Chances are, if you have been bumping Chance the Rapper‰’s sophomore mixtape Acid Rap for the last few months, you are already familiar with Vic Mensa‰’s seductively-crackly tenor tone which tied together that album‰’s sensual “Cocoa Butter Kisses.‰” At the end of September, Mensa dropped a second mixtape of his own that truly showcases his vision. At just 20 years old, Chicago-based Mensa reaches an impressive level of maturity and creativity in Innanetape, which hosts appearances from Ab-Soul, Thundercat and Chance the Rapper himself.

Innanetape‰’s title reads almost like “inane-tape,‰” and song titles like “Orange Soda‰” and “Tweakin‰’‰” only reinforce this reading, though the first track “Welcome to INNANET‰” sets the record straight. The opener slides smoothly from a preamble that warns of a new artistic identity cultivated in the internet age into the kickback-anthem “Orange Soda.‰Û

“Lovely Day,‰” picks up this playful and relaxed tone with some hyphy electronic soul music ultimately joined by a bebop trumpet that rides out the track. However, “Tweakin‰’‰” manages to shift to the grimy imagery of sawed-off shotguns and kicked-in doors in a cohesive transition.

In the first verse in “Time is Money,‰” Mensa takes shots at the hypocrisy of political rhetoric while laying down some of his own in a rapid syllabic syncopation that illustrates his talent.

“All the pressures from record labels around me/In a Benz still tryin‰’ to sign me/Finally in a position to put all that shit behind me,‰” he raps in the song “Fear & Doubt.‰” He reports his relief at coming to some popularity of his own without the help of a major record label and the inherent constraints that would bring to his art.

In the closing remarks of Innanetape Mensa asks: “What’s left to say? Haven’t I said it all? Did I sing enough songs for you?‰” Though one cannot say that Mensa “said it all,‰” he dutifully fulfilled his task of crafting a strikingly original album loaded with solid songs.

DOWNLOAD INNANETAPE FOR FREE HERE