Roc Nation Executive Lenny S. Shares How Vic Mensa Signed To Jay Z's Label

Yesterday was one of the biggest days in Chicago rapper Vic Mensa's career. He has signed label deals before, but the announcement that he made the move to Jay Z's Roc Nation puts him in the same discussion as artists like Rihanna, Kanye West and J. Cole. The announcement was made exclusively on TIDAL.

The story of how this all came to be has been vague, especially for a 21-year-old artist who has garnered buzz over the past few years on the internet, but has not had a major radio hit. Roc Nation executive Lenny S. outlined that story in remarkable detail and it is pretty startling to see a young man who does not care about who Lenny represents and is fiercely focused on his own vision and creatively. 

Vic has garnered more attention in 2015 with his new collaborations alongside Kanye West. This has led to speculation that the Chicago rapper was making a move to a major player like Roc Nation, but the courtship by the label has apparently been going on for quite some time. 

Read the full account of Lenny S.'s lengthy attempt to try and woo Mensa to the label below. 

 A while back, I caught wind of an artist from Chicago who I thought had undeniable talent + lots of potential. (B4 the hype). I had @spanish_ran get in contact with @codykazarian who was a part of the mgmt team. I flew to Chi to go see this kid perform. As a music exec, I'm excited about traveling to the Chi to meet this guy for the 1st time. Coming from Roc, I assumed he'd be ecstatic. I assumed wrong. He barely gives me a head nod after Cody intros us. Now the show's over, every1 is gone & still nothin'. As I'm leaving, he stops me + says "yo, thanks for coming homie, where u from again?" I'd be lying to say I wasn't slightly offended. Ha. I sarcastically answered "just a lil rec company named ROC NATION". He replies, "oh, who y'all got there?" If u know me & my ROC pride, I'm offended again. Me: "Not sure if you've heard of them, a few small artists like, JZ, JCole & Rihanna". He says, oh cool + keeps it moving. All Good... Fast fwd a few months. Cody keeps me updated on everything they're doing + without question, I show up. Chi, ATL, Detroit, LA, NY etc. Finally, I meet Dan, the 2nd half of mgmt team while they're in NY filming Wildn' Out. Dan doesn't even give me eye contact during our intro. At this point I'm tight.. Who the fuck r these guys?! Who do they think they r ?! Fuck that! Do they not know who I am & the company I rep?! WTF! Lol. Days later I convince myself to put my stubbornness/pride aside & reach out. Fuck it, this dude is too dope. Why should I lose out just cause it seems like they're not impressed w/ Lenny S or Roc. I hit Cody..He tells me Vic wanted to holla at me. We kick it for months. They tell me nothin can move if I'm not good w/Dan. I sat w/ all of em in LA & I told them every reason y ROC was perfect for em. They didn't care about the hype, $, offers etc. They cared about making a connection w/ music/culture & partnering with a company who understood their vision/art. Same thing Roc believes in. We shook on it. Last piece of the puzzle: Meet w/ Chaka & J. My 20m meeting lasted 3hrs. We talked bout art/icons/rock/HipHop etc & decided our new business partners were SAVEMONEY! 1 of my most proud signings! VIC MENSA!!

A photo posted by Lenny S. (@kodaklens) on Apr 21, 2015 at 1:03pm PDT