Vic Mensa signs to Roc Nation

Chicago rapper Vic Mensa has been announced as Roc Nation’s newest signing.

Roc Nation executive Lenny S. posted a picture of Mensa and Jay Z on his Instagram page, detailing the story of Mensa’s signature. “A while back, I caught wind of an artist from Chicago who I thought had undeniable talent + lots of potential,” Lenny S. wrote, before calling Vic Mensa one of his proudest signings to date.

Mensa recently released his first single with the label, titled ’U Mad’. It features a guest spot from Kanye West. Mensa was present at the Brit Awards in February for West’s performance, as well as appearing at Kanye’s last minute show in Camden the same month. Alongside Sia, Mensa features on ‘Wolves’, the opening track to Kanye West’s upcoming album ‘So Help Me God’.

Listen to ‘U Mad’ and read Lenny S’ full post below.

A while back, I caught wind of an artist from Chicago who I thought had undeniable talent + lots of potential. (B4 the hype). I had @spanish_ran get in contact with @codykazarian who was a part of the mgmt team. I flew to Chi to go see this kid perform. As a music exec, I'm excited about traveling to the Chi to meet this guy for the 1st time. Coming from Roc, I assumed he'd be ecstatic. I assumed wrong. He barely gives me a head nod after Cody intros us. Now the show's over, every1 is gone & still nothin'. As I'm leaving, he stops me + says "yo, thanks for coming homie, where u from again?" I'd be lying to say I wasn't slightly offended. Ha. I sarcastically answered "just a lil rec company named ROC NATION". He replies, "oh, who y'all got there?" If u know me & my ROC pride, I'm offended again. Me: "Not sure if you've heard of them, a few small artists like, JZ, JCole & Rihanna". He says, oh cool + keeps it moving. All Good... Fast fwd a few months. Cody keeps me updated on everything they're doing + without question, I show up. Chi, ATL, Detroit, LA, NY etc. Finally, I meet Dan, the 2nd half of mgmt team while they're in NY filming Wildn' Out. Dan doesn't even give me eye contact during our intro. At this point I'm tight.. Who the fuck r these guys?! Who do they think they r ?! Fuck that! Do they not know who I am & the company I rep?! WTF! Lol. Days later I convince myself to put my stubbornness/pride aside & reach out. Fuck it, this dude is too dope. Why should I lose out just cause it seems like they're not impressed w/ Lenny S or Roc. I hit Cody..He tells me Vic wanted to holla at me. We kick it for months. They tell me nothin can move if I'm not good w/Dan. I sat w/ all of em in LA & I told them every reason y ROC was perfect for em. They didn't care about the hype, $, offers etc. They cared about making a connection w/ music/culture & partnering with a company who understood their vision/art. Same thing Roc believes in. We shook on it. Last piece of the puzzle: Meet w/ Chaka & J. My 20m meeting lasted 3hrs. We talked bout art/icons/rock/HipHop etc & decided our new business partners were SAVEMONEY! 1 of my most proud signings! VIC MENSA!!

A photo posted by Lenny S. (@kodaklens) on Apr 21, 2015 at 1:03pm PDT