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Rap Star Lifestyle In Gear, Vic Mensa Might Not Make It In 'Rollin' Like A Stoner'

Sex, drugs, rap and roll. Vic Mensa's transparency about his dysfunctional lifestyle is sobering throughout his confessional Autobiography, released this summer. But on his latest video, "Rollin' Like a Stoner," he gazes back at his real-life battle with addiction through rock-star-colored lenses.

Directed by Mensa, "Rollin'" is full of trippy B-movie visuals that find the Chicago artist exploring the larger-than-life excess and addiction he devolved into in the years leading up to Autobiography. "Rollin' like a stoner, outta control / 'Cause I got a problem nobody knows," he raps, in leather jackets as he floats between his motorcycle and drop-top, driving under the influence.

With so many of the genre's stars spinning drugged-out, depressive, suicidal narratives in 2017, Mensa's absurd self-depiction — which ends with his name lit up on a theater marquee — is a reminder that their disastrous lifestyle is our entertainment.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Rodney Carmichael is NPR Music's hip-hop staff writer. An Atlanta-bred cultural critic, he helped document the city's rise as rap's reigning capital for a decade while serving on staff as music editor, culture writer and senior writer for the defunct alt-weekly Creative Loafing.