Vic sits down with Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Durand Bernarr to talk about the cost of being loved by the public, why Durand is letting go of labels and the queer genius behind Black church music. The two also perform their collaboration "Homesick," off Durand's album Bernarr.

Follow @vicmensa · @durandbernarr

Guest: Durand Bernarr

(00:00) Cold open and live performance

(04:26) Grateful and still unhappy: fame and personal space

(09:41) Not hating, just not your target audience

(13:35) Mango Butter and being everything at once

(16:42) Mr. Brady and homophobia in the Black community

(20:28) Ghana and the colonizer in the mind

(22:29) The queer genius of the Black church

(24:58) Prince, D'Angelo, Michael and the R&B lean

(30:29) Sugar Family, three personalities and 20 years in

(37:46) Real success and asking before you hug

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Vic sits down with Van Lathan Jr., Oscar-winning producer, CNN panelist, and co-host of Higher Learning, for a conversation about politics, culture and the true cost of freedom. At its heart is an honest reckoning with the Black experience: the price of "earning your humanity" through talent and how one word flattens a whole world of culture, whether you're standing in Chicago, Ghana, or South Africa.

📱 Follow @vicmensa · @vanlathan

🎤 Guest: Van Lathan Jr.

(00:00) Cold open

(01:13) Van Jones, Palestine and the price of the invitation

(12:13) Reparations, Coates and the white liberals

(19:33) The Matrix was a documentary

(26:56) Kamala, the aunties and who the party serves

(34:46) Whose dead bodies matter

(44:15) Get Rich or Die Tryin' and the violence that raised us

(01:02:28) Black here, Black in Ghana, Black in South Africa

(01:19:23) Boxing, Spike Lee and Mo' Better Blues

(01:56:20) TMZ, the headlines and the cost of being watched

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"What is your concept of God?" Vic welcomes Grammy Award-winning rapper and friend, Rapsody, to the show. They get into her album 'God Gotta Afro and Gold Hoops' and the trip to Ghana that inspired it. They also touch on the mental health of Black men, misogyny, and the Black female MC experience. Two of the sharpest pens in the game, giving each other their flowers.

📱 Follow @vicmensa · @rapsody 🎤 Guest: Rapsody

(00:00) Cold open: Africa on the map, and who's really poor

(01:32) "What is your concept of God?" — the meaning behind God Gotta Afro and Gold Hoops

(06:38) The Ghana trip: blue hour, colonial radio and bleaching cream

(12:09) The women who raised her and Black women as the standard of beauty

(14:51) Nikki Giovanni, James Baldwin and where Black men go to cry

(23:17) Stand Tall, sexuality and hip-hop's woman-hating problem

(32:33) The "female MC" label and the hardest rappers

(39:25) Why Lauryn Hill walked away

(42:50) Pinterest boards, colorism and The Wiz-inspired video

(52:32) Stubborn faith, the slave castles and giving each other flowers

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To honor five years of sobriety, Vic sits down with licensed therapist Kier Gaines for a conversation on how we heal. Vic and Kier explore the addiction, the shame that fed it, and the therapy, faith, and meditation that pulled him out. From there, the two of them talk about fatherhood, about choosing joy on a hard day, and about why the work doesn't stop at five years. Kier's new book, It All Starts When You Do, is out now.

📱 Follow @vicmensa · @kiergaines 🎤 Guest: Kier Gaines

This episode touches on mental health and addiction. If you're struggling, you're not alone. In the US, call or text 988 anytime, or reach SAMHSA at 1-800-662-4357.

(00:00) Five years sober: the cold open and where it started

(14:00) Kindergarten, labels and the school-to-prison pipeline

(23:19) Anxiety, shame and the lowest point

(39:25) Joy, gratitude and the therapist who showed up

(53:04) Meditation, the 12 steps and staying present

(01:05:12) Toxic positivity, affirmations and the books that rebuild you

(01:22:11) When politics strains the people you love

(01:32:16) Fatherhood, weather vs. climate and learning to say no

(01:46:06) Choosing joy and diversifying your pillars

(01:55:30) "It All Starts When You Do": Kier's book, self-love and neutrality

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Vic kicks off the series with the one person who's known him longest, Chance the Rapper, his brother since they were 13. They get into everything: their mentor Brother Mike and the YOUmedia scene that raised half of Chicago's greats, the making of "Cocoa Butter Kisses" (and the “trip” that fueled it), the falling out neither of them ever fully talked about, and the road back to real brotherhood.

(00:00) Welcome to The Vic Mensa Show

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Vic Mensa has done it all. Music with Justin Bieber, Pharrell and Jay-Z. Roles on Showtime's The Chi and Peacock's Bel-Air. And a fervor for speaking hard truths, even if the world isn't ready. What some saw as a problem turned out to be his purpose. His award-winning Orange Tree Series is now The Vic Mensa Show, a video-first sit-down at the intersection of politics and culture. Stories over statistics. Roast the powerful, never the victim. He is the format.

New episodes every Wednesday starting August 26, available wherever you get your podcasts. Pull up.

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