Vic Spencer’s path to musical notoriety has been a long one, but as he states in Kidz In The Hall’s “I Swear”, “it’s nowhere near time to retire jerseys.” Vic is taking a page out of Danny Brown’s book, embracing his thirty year status, and releasing the best music of his career. Spencer released his last mixtape, Vic Greenthumbs, in September, and has since supplied a heavy dose of visuals. He’s also spent considerable time improving his craft, taking his time to perfect his sound. “I want to make timeless music. I’ve always felt like I made timeless music, but now it’s like a new and improved Vic Spencer and he is trying to show that to the people now.”
Here we present Vic’s latest video for “National Geographical”, which also features up and coming emcee, Chance The Rapper. Check out the interview and the new music video below.
RubyHornet: When did you record this song and shoot this video? Why is it so important to your Vic Greenthumbs project?
Vic Spencer: We shot the video about a month and a half ago at Brookfield Zoo. Me and Mason Rich Media sat down and thought about the name of the song, everything we’re talking about in the song, and the only thing that felt right was to do it in the zoo. Chance wasn’t up for it at first, he thought it was going to be tacky. We ended up going out there and doing what we do. It kind of ended up being a funny thing.
See, Vic Greenthumbs, he’s more of a like personality, it’s more his project, than Vic Spencer’s project. See I wanted to go a different way from how I usually do music, and when I was recording “National Geographical” I was going thru loops. Vic Greenthumbs is nothing but loop tracks, the engineer that mixed and mastered the whole project, put it together so Vic Greenthumbs could vent throughout the whole project. “National Geographical” was produced by J. Davey, it was a loop from one of their EP’s, it’s called “Trance”, but it’s just a beat. But the second part is what got looped, the whole instrumental doesn’t sound like “National Geographical”, there is a whole breakdown/bridge part and I looped it and it came out nice.
RubyHornet: You said people put no life in music, why is this song the opposite of that?
Vic Spencer: Whenever I put records together, I always think about how I can make the song better than what it is, even when it’s laid down. Like “National Geographical” was laid down before Chance got on it. I heard Chance’s “22 Off’s”, and I’d been familiar with that and Chance since he was 14. I’ve been following his music and the #SaveMoney music, and when I heard “22 Off’s” it was a grand opportunity for me to reach out to him, because I know I wanted that energy on one of the tracks. And I wanted it to be fresh and young, and Chance is now an inspiring emcee to others. He leaped over a whole bunch of people, and he is next. He is going to be the next person to blow.
Vic Greenthumbs came out in September, but it’s a lot of music so I want to do a lot of visuals. That’s coming along later, but it happens to work in both of our favors because we’re doing music and everyone is responding to the new music so that will make “National Geographical” even better. People are just now catching on. The video is new and it brings life back to Vic Greenthumbs. That’s the type of music I want to make, I want to make timeless music. I’ve always felt like I made timeless music, but now it’s like a new and improved Vic Spencer and he is trying to show that to the people now. The music is always going to change, I wanna make a stamp with important records and I think “National Geographical” is one not only for myself, but it gives Chance and opportunity to shine as he nears success. It will do nothing but help the both of us. People wil be able to identify “Fuck you Tahm bout” with “National Geographical” and how they’re two different sounds. Just some old fresh shit, people are scared to be real creative and “National Geographical”, I’ve never heard anything like it, it’s weird how I be coming up with the titles to these tracks haha. It all comes out nice at the end, all around fresh. Fresh new artist, a new sound that will always sound great.
RubyHornet: Where will you see the song in three years?
Vic Spencer: I want people to say this is the beginning, of what’s going to happen. Three year’s from now we’ll have way more tighter shit, but I think the bar is set high. Three years from now it will be a better record from Vic Spencer feat. Chance or vice versa, but “National Geographical” sets tone for how to be super creative and super different and still be able to catch a crowd. We’ll be able to look back and say we started at this level, and now look at how far we got. It will help us improve our bars, improve how we make music, help up think how can we top that. That’s what I think all the time, even with visuals. But its like “how can I top my next song” how can I outdo “National Geographical” on my next song.
Hit the next page to see Vic Spencer’s new video, “National Geographical” feat Chance The Rapper.