3 hours ago
5
Eight months ago, Vic Mensa expanded his responsibilities from rap to fatherhood.
In a new Us Weekly feature, the Chicago artist revealed that he and his partner, Melanie, welcomed their son, Mansa Musa Mensa, eight months before, and their reasons for keeping the infant's birth private.
"With the world being the way it is and the internet, I just wanted to take my time," Mensa explained. "I wanted to protect our peace and protect Melanie’s peace and the process of pregnancy and his infancy and [it] just felt like the right time."
Baby Musa will make his first music video appearance in the visual for Mensa's "I Wanna Be Ready," which the rapper directed.
"I really wanted to make this art piece to present his birth to the world through this art piece," he said about his son, whom he also refers to as 'Triple H.' "So, once I really put that together, then that’s when I felt like I wanted to share with the world."
Mensa and Melanie also intentionally named their son after the Mali kingdom emperor, who reigned from 1312 C.E. to 1337 C.E. and historically had a fortune of $400 billion.
"Mansa Musa is just a very well-known figure in African history and amongst African people of the diaspora all across the globe, primarily for his wealth," Mensa said.
On naming his son after the African ruler, the Victor rapper said, "the history of Africa is diminished and devalued as a tool of oppression of African people as a justification for the enslavement and continued exploitation of African people in the African continent."
While Mensa's baby has gotten a head start on traveling, having been to Mexico twice, along with Miami and Portugal, it was going to Ghana–where Mensa's paternal line is from–that he wanted baby Musa to experience.
"My father’s from Ghana and my entire father’s side of the family lives in Ghana," the rapper said. "And I didn’t go until I was 11 years old, but I didn’t really start planting my roots and building my own relationship with the continent and the country until maybe 2020, [or] 2021. So, I want to start him from infancy."
He continued, "So, he can be building a strong foundation because the African continent is in need of us, of the next generation, to reclaim it … [I’m] starting him on a revolutionary path."
As part of his embracing of African culture, Mensa and Chance the Rapper launched the Black Star Line Festival in Accra, Ghana in 2023, although last year's event was cancelled.
English (US) ·