In 2014, Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins released his fourth mixtape The Water[s]. Although his last project, Trees & Truths, sparkled a bit of buzz for him, it was this project that gave Mick a major breakthrough, with many recognizing him as a rising artist in the game. The mixtape was heavily praised for its great lyricism and Mick's solid execution of his "water" theme; being seen as one of the top projects of what many thought was a dry year.
Fast forward four years later to the present day, and it seems Mick's name has slowly faded to irrelevancy, especially regarding his newer music. The same ones that were saying "eyyyy, I can't wait for this new water to sip" on YouTube comment sections back in 2015, I can't seem to find them like I used to. It's more about Saba, Noname and them lot, who gives a shit about a Mick Jenkins these days? While Wave[s] received mixed to positive feedback from fans the year after The Water[s] dropped, it wasn't until the release of his debut album The Healing Component, where the criticism was a lot more harsher, with fans expressing a lot of disappointment towards the long-awaited debut. Personally, I loved it during my first few listens, but overtime, it started to lack replay value and that was when the flaws started to spark out more. My main issue with that album was the fact the "love" concept wasn't executed well, like how he did with The Water[s], which made it come across a bit too preachy. Not to mention, it seemed his lyricism was lacking too in certain moments. It's sad to think about how better the album could've been, especially when considering the fact that the throwaways he put out earlier that year before the album shitted all over most of the album.
But it seems that Mick has been trying to find his foot again, and I've actually been paying attention to that lately. He's dropped two little projects, part of a series called or more, which is a showcase of ideas and concepts inspiring his next full-length project. The lyricism has improved over those two projects, in comparison to THC, but however, a few problems still happen to arise.
One of those problems is the replay value. I remember in last year's top list I did, I had or more; the anxious in my top 10. I personally felt it was a great teaser to whatever he had in store in the future, and the songs were sounding pretty nice, especially "Energies" and "Vampire in Brooklyn". However, recently, it hasn't been something I've been going back to often, not like I could with The Water[s] or even Wave[s]. But it still remains a decent project, and probably slightly better replay value than the second installment of the or more series, The Frustration.
or more... the frustration is... ok, I guess. It's not as strong as the former project, but still has its moments including "Rags" and "Go Time". I remember before the project got announced, Mick Jenkins went on a rant, expressing his frustrations with writer's block and dealing with criticism since THC. I can understand that tho, especially considering how he was hyping the album up and felt he was putting his all into it until fans said they felt disappointed when the project actually dropped. A main reason The Frustration has the least replay value out of the two is that the songs are too short. That issue never felt like a problem for me with The Anxious, and even the overall length of that tape was a few minutes shorter. Songs like "Go Time", "Walk Different" and "Same Ol'" could've worked as 3 to 4-minute banging cuts on that EP. If Mick continued to go OFF on "Walk Different", it would've been insane, but the verse faded away too early, man, I was pissed! That beat was way too hard, as well.
Which leads me to talk about Mick's newest single, "Bruce Banner". Serving as the first single from his upcoming second album Pieces of a Man, it was premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 radio show just last week, with the concept of the track to show off his hunger and lyricism. Mick said he took a lot of time last year and this year to reflect heavily on his path musically, especially after his last album. I came across a few people who were real harsh on Mick's new single, having a issue with his bold statement of how "nobody can come for him expect Kendrick", but outside of that, it was sounding pretty nice to me, mainly after a few listens. It seemed Mick was getting back in his bag, but the only problem I had was his flow and delivery. It came across too forced, and didn't really suit him. This ain't the first time he tried utilizing flows like that, he used a similar but even worse delivery on "C is for Cash Money", which continued off the same vein as one of his best songs "P's & Q's". Because of that, I tried so hard to love that song, but his delivery was so off, especially during his first verse. Had me wondering if he was trying to do some spoken word shit or something.
So yeah, Mick Jenkins' music since The Healing Component has been... something. There certainly has been a few issues that have arisen, whether it's the replay value or the lyricism, or even the production. At the moment, it feels like Mick is on very thin ice regarding his musical and lyrical directions, but he still remains a great rapper, and he was delivering hella hard from Trees & Truths to Wave[s]. The passion is still there, the pen game is still on point at the moment, but there's still something missing with his new music. If he happens to keep the same hunger from "Bruce Banner" (minus the delivery), along with some nice production on his new album dropping likely later this Autumn, I still have hopes he could impress us with a solid piece of work this year, instead of another underwhelming effort like last time. Maybe he can make most of us remember why we loved him in the first place, especially for those who have written him off recently and don't discuss him anymore...
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