This is intercepted.

I'm Jeremy Skahill coming to you from the offices of the Intercept in New York City,

and this is a special bonus episode of Intercepted.

We are going to be back next week with a regular episode of Intercepted.

But over this long holiday weekend, we wanted to share with you a recent conversation that

we had here in the studio.

The Chicago-based hip-hop artist, Vic Mensa, has emerged as one of the most uncompromising political

voices of our time.

The 25-year-old artist not only wraps about Chicago police killings of black and brown

people, about apartheid in Palestine, the poisoning of the water in Flint, Michigan, he actually

goes to where the silence is and speaks out.

In the aftermath of the police shooting of Laquan McDonald in Chicago, Vic Mensa was there

in the streets, and also giving voice to the movement that led to the conviction of

a Chicago police officer for Laquan McDonald's murder.

Vic Mensa has traveled throughout Palestine with the poet Ajamone, and he's also gone

to Flint, Michigan, to help amplify the voices of a community that was poisoned and continues

to suffer from the effects of that poisoning.

This year, Vic Mensa launched his own nonprofit, Save Money, Save Life.

Focuses on two key areas.

Street Medics is a program to train first responders in Chicago's most at-risk neighborhoods.

Part of the work the group does is also helping to place mental health professionals in Chicago's

most vulnerable schools.

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