Vic Mensa who is most notably known for his rapping career has recently started his own alternative/indie band 93PUNX. The group wasted no time finding the headlines after the announcement of their F*ck ICE protest at the ICE headquarters in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, September 3rd. It is unknown if any other artists will join Mensa and 93PUNX at the protest in Los Angeles, but the band is calling for all their fans to meet with them at 4 pm on Monday. The promotional material for the show is fairly slim, but the band has released the poster for the show with the saying, “Rock for children’s rights.” ICE has been on the frontline of the societal-separation controversy due to their allegedly aggressive tactics to detain and deport “unlawful” immigrants.
93PUNX founder Vic Mensa is no stranger to sending politically charged messages, earlier in the year he released a series of music videos which satirically depicted some of the things going on in our world today. His music video for, “Camp America” made waves earlier this year when the video showed a number of white children locked in cages. But the music video for his band 93PUNX’s song “3 Years Sober” is the most recent project from Mensa to raise some controversy. The opening scene shows Mensa applying mascara, lipstick, and even putting on a blonde wig, soon he was fully dressed in red heels, fishnet stockings, and a sequined confederate flag dress. When asked about the meaning of the song and the incredibly satirical video, Mensa responded with, “‘3 Years Sober’ is about identity, it’s about anti-establishment, it’s about a very real and prevalent violence against the LGBTQ community,” and “I wanted to wear this Confederate flag dress as a middle finger to a symbol of racism.”
On top of the announcement for their politically charged, self-proclaimed guerilla show, F*ck ICE! 93PUNX has also released their self-titled debut project, 93PUNKX. This project will include feature performances from iconic Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, “The Anthem” band Good Charlotte and electronic beat making pop group Francis and The Lights. With a list of respected musicians featuring on the project, 93PUNX had to make sure they got an A-list producer to go along with the star-studded self-titled debut album, so they recruited the help of Travis Barker, the drummer from iconic pop-punk band Blink-182.
If you’re a fan of 93PUNX but prefer to stay out of the political aspect of music, then you can catch them performing on a small tour just a month after the F*ck ICE! show.
11/1 – Phoenix, Arizona – Pressroom
11/2 – Los Angeles, California – Belasco
11/3 – Las Vegas, Nevada – Brooklyn Bowl
11/9 – Sacramento, California – Ace of Spades
11/12 – San Francisco, California – The Fillmore