Just Listen HipHop | Underground And Mainstream Hip-Hop Releases

Vic Spencer is a 41 year old MC from Chicago, Illinois who emerged in the early 2010s as a member of the local SAVEMONEY collective led by Vic Mensa. He’s also made up a lengthy solo discography for himself with highlights including the Big Ghost Ltd.-produced The Ghost of Living to the SonnyJim-produced Spencer for Higher trilogy. Vic’s already dropped a total of 3 albums in 2022 so far with the last one being the final installment of the Psychological Cheat Sheet trilogy a couple months ago & overt the weekend, he happened to enlist Boston underground veteran Stu Bangas to produce his 5th EP that surprise-dropped over the weekend.

“Spitbook” opens the EP with a horn sample with the drums kicking in halfway though calling himself perfect with the pen & pad whereas “Contractor” takes a more eerie boom bap route talking about getting fucked when people sign their lives away to shady record labels. “Confederate Flag Couch” has a more synth-based groove to it admitting that he’s fed up with people doubting him, but then Anklejohn & Fly Anakin come into the picture for the raw “Rusty Silverware” reminding that they ain’t to be fucked with.

However on “Bag Pipes”, we have Crimeapple tagging along with Vic over a jazzy instrumental dropping some gangsta bars just before the smooth “Pure Carnage” advises not to tell him about anything that they haven’t even gone through. “Graveyard Record Book” goes full-blown chipmunk soul explaining his violent while the song “Disappointed Development” with Sulaiman finds the 2 over a drumless loop talking about how it’s just another sad story. The penultimate track “RPG” with D. Brash has a more rugged quality to it so both of them can drop battle bars until the synth-boom bap closer “Strung Out” with Da Villins continuing to bring the hardcore lyrically.

“The Healing Remedy” was a favorite of mine off Beats & Blood, so it was really a matter of time before these guys did something together & it turns out to be my favorite Vic EP to date. The lyricism is some of his most abstract since Still Here back in the spring with Stu’s production having a more boom bap quality to it with some jazzy & drumless undertones.

Score: 8/10