93 BOYZ Surprises 200 Cars With Gas And Pre-rolls On The Southside Of Chicago
(Los Angeles, CA - September 20, 2022) Chicago rapper, actor, and activist Vic Mensa has unveiled his new brand 93 Boyz, an equity-focused cannabis company that is the first Black owned and led in the state of Illinois. One of his first community initiatives involved heading back to his hometown - the Southside of Chicago. Vic rolled up to the BP Gas Station on 47th & Woodlawn around the corner from his mother's house and with the help of 93 Boyz Vic was able to surprise 200 cars with $10,000 in free gas.
The story was first picked up by TMZ which shared a heartfelt video of an elderly woman explaining how she originally only had $5 to put in her tank and was taken aback by the generosity. The gas giveaway was caught on tape and became a 60 second clip full of showing love and black humor. Vic says, "To celebrate the launch of 93BOYZ, the first black cannabis brand in Chicago, we went to the gas station on the block where I grew up and gave away $10,000 of free gas. At a time when many people are struggling to fill their tank, it felt good to be able to help the community in a real way."
Honeysuckle recently saw Mensa at Benzinga, where he told us all about it.
93 BOYZ Mission: Community Involvement and Giving Back
As Chicago’s first Black-owned cannabis brand, at the core of 93 Boyz’ mission is a reinvestment in the communities and individuals that have been historically and disproportionately affected by outdated laws, prejudices, and assumptions regarding cannabis consumption, elevating the underserved while also lifting spirits via the headiest product available in the state. Among the many community-based initiatives the brand will undertake is a partnership with Books Behind Bars, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing books to underserved Illinois prison libraries, providing inmates with potentially transformative resources.
Speaking on the development and launch of 93 Boyz, Vic Mensa says: "Selling weed was my first hustle. It taught me work ethic, entrepreneurship, and funded all of my first music projects. As someone with a lifelong experience of anxiety and depression, it's amazing to be able to help people facing those and other issues while working with something I love. The war on drugs has had a devastating impact on my community, and yet our representation in the cannabis industry is less than 2%. 93BOYZ is changing that narrative while combining high quality, tastemaker weed with socially conscious initiatives."
In its pursuit to become a company focused on holistic good, 93 Boyz has joined forces with aeriz, the largest aeroponic cannabis cultivator in the world, to provide sustainable and environmentally friendly products from plant to person (aeroponics is a cultivation method to grow product without the use of soil or an aggregate medium). The product line includes premium flower eighths, premium preroll, and strain-specific vape cartridges, encompassing a range of different options from sativa to indica to custom hybrid blends.
Founded in collaboration with SaveMoneySaveLife, Mensa’s long-running nonprofit organization that uplifts and empowers BIPOC individuals through facilitated experiences that integrate contemporary cultural art, traditional knowledge, and community service, 93 Boyz turns its focus specifically to initiatives aimed at prison reform and equity in the cannabis space.
For more information on 93 Boyz initiatives and products, visit
About Vic Mensa
At the age of 16, Mensa released his debut solo mixtape, Straight Up, and joined the band Kids These Days. They disbanded in 2013 and that same year he released his solo mixtape, INNANETAPE (a portmanteau of “internet” and “mixtape”), which had him inducted into 2014’s XXL Freshman Class. Next came the mixtape There's A Lot Going On in 2016 and the EP The Manuscript in 2017.
His first solo full-length, The Autobiography, inspired by Malcolm and Alex Haley's seminal text The Autobiography of Malcolm X, came out in 2017 to critical acclaim and landed at #27 on the Billboard 200. The mixtape earned him an NAACP Image award nomination for Best New Artist. He earned a Grammy nomination as a co-writer on Kanye West’s “All Day” and featured on the fan-favorite "Wolves" from The Life of Pablo, before more recently working on West’s prolific dedication to his mother, Donda.
Vic Mensa’s Previous Collaborations
After releasing The Hooligans EP in 2018 Mensa decided to switch things up and put together the rock-leaning project 93Punx. Their self-titled album, which featured Tom Morello, Travis Barker and Good Charlotte, came out in 2019 and landed Mensa on the cover of Spotify’s “Rock This” playlist. In addition to being a visual artist, Mensa has collaborated with numerous artists from various disciplines on a range of different projects, always with a focus on strengthening marginalized communities and inspiring people to think critically about their social and political realities. Those collaborations have included Wyclef Jean, Pharrell Williams, Pussy Riot, Justin Bieber, Pusha T and Saul Williams.
In 2020, Mensa appeared on the Defund the Sheriff compilation, aimed at defunding the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and diverting the monies into other programs. A staunch abolitionist when it comes to police and jails, the Chicago MC has never been afraid to take political risks even at the possibility of losing fans. In 2018 he penned an op-ed on gun control for Rolling Stone while writing about the occupation of Palestine for TIME Magazine in a piece entitled "What Palestine Taught Me About American Racism." Billboard Magazine received an essay on prison abolition instead of an advanced album copy and Mensa led efforts to help Julius Jones off of death row and commute the sentence of Brian “Moosa” Harrington Jr.
Mensa put out a series of solo EPs and mixtapes: 2020’s V Tape, 2021’s I Tape and 2022’s Vino Valentino with the latest demonstrating the breadth of his musical range via a collection of love songs. He ventured into TV with a recurring role as "Jamal" on Lena Waithe’s THE CHI as well as remembered for show stopping performances on Saturday Night Live with Kanye West and on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert alongside Chance the Rapper.
