooooah… Uh… Vic just… Well, I guess I should just show y’all. “She came out the room swingin’, hit me in the jaw / I was really tryna fend her off / But I ended up in the closet with my hands around her neck.” I don’t even know what to say to that. My first instinct it to laugh because of how fucked up that is, but it’s really not funny. I guess his fans would be cool with him admitting something like that, but as a casual Vic Mensa listener, he just made himself a lot less likable. The song just ended. Nah. I don’t see myself coming back to this. I don’t think it’s horrible, but this is for the day 1 Vic Mensa fans. He addresses his long hiatus since INNANETAPE, and basically blames his depression & drug use. That’s cool I guess. I’m not gonna wanna hear this again personally tho. This is just alright to me. I will say that I kinda enjoyed the video tho. It was pretty boring until I got to the end; it actually kinda makes me like the official cover for this EP now. 3/5

Final Thoughts:

Nah. This project isn’t good to me. I don’t think it’s horrible tho. The majority of the music here is pretty bad, but it actually started off really good. It was much better than I thought it would be. The first two tracks were very good to me, but it just went downhill from that point. I think the quality of Vic’s music really depends on the subject matter he chooses. The first track was good because he was just rapping about how SAVEMONEY is the best, and he’s the greatest rapper. I think he does that well enough. 16 Shots was great because he chose to rap about something that he felt very passionately about. It also really resonated with me personally. However, after that he started talking about girls, and y’all already know shit like that doesn’t interest me at all. It was just so lyrically mundane. The autotuned singing certainly didn’t help either. Shades Of Blue probably could’ve been a decent song if it had an enjoyable hook and some better production behind it. Overall, this EP is just average. I’m glad I listened to it because I got two very good tracks out of it. The majority of it wasn’t good to me tho. This is just alright to me. I gotta apologize for the cover art diss too. My dumbass didn’t really get it until I saw the music video for the title track. I definitely have a lot more respect for Vic Mensa than I did before listening. The music just didn’t really do much for me for the most part.

Favorite Song: 16 Shots

Least Favorite Song: New Bae

Verdict:

57%

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