Vic Mensa Quotes

I try to make all my songs good. I don't ever write one to finish one. A lot of protest songs end up that way, driven by some kind of emotional response.

Speaking out against rap music is useless, and it's futile. The reality is there's criticism for everything, but Jay-Z is one of the most remarkable artists of our time of any genre, and as a hip-hop artist he carries the weight of that art form with such splendor and grace and genius.

A theatre, a literature, an artistic expression that does not speak for its own time has no relevance.

There arose a belief in style - and in banality. Banality encompassed politics, too, because it was a common belief that politics were not worthy of art.

Observe that it is a great error to believe that all mediums of art are not closely tied to their time.

Art never harms itself by keeping aloof from the social problems of the day: rather, by so doing, it more completely realises for us that which we desire.

You shouldn't listen to my music for political messages.

We're trying to plug a void and bring what's been missing back to hip-hop.

A lot of songs we've written have been political, but they're also personally political.

I believe that art can make relevant and progressive contributions to culture and society.

I have been skeptical, sometimes, about the importance of rap music, which I think is a capitalistic project to make money.

I think my legacy is important because my songs - perhaps more than those of any other songwriter I know - cover every movement from 1965 on, socially and artistically. If you want songs about ecology, I've got ecology songs; if you want songs about spirituality, I've got spiritual songs.

'Narcos' was a very strong experience, not only artistically and politically, but as a human being.

I would hope to make a record that interacts with culture in a macro sense. That is something to aspire to.

Art can contextualise and buttress fame. So rather than being antagonistic in the way Fugazi would have had it in 1989, particularly in the present, maybe they are one - they belong to one another.

I don't like political rappers.

We do want to be diverted and be interested and be provoked by popular culture - by art, if we're lucky. And it's amazing how often people have lost sight of this.

The value of the arts cannot be measured by its ability to preserve life but rather to enhance existence.

If fashion has a political significance, it is probably culturally, as a camouflage.

I don't like politics in music.

The only serious function films can serve is to act as a record of their times.

We live in a society of triviality, and my music and what I'm about kind of starts to break that mold and adds more meaning and dialogue to hip hop.

I think comparisons are very on the surface. If I sing, like, 'Park Bench People,' and there's kind of a social undertone, people will say I sound like Gil Scott-Heron. But for me, the more insightful comparison would be a Roberta Flack or Nina Simone - people who really mix different genres of music.

At this point, in 2008, if you put out a book, a movie, or write a verse, paint a painting, it should have some sort of social value.

This band isn't mostly about being a political protest band. We want to entertain; we want to give you a good time. At the same time, if you look through the history of Priest, there's always been an intelligent factor.