Vic Mensa Taps Chance the Rapper, Wyclef Jean for New Song ‘Shelter’

Vic Mensa has teamed up with Chance the Rapper and Wyclef Jean for a new song, “Shelter.”

The song is centered around a poignant guitar loop and finds the three artists tackling racial injustice and systemic inequality with righteous clarity. The song arrives with a fittingly eerie and surreal music video, directed by Andre Muir, in which bodies lie in rest on the street in a nod to the devastating impact Covid-19 has had on black communities.

“’Shelter’ is a spiritual note, a healing frequency,” Mensa said in a statement. “It was inspired not by Hollywood or Paris, but by what’s going on on the ground — in the real world, with the real people.”

Wyclef added: “The journey of this song was so important. It’s very crucial we, as musicians, use our voice to represent those who are not so easily able to be heard.”

In a release, “Shelter” is described as a “preview” of Mensa’s upcoming project, I Tape, which will be a follow-up to his summer 2020 release, V Tape. A release date for I Tape has yet to be announced.