After recently shedding his signature dreadlocks for a new look, Vic Mensa is viscerally pursuing a fresh start for his next move. The Chicago, Illinois MC has a diverse palette for his music, but he remains rooted in his ability to rhyme on call and exude emotional resonance and dexterous wordplay in his bars.

When Mensa announces that he has a new project in the works, he usually drops a new song as a teaser for something special from him on the horizon. Following his album, The Autobiography, which dropped last year, he released a new track called “10K Problems.” It flips the same moody Enya sample that The Fugees used for their 1996 hit video single “Ready Or Not.” Vic details his troubles with depression from and relapsing from sobriety, and reevaluating his self-worth and artistic direction in the Rap industry.

Vic Mensa Remind Us Why He’s One Of The Best Freestylers Of His Generation (Video)

For just over two minutes, Mensa brings heat without a chorus as he describes his struggles with fans and fleeting fame. Within the first minute, the Roc Nation MC/singer says: “Ni**as askin’ about why I gotta reek havoc / Relapsin’ d-r-u-g habits / Tryin’ to move forward depression been holding me backwards / Recovery ain’t a straight line / What’s going on like Marvin as I heard through the grapevine / I’m fallin’ off / I’ve been on another planet / Over they head with the last album / Still they didn’t understand it / Now I’m in a panic scrambling for relevance / From a bunch of people I consider irrelevant / The elephant in the room, is the music coming soon? / If it gets you on, will you jive? / Will you coon? / Now I’m on ten in this four-corner room / Dead inside like a baby that’s aborted in the womb.”

Mensa talks indiscreetly about why he split with his girlfriend after moments of infidelity and the prototypical “it’s not you, it’s me” breakup rhetoric. “I left my woman ’cause I couldn’t keep this sh*t at home / You can’t be good with someone else if you ain’t good alone / See every girl that tried to do me right, I did them wrong / And even dogs get tired of chasing a bone,” he raps. Plus, his remorse for dealing with anger that has come back to haunt him, and shows his maturity that he is looking to lead his new path in life. He rhymes, “I lash out with violence and deal with the karma / I broke a bottle over a ni**a head out in Toronto / I got extorted for 10,000 dollars / Honestly, that was the least of my 10,000 problems.”

Drake Tells The Story Of How He Fathered His Child With Brutal Honesty (Audio)

For the remainder of the song, Vic goes in-depth about his heartache in seeing father become paralyzed, facing a possible one-to-five year prison sentence for a gun possession charge, and being racially profiled by police despite his celebrity status. This track is a deep look into Mensa’s figurative 10,000 problems, but it’s a glaring example that his lyrical ability ain’t one.