A Savemoney Summer : Producers On The Rise
Written by: Marcus Prince
There’s no where in popular music scenes across the country that hasn’t directly or indirectly heard of the Chicago collective SAVEMONEY, featuring artists such as Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa, Towkio, Joey Purp, Kami, Dally Auston, Brian Fre$co, and Sterling Haze. Formally known as BoSquad Clique, SaveMoney’s premiere artists and members have come a long way from their “staingang” tendencies which are perfectly described by the crew’s superstar Vic Mensa in his track “Danger” from his new project “There’s Alot Going On” when Mensa says “… I like my n****s talk for they self, they to jugg, the like easy money, they like making s*** hard for they self”. True to the lyric, SaveMoney could’ve been and still are spotted in motion in every realm of Chicago. From Downtown to the least friendly parts of the city, one could catch SaveMoney affiliates on a mission to uphold the name collective’s bold name. This alludes to why the music of the collective is so well received by the youth of Chicago. The sound, culture, and lifestyle the SaveMoney embodies is already so familiar from day to day interactions and on a spiritual level.
The music behind the SaveMoney is also to Chicago natives and a pleasurable new experience to the rest of the country due to the amazing musicians/producers that have been recent pioneers of the crew’s sound. Names such as Papi Beatz, Smoko Ono, Thelonious Martin, THEMpeople, Carter Lang, Cam O’bi, the Social Experiment, and many more have aided in the construction and establishment of the unique musical directions that each SaveMoney artist has. “My village raised em a child, come through the crib and it’s bussin’. You meet anyone from my city, the gon’ say we cousins” - Chance the Rapper |
In Vic Mensa’s recent release “There’s Alot Going On”, he describes the roles that his friends Papi and Smoko played in his victory over the newfound battles he’s faced with the demons that came with his successful progress in his career. “Shit got bad out in L.A., so I moved back to my mom’s basement, linked up with Smoko and Papi Beatz and took it back to basics.” The connection was perfect for the new RocNation signee who idolizes bands like Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine. He displays their influence on his music throughout the project with the edgy, rockballad like vocals that dominate songs like “Liquor Locker” and title track “There’s Alot Going On”. Papi, Smoko, and Vic created a new age hybrid sound that mixes authentic punkrock vibes combined w/ Mensa’s almighty rapping skills to create the dynamic project that is There’s Alot Going On. “Shit got bad out in L.A., so I moved back to my mom’s basement, linked up with Smoko and Papi Beatz and took it back to basics.”
- Vic Mensa
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I was able link with long time friend Vic Mensa at his second DC show this past year at Howard Theatre. The energy between himself and his band, which includes Papi Beatz, was as electric as always, surging through the intimate crowd full of DC natives and Howard University students playing hookie from homework. When discussing how the music has been coming, he assured me that it’s been nothing but hard work and countless studio nights that have been put into developing all of his new material, a lot which was featured on his recent release. The show was ignited with high energy performance from Vic and great lead guitar playing from Papi Beatz. Inside and outside of the studio, it seems as though the chemistry between Vic Mensa and his friends/musicians is flowing and leading to great things.
