Vic Mensa Calls Out Chicago Police for Threatening Him at 2018 Bud Billiken Parade

A big moment for Vic Mensa almost turned out badly after the rapper was nearly arrested while serving as Grand Marshall of the 2018 Bud Billiken Parade in Chicago on Saturday (Aug. 11).

Vic posted video of the confrontation on his Instagram account. In the clip, the rapper is surrounded by police officers, as he sits atop a motorcycle. It is hard to make out what all is being said. However, the "16 Shots" rapper can be heard challenging the officers. “You want to arrest me? You want to arrest me, and I’m the grand marshal of the parade?" he says. "Go ahead, arrest me.”

According to the Chicago Sun Times, Vic had finished his duties in the parade and wheeled up to a group of activists who were toting a “Convict Jason Van Dyke” sign on King Drive near 51st Street. Van Dyke is the Chicago officer who shot and killed LaQuan McDonald in 2015. The event was the inspiration behind the Roc Nation rapper's "16 Shots" track.

Vic explained his side of the story in the caption of the video. "I was the Grand Marshall of the Bud Billiken parade today (largest black parade in America). It was beautiful," he wrote. "Chicago Police Department threatened to arrest me & tow my bike because I had a group of activists carrying a CONVICT JASON VAN DYKE banner ‍♂️ Then we gave out 1000 backpacks to the kids THERES A LOT OF HATE BUT LOVE IS THE STRONGEST AMMO!"

According to the Sun Times report, Mensa and other groups said they had issues with police giving them contradictory directions on where it was OK to congregate, leading to issues and dust-ups with officers that were on hand.

Despite the issues, Vic was able to get his goals accomplished. In another video, he shows himself giving a way a book bag to a young kid. "TBH it’s way more about this than that incident with police earlier," he captioned that clip. "1000 backpack giveaway with @att less than 30 minutes after being surrounded by CPD for protesting police murder in our city. We do this so we can teach the next gen to be more equipped to dig themselves out of this hole they put us in & live with love power and self respect ."

Last year, Chance The Rapper served as Grand Marshall of the event. Chano closed out the parade with a free concert that featured Future, Jeremih and more.

Check out Vic's videos from the parade below.

See Photos of Vic Mensa's Different Looks Over the Years