93 Boyz: Vic Mensah Is First Black to Own Cannabis Firm in Illinois

Vic Mensa has ventured into the cannabis industry with his own brand. Technically, this is not the first time the rapper is involved with cannabis. Quite early on in his youth he had begun selling cannabis for money, a move he would soon ditch for music although he didn’t quit smoking it. According to him, weed plays an important role in his creative process. He tells Forbes that cannabis has been instrumental in his rap writing process.

“I believe weed opens the creative channels for certain free associations to be made leading to some brilliant abstraction,” he noted, adding that hip-hop and weed are intrinsically intertwined.

Fast forward to 2022, Mensa has become involved in buying and selling cannabis once again, motivated primarily by the huge financial might of the sector.

“I’ve been involved with cannabis for most of my life, dating all the way back to age 11 when I first started smoking. Around age 15 I started selling cannabis and smoking less, for entrepreneurial reasons, as well as this being the time in my life when I first started to experience acute anxiety and was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder,” he told Forbes.

Mensa’s entry into the cannabis industry follows the liberalization of the sector in many states in America. People can now secure license to cultivate cannabis for recreational and commercial purpose. Seeing the economic potential of cannabis, state after states are facilitating the cultivation of cannabis.

Like in other sectors of the US economy, the cannabis industry is few blacks as industry players. Jay-Z, Snoop Dog, 2 Chainz among others have been given license to produce their own brands cannabis but they represent a tiny part of industry which generations billions a year.

According to Mensa, he has been working for some time now to secure a license to cultivate cannabis and could not hide his joy after he was granted one, leading to the establishment of 93 Boyz. He notes that the founding of 93 Boyz is to keep his hustle going and also tapping into the recreational market in Illinois which he says is new.

“I think cannabis should be federally legal because it’s a literal plant from the earth with enormous healing capabilities. All plant medicine should be decriminalized,” Vic argues when prompted about weed’s illegality.

She further stressed that “cannabis is a completely better lifestyle decision than alcohol, although I hold no judgment and believe in everything in moderation. However, if one was to assess the most damaging decisions made in life, I think you would find that very often alcohol was not only involved but a motivating factor.”

According to Mensa, 93 Boyz the first Black-owned-and-led adult-use cannabis company in the state of Illinois adding that it established as an equity-focused venture for the underserved, the company aims to reinvest in communities and people who have been impacted by “the racist criminalization of cannabis.”

“At the core of the ethos of 93 Boyz is a socially minded spirit; portions of all of our proceeds go to giving back to the community,” he said. “The first program we’re starting with is called Books Before Bars; sending a large number of books into Cook County Jail.

“As an industry, I believe the tax revenue generated from cannabis should be used as reparations to the communities most impacted by the war on drugs – like literal cash payment reparations, subsidized housing, education, everything.”