The 2014 breakthrough mixtape, The Water[s] was a big impact in Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins' career. His concept of water and truth was a highlight, along with his lyrical skill and the production, helping him be established as one of the stronger voices of Chicago's extremely diverse scene. While Chicago was known for its drill scene, with content about guns and money, we started to see Mick get a lot of recognition, like never before, along with fellow Chicago rappers like Saba & Chance the Rapper.
Anyway, around the release of The Water[s], Mick has been working on his debut, titled The Healing Component, which is currently scheduled for a release this year. While he was at it, he also started work on an EP called Wave[s]. When announcing it on Twitter, he said he'll drop its first single "Alchemy" soon, releasing in April. For 3 months, he started to promote it a lot more, dropping the Kaytranada-produced "P's & Q's" and "Get Up Get Down", and also giving an August release date. After premiering on NPR a week earlier, Wave[s] was finally released on the 21st.
The EP, which, unlike The Water[s], is a "concept-free project" (according to Mick himself) features 9 tracks, which are all between 2-3 minutes, overall giving a length of 28 minutes. With appearances from Saba & theMIND, the EP is a lot more experimental, in comparison to his previous project, introducing more electronic elements and having more accessible tracks, expanding his sound for him to add onto the album.
Wave[s] received mixed to positive reviews, as many expected the project to be up to par with The Water[s], or even to be better. The project was criticized for not really continuing with the water concept, and instead, having more radio-friendly relationship-like songs, rather than lyrical and conceptual tracks on the project. In fact, Mick even said that Wave[s] "ain't shit", and that his upcoming debut, [T]he [H]ealing [C]omponent would be better. However, there was some that were actually feeling the sound, praising Mick for what he was doing on the project.
But is Wave[s] a really solid project? Or was it disappointing, like a lot of people say? Let's find out...
1. Alchemy
This song has to be one of my favourite album openers. Originally released as the EP's first single, it starts off with a speech from Mick, setting up the vibe of this track. And then the beat kicks in, and WOOOOOOOO!!!!! Got me bumping my head like MAUD! Here, Mick touches on how he provides water aka truth through his music, and is very great to hear as both alchemy & H2O (aka water/truth) are forms of chemistry. He doesn't fail to deliver with his only verse and he comes through with some dope bars such as "Drunk off this water you might just see three of me/Don't greet me as God, my nigga I ain't no deity" or "I think I’m a alchemist, and it’s gon’ take courage no cowardly dogs in the pound". THEMPeople come through with such a fire instrumental, along with Lee Bannon, and I love it! Mick sounds so comfortable, managing to deliver. One of my favourites.
2. Slumber (feat. Saba, Sean Deaux & Donnie Trumpet)
Saba & Sean Deaux comes through on this smooth jam while Donnie Trumpet is on trumpet duties. Here, Mick & Saba rap about being aware of the truths in the world and also spreading the message of chasing your dreams and believing in yourself. Saba really does well on this, as he raps about how he had aspirations to become a rapper. And I liked Sean on this, his contributions on here were nice and his outro had a very great message and touch to it. Speaking of him, is he related to Jean Deaux (they do have similar names tho)? And damn, those drums. They really sounded nice, and the horns were just amazing. The production and vibe overall is very nice, and I'm really feeling it.
3. Get Up Get Down
The third single from the EP and it's a lot catchier and poppy than the type of shit Mick normally does. That doesn't mean it's bad. In fact, I actually dig this song. The first part sees him singing the song's bridge in a very catchy way, before the beat switches up for him to provide such a fire verse. I really loved this track. It's a little different from his usual tracks, and in my opinion, it feels like there's a lot of various vibes from this one track. It went from being poppy and catchy to more hardcore and lyrical. THEMPeople came through with another sick instrumental, along with Stefan Ponce, and I was very impressed! Such a great track.
4. Your Love
This song is such a prime example of how concept-free this EP turned out to be. Kaytranada provides a funky ass beat as Mick croons about wanting a woman. I remember the first time I heard it, I was fully vibing out to it. For the past couple weeks, I was just banging it out. Even to this day, it's still a song I like to listen to. It's a LOT different, probably his most melodic and radio-friendly song he has ever made. It has a slight funk influence, along with that old school R&B vibe, and is one that you shouldn't really take as serious, and you can tell he's just having fun with it. Even the music video shows that! Anyway, it's easily one of my favourites on the EP.
