It takes some guts to keep toiling away for years while your contemporaries hit the national stage. But for Vic Spencer, the 33 year-old rapper, he's watched former collaborators Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa climb up music industry's rungs, and has no hard feelings. Well, he doesn't anymore. 

On The Cost of Victory, his latest record which Pitchfork and Rolling Stone caught wind of, he's certainly self-reflective (see: "Sony Walkman," "A Blog Write-Up") in his no-frills, '90s-esque rhymes. This new perspective on hip-hop isn't surprising for Spencer, now a family man with two kids who has more important things to worry about than rap beefs. But it's refreshing nonetheless.

We spoke with Spencer on how The Cost of Victory is different from his past records, his early days in rap, the changing music scene in Chicago and his tenuous relationship with Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa. 

How did The Cost of Victory come about?

[It's] a simple concept. Do the work and celebrate after… I've been through a lot of different adversities and different hardships in my life. I rap about things that I want to overcome. I defeated the odds and now everybody's receiving the cost of victory.

How is this record different from some of your past records?

It's all me. Throughout a lot of my other projects, I [did] a lot of experiments: a lot of sounds, stuff like that. This time, it's all me. It's no rules, it's no hooks. I went in as a solo artist: without my peers saying you need to make songs with hooks, you need to think about the structure. They are conceptual songs but… it's 100% me.

Can you tell me about your early days in rap?

When I first started out, I was in this group called UHLICHBOICES. The four of us, we were living in group homes and we were always rapping about certain things that were happening in our lives. The CEO [of the group home] came -- he's always intrigued about what the kids do to stay out of trouble. Once the CEO found out, he gave us the opportunity to go to a real recording studio. We got our CDs pressed. We performed all over the country… I was always the guy recording on a cassette tape. Man, I always wanted to practice free styling. I went to secondhand tune stores and would buy tons of instrumentals and just fill up a cassette tape of free styling.

How is the Chicago scene different now than it was when you were coming up?

Back in the day, Chicago music was so varied. You had hip hop, you had hardcore, you had the violent music… the do-or-die, the conscious rappers. Now it seems like everything is making you sound like Chance the Rapper or Chief Keef… My job is to take it back to the game, especially for the Chicago hip hop scene. 

In the past, you've done some recording with Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa. How did you get involved with them?

I used to me not those guys… I used to show up where they [were] free styling, in front of stores and stuff like that. I invited those guys to my studio sessions, and that's how they ended up being on songs of mine when they were young. My first recording with Vic Mensa was when he was 15. My first recording with Chance was when he was 16, 17… The love didn't reciprocate when they got big—you don't hear me on any of their records or anything… I wish those guys the best now but that's how it all started.

On "Relapse," you said 'this ain't the old Vic Spencer / this is the updated version.' What did you mean by that?

I was a real hardcore rapper—I really wanted to knock out some of these rappers… and you know, just coming on social media. I was a trouble starter. The old me would've been like 'to hell with Vic Mensa and Chance.' Now it's different. I'm a little bit older and a little bit wiser. 

Do you think having children changed your perspective on rap?

It did something to my rap… Not being in the studio every day and being able to balance it out with family. Now I'm trying to be at home with the kids… Kids made me want to settle down and not be so angry towards guys.

What do you have coming up?

I'm just working on the outskirts of music right now.. I've got like five different projects that are going to come out real soon… I got an EP with MC Tree called Big Tree and that's coming out next. I have a project called Woman's Bathroom and it features all women—women singers, women rappers… I've been working on that album for three years now… I don't know when everything's coming out but I have them ready and I've just got to share it with the world.