Rapper Vic Mensa on Mushrooms, Ayahuasca and the New Legal Cannabis Industry

February 28, 2023

Jacobi Holland moderated a session with Vic Mensa at On the Revel, Feb. 25. (CelebStoner photo)

On the Revel events usually feature one major celebrity interview. In the past, it has been Styles P and Al Harrington. At their latest winter conferece at City Tech Theater in Brooklyn, NY on Feb. 25, rapper Vic Mensa was the final act of the day.

Mensa has his own cannabis brand, 93 Boyz, based in Illinois. Last year, he was arrested for possessing LSD and psilocybin mushroom products at Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC. In June, he made a plea deal that allows for unsupervised probation for one year. He launched 93 Boyz in August.

Here are five highlights from Mensa's talk with Jacobi Holland:

1. "Selling weed taught me a work ethic: I started doing that right before I started rapping. My work ethic came from that. I was serving people and then I had another product, I had music. I was able to tap into the same group of people to consume my art. These were my first fans."

2. "With 93 Boyz, I wanted to make sure my focus was community driven: This space is built off a plant that has been weaponized against us. I'm bringing freedom to the people."

3. "Licensing in Illinois is a complete farce: It's a big scam. We're currently in litigation for a few of those. We have to be unified and demanding."

Vic Mensa: "Ayahusaca and mushrooms and bufo, the toad secretion, are tools that I use for self-improvement."

4. "You have to stand firm on holding the majority stake of ownership in your company: Be very wary of who you take money from. All money comes at a different price. You will have to collaborate with some of these larger companies. You're going to have to collaborate with the 1% because they hold the key in so many different ways. Ultimately, they do need us. The cultural influence of our communities is why cannabis was criminalized in the first place. That has to be remembered. Play to your strenghts."

5. "This plant is enabling us to step outside of the box mentally: It's plant medicine. Plant medicine has always been essential for me."

6. "About 10 years ago I got deep into mushrooms: Creatively, it was a force behind my most significant music. I learned how to honor the plant and use it as real spiritual medicine. I find a lot of clarity. Beyond mushrooms, ayahuasca has been extremely beneficial for me. I started doing that in 2015-2016. I probably sat with ayahuasca for seven or eight ceremonies. It's crazy. It's like 20 years of therapy wrapped into one session. Ayahusaca and mushrooms and bufo, the toad secretion, are tools that I use for self-improvement. Mushrooms is the most transformative mental health tool that's about to break through and change the game."

Mensa's new album is due out in May. Here's the track, "Strawberry Louis Vuitton."