5. Piano
It's hard for me to take this as a full track on the project. That's how short it is, and it annoys me. I see it more as an interlude, due to its span of 2 minutes. The song is basically just the hook, a little verse and a bridge that is longer than the verse itself. I really wish that the verse was longer and that he could even add a second verse too. The beat is dope AF tho.
6. The Giver
Mick creates another electronic-like track for the project, which sees Mick wanting the "sunshine" in a girl's smile. Like most of the tracks here, he only provides one verse, which is pretty good and he goes hard on it. The beat starts to change near the end, and I liked it. But while I kinda dig it, I'd put it as the weakest track on the album, to be honest.
7. 40 Below
The project gets a lot deeper. After the 2 songs on the EP which see a radio-friendly and commercial-like sound ("Your Love" and "The Giver"), Mick raps about a girl who has got so cold, meaning that she has started to become stingy and heartless. First off, let me applaud the freakin' production. The beat is just bananas! I loved how it started very sombre only to switch up, giving a dark feeling to the track. Kudos to THEMPeople, man! As usual, Mick only provides one verse unfortunately, and I would've loved another verse or something. But to be honest, it's better that way. It's a relatable track, and I liked how he explained the relationship. One of my favourites.
8. P's & Q's
When I first heard this, I instantly fell in love with it. Even to this day, I freakin' bang out this track, and it still doesn't disappoint. In fact, I regard it as Mick's best song. I love everything about it. The sombre ass instrumental, the flow and of course, the fact that he used alliteration, using words that mostly start with P & Q (FUN FACT: according to Genius, he used the letter P 105 times, and Q 22 times). Like, it's just so amazing, and is the exact reason why Mick is one of the best right now. His best song yet, PERIOD!
9. Perception (feat. theMIND)
Add theMIND to a Mick Jenkins track and always expect some heat! It starts off very abstract and experimental, with Mick doing some ad-libs as an intro. But when the melody and the beat kicks in, that shit got me bumping my head (say it with me...) like MAUD! Mick did his thing with his verse, and his flow was pretty tight. And then theMIND comes through, providing the bridge, and actually makes the vibe a lot better, especially when the beat switches up. That was dope AF! I was really digging the content, and Mick & theMIND complemented the beat. Once again, kudos to THEMPeople, and also Mulatto! A great conclusion to the project.
I think the problem with the critical reception of this EP was the fact that they went into it, expecting it to be better than The Water[s], and not really appreciating what Mick was going at on it. Wave[s] was never meant to sound like The Water[s]. It was supposed to be different. So, with that being said, the EP is actually pretty dope. I know a lot of people were disappointed at it, expecting Mick to continue on and expand on his water concept (and yeah, I did expect that too), but I think I may be in the minority that actually fawked with it. One thing about The Water[s] was that Mick managed to stay consistent with the theme of water, and was versatile with it. This one, however, is a lot different. You can hear from the production that it was just meant to be a little experiment, where he could just mess around and do some shit on. Instead of expanding on the water theme, it was more like he was expanding on his sound. And he actually succeeded at that. While there are a few songs that show off his lyricism and touch on the water topic ("Alchemy", "P's & Q's", "Slumber"), he was able to switch it up with more radio-friendly and catchier songs such as "Get Up Get Down", "Your Love" and "The Giver". The production on here is just too wavey! "Your Love" is fawkin' funky, maaaaannn!! And "P's & Q's" is just... OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I love it. Purchase this! It has to be one of my favourite projects of last year, and the more I listen to it, the more I dig it. You can tell he has found a sound he can add onto his upcoming [T]he [H]ealing [C]omponent (to mesh with his water theme), which, hopefully, should be coming sooner than later. But for now, we can just vibe to The Water[s] and Wave[s].
The Furious 5ive
P's & Q's
Alchemy
Perception
40 Below
Your Love
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