Ether

King Of The Slum #4

Vic Mensa - King Of The Slum

OpenSea

I am a multi-disciplinary artist from Chicago; my primary medium is hip-hop music. I was born and raised on the South Side with family roots in Ghana, West Africa. Growing up I was a skateboarder first, a graffiti artist second and a rapper third, music quickly becoming the fabric that tied all poles of my life together and gave me contextual meaning. The ethos of my creativity is truth telling; to share my unique perspective through the various mediums I employ.

The song King Of The Slum was made during my recent stay in Ghana in January. I titled it as such in reference to the slum in which my family resides and my father was born, known as Asokore Zongo in Koforidua. Zongo settlements are largely poverty stricken areas in West African towns comparable in ways to the Black American ghetto, albeit much less resourced. Much of the lyrical content of this song speaks to the juxtaposition of these different sides of my existence. My uncle, who lives in the zongo, is a legendary Ghanian musician named Chief Kofi Sammy of the Okukuseku International Band, and a pioneer of a style of music called High Life. For this record, which I also produced, I took influence from the music of my ancestry while I was physically in my homeland to manipulate some traditional melodic elements within the framework of my own personal style.

The photograph out of which I made the cover is of myself in the Zongo with my nieces and nephews. Despite the extreme poverty experienced where my family lives, there is immense power in culture and spirituality that I have sought to express through my practice in both photography and music.

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