Chicago native Vic Mensa has taken on many different roles over the years — rapper, organizer, actor and more.

Most recently, he partnered with restaurateur Eldridge Williams for his “Feed the Block, Warm the Block” initiative to bring food and clothing to the city’s unhoused population.

Mensa said when he founded his cannabis company, 93 Boyz, he knew he needed to find a way to give back to the community.

“I knew that to be dealing with something that’s been used to steal freedom from so many that it was in my heart that the ethos that a company had to be to provide freedom and to give back,” Mensa said. “So as the first Black-owned cannabis brand to be in Illinois, we just started off on that foot.”

So along with Williams and his restaurant, The Delta, they’ve been able to provide over 1,000 meals in the last few months. They’ve been working primarily on the South Side, but Mensa said he hopes to expand to the West Side and bring resources wherever there is need.

Meanwhile, Mensa continues to create music and art — recently releasing “Blue Eyes,” a song and short film inspired by family experiences with skin bleaching and identity.

“I wanted to tell a story that could, at once, explain my perspective and shed light on an issue that many people may not know is an issue,” he said. “Colorism, racism, we widely understand that to a degree but like, I wasn’t that familiar with skin bleaching, you know, till I started spending time out there and in the Caribbean and realized like, ‘yo they’re selling skin bleaching cream in a gas station like how we got Carmex.’”

The record is nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Hip Hop/Rap Song.

At the end of the day, the rapper still works to stay true to his Chicago roots.

“Oftentimes, artists gain notoriety and leave, you know,” Mensa said. “And I’ve been other places but I always come back home.”