There are about 20 more tracks, leftovers from the series, that Spencer has yet to release. For Spencer, Red Button series was nothing compared to Rapping Bastard. Most of the tracks Spencer was just sitting on rather than producing new, tending to keep his music to himself. Most of the raps for Red Button Series he wrote before the beat. “I knew what I was going to rap over, so I just started attacking lyrically,” he explained.
Attacking bars with anger and aggression is what Spencer does best. One can hear the fire in his voice as he spits. While one might be imitated by the venomous lyricism, he is a chill pretty positive and realistic dude. On Rapping Bastard, one can hear how Spencer channels and controls the fierceness of his rhymes and beats, something that is faint in his daily demeanor.
It is understandable why Spencer is both ferocious on the microphone and calmer in real life. It comes with maturity, having a family (his six year-old daughter is on the beginning of the song “134340”) and having gone through group homes and many DCFS notices early on in life. Spencer thinks of everything as an opportunity, and inverts negatives to positives.
“All opportunities are like landmines. One blows up I’m going with it,” Spencer said with a smirk. He knows that if he aimed too high and missed, he would beat himself up, so he works practically, “I set small goals that I know would be reachable, and if I can’t attack those then maybe there’s a way I can and it just might take longer. That way I can know what I expect from myself. If I expect that this music has to be what it is.”
Since Chicago has been on everyone’s radar for the last couple of years, it is difficult to clear a path. Spencer creates distinct music, but when so much else is going on it becomes difficult to consume it all. Spencer believes that in the beginning, the Chicago hip-hop scene had leaders, such as Twista, Do Or Die and Common. Now there are so many more rappers and no leaders. Spencer explains, “It’s like three times as many kids now than when I was born. You have to go with the odds; the ratio is heavy in Chicago. I just think there’s too many of us doing the same thing and not too many leaders. Just because there’s so many artists doing their thing, they’re they own leaders. Something in there’s gotta change.”
He thinks of the Chicago scene as one big pot of gumbo brewing, and it’s all hot, nearly bubbling over. He is listening to his peers such as Martin $ky, Saba, Highlife Dre, Stearling Hayes and SaveMoney — to name a few — noting that he’s particularly tight with SaveMoney member Brian Fresco.
Spencer felt compelled to clear the air about one thing: Vic Mensa and Chance The Rapper both hit it big after being featured on tracks of Spencer’s. “Everyone thinks I’m mad or bitter about that, having them come out on my projects, and I’m not on either one of their projects,” Spencer explained. He does rap about it in his typical angry fashion, addressing it head on, but Spencer isn’t stressing it as much as it sounds on his songs.
Ultimately, he wants Rapping Bastard to surpass his previous projects’ numbers, getting it shopped around and heard more. Spencer cared most about making sure people get the project, and he wanted Rapping Bastard to be everything his stellar 2012 project Walk Away Music wasn’t, which is why he pushed himself sonically.
“I think sonically it’s not better than Walk Away Music. I don’t know what kind of attachment I have with Walk Away Music, but I think that’s Vic Spencer’s formula,” explained Spencer who is particularly comfortable with his style. He wanted Rapping Bastard to be different though. “I’m after the respect, globally. I want the respect more than anything. The respect is everything,” he explained.
Spencer wanted the project to be a jumping off point for whatever is next. In a way, he created a landmine for himself. “I just wanna do the goals, rep the goals that I can see, and if anything that happens is bigger than that, then that’s God’s nature, I’m with it,” said Spencer.
Manipulating bars, creating beats, and spitting with precision, Vic Spencer is the Rapping Bastard. Now, let’s hope he explodes.
i lovfe it
My manz giving the people something they need . #lifegame #rappingbastard