Vic Mensa still has a new album on the way, but it won’t be the one his fans have been waiting for.

In an interview with AllHipHop, the Chicago native said that after finishing his long-awaited album, Traffic, he scrapped it to start a new one.

“I made an album and then I didn’t feel like it was the right representation. So I started making a new album,” he said, adding that those sessions birthed the songs on his latest album, There’s Alot Going On. The new album, he confirmed, is about 75 percent done.

Mensa has undoubtedly taken a more conscious approach to his music lately. There’s Alot Going On is highlighted by “16 Shots,” an anti-police brutality anthem and tribute to victim Laquan McDonald; he debuted the song in Flint, Michigan, at a benefit show for people impacted by the ongoing water crisis. The provocative cover art for the EP featured a shirtless Mensa with a target drawn onto his chest. He also has a song called “Free Love,” that speaks up for LGBTQ rights.

Seeing an artist step forward to speak about social issues is one thing, cancelling shows and abandoning your previously-recorded music to do so is another. Vic Mensa got signed to Roc Nation based largely on the success of “Down On My Luck,” a more poppy radio song. And just last year he released “U Mad,” another radio-friendly single with Kanye West. His newer material is a complete 180 from those records - and in his interview with AllHipHop, Vic said he plans to largely go solo with this new approach.

“I don’t really do a lot of collaborations. … The stories that I’m telling are real personal. It’s very unique to me, so it’s not often that the songs I’m writing for the album really lend themselves for somebody else’s voice.” - AllHipHop interview

Fans will have to wait longer for the new album, and it will likely be much different from what they expected from him when they first became fans. But with Vic Mensa putting so much work and conviction into his career, this may be a record worth our time.

By William Ketchum III, aka @WEKetchum

Photo Credits: Instagram