- Courtesy of Vic Mensa’s Facebook
- Vic Mensa
Coachella announced its lineup earlier today, and rapper Vic Mensa is among the local acts slated to play the California festival in April. It seems like a pretty good cause for celebrating, and the Save Money leader already has a venue to do it—Emporium in Wicker Park. Tomorrow night Mensa and local producer Smoko Ono will DJ at the arcade bar under the name “Groupie Love,” and the dance-floor magnificence of Mensa’s breakout 2014 single “Down on My Luck” (one of my favorite songs of 2014) is enough to convince me these guys can spin a set that’s worth trudging through negative temperatures to check out.
Producer and multi-instrumentalist Peter Cottontale and Mensa’s former Kids These Days bandmate Stix (aka drummer Greg Landfair Jr.) will help out with the festivities. Both musicians are members of the Social Experiment, which is Chance the Rapper‘s band. There’s also a “special guest” slot for tomorrow night’s event, and though it wouldn’t surprise me if Chance showed up anyone in this circle would be a welcome presence. I’d be happy to see Leather Corduroys, who recently dropped their full-length debut, Season (keep an eye out for my review).
If the music and arcade games aren’t enough, there’s also going to be live painting and art instillations. The festivities kick off at 9 PM, and tickets are $5. It’s part of “Hi-Fi,” a monthly party cohosted by ERA Galleries and Mishka NYC blogger Neon Pajamas.
In February 2018, this article was updated to use the phrase ‘arcade bar’ in place of the word originally used.