Mick Jenkins - The Healing Component

Released: September 23, 2016

I think September has to be my favourite month this year so far. We're eating this month! On the 2nd, Isaiah Rashad finally put out The Sun's Tirade, after a 2 year silence. The same day, Travis Scott premiered his highly-anticipated sophomore effort Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight. And later on that day, Fabolous released another fire tape, The Level Up, the sequel to the 2015 Summertime Shootout mixtape. September 8, nobody really put out shit. But just last week, Mac Miller released The Divine Feminine, an album that continues to show and prove the evolution of Mac's music. And now, this is the album I've been waiting for. Forget the others, this is it, guys!

In case you haven't seen the title and cover, I'm talking about Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins. Ever since listening to his breakthrough mixtape The Water[s] last year, I've been hooked onto his music and almost everything he's been doing. His sound and lyricism continues to impress me, and in my opinion, he really doesn't disappoint. Everything he has put out from Trees & Truths to now has been fire.

Mick has been working on his debut album, The Healing Component, for some time now, even before the release of The Water[s]. He has made some anticipation, releasing the EP, Wave[s] in 2015, and putting out a few joints throughout most of 2016, including the SIP! double single ($3,000 Advice/Grenade Theory), "The Artful Dodger" and "Sunkissed" with theMIND. He also previewed a few album tracks both on Twitter & Snapchat, and also during his live performances in festivals, which also interested fans (including myself) and increased their anticipation for the album. And in July, he even secured a guest appearance of Canadian electronic group BADBADNOTGOOD's fourth album, IV, on the song "Hyssop of Love".
He didn't really start rolling out/promoting the album until this August, when he finally released its first single "Spread Love", which was preceded by a bunch of SoundCloud throwaways. He followed that up with the BADBADNOTGOOD-assisted single "Drowning", which was released with an epic & deep accompanying music video. Out of the two singles, "Drowning" was the one that got the most positive reception, with many praising the video's concept and also the direct references to Eric Garner's unfortunate death.

But The Healing Component finally came out yesterday, and God damn, was I excited. As soon as I came back home from school, I instantly went and pressed play on the album. 5 seconds in, and I was already hooked. I waited 2 years for this, and it really didn't disappoint. The album's concept is pretty simple: it's about love. For the past 2 years, we've heard about the album and thought it was gonna be focusing on water, especially after The Water[s] dropped and amazed everyone with the water metaphor of truth. But we see that the water/truth has sentiments such as this. The same way Mick used water as a metaphor for truth, he uses THC, the main ingredient in cannabis, as a metaphor for love, comparing THC's healing capabilities to love. So love is not only a drug, but is the healing component.

In the title track intro, Mick thanks God for THC, while spitting some fire, giving listeners a glimpse of what to expect. And throughout the 15-track album, Mick spends the 60 minutes rapping about love. He goes deeper into the concept of love, as he tries to make a conversation out of it and he doesn't fail to impress. It's so dope and he really dives in deep into the love concept so well. The 2 singles "Spread Love" and "Drowning" already gave us an insight, especially with the latter song's powerful video, but with this album, it's interesting how Mick really steps us his lyricism and content. "Strange Love" is a song that sees him touch on a range of various topics, such as cultural appropriation, police brutality, racism, slavery and how the young generation is like nowadays. "As Seen in Bethsaida" is a short one-verse wonder from Mick as he tells listeners to not lose the love, and that it's underappreciated nowadays.

One thing about The Healing Component is that it has a lot of biblical references, which is something that can interest a lot of people who have a Christian background. This isn't the first time Mick has brought out his Christian side as his third mixtape Trees & Truths even had a few skits taken from a TV adaptation of Adam & Eve. In "Spread Love", Mick says that he's trying to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, spreading God's word. Another example is the interview skits on the album, where he says that Jesus's mission was to show and spread love through his message and that his love for us made him die for our sins. And "As Seen in Bethsaida" is actually named after a place in the New Testament, where Jesus fed the 5,000. In the final interview skit at the end of "F***ed Up (Outro)", he says that love came to him as a focus as it was Jesus's focus when he came down to Earth.

Mick gets a lot of people on the album, and they do their job very well. Ravyn Lenae's vocals on "Communicate" are beautiful, and her voice is fawkin' soothing, man. theMIND's contributions proves how his chemistry with Mick is A1, especially on "Prosperity", where he actually comes with a decent rap verse. J-Stock's verse really impressed me on "Love, Robert Horry" and it's the fact that I haven't even heard of the dude, so it really got me eager to hear more from him. Noname did her thing on "Angles", and her flow on that song is flawless, man. This is why I love her so much! Xavier Omar did his thing on that hook too. Michael Anthony came through on "F***ed Up (Outro)" with the ad-libs.

The production on here has improved from before. Trees & Truths and The Water[s] were known to have a pretty authentic hip-hop sound. Wave[s] saw Mick experiment with his sound, and even try at singing his hooks. The sound on the EP was a lot more upbeat, compared to his other projects. But now, on The Healing Component, we can see how Mick's production has amazingly progressed, thanks to THEMPeople. "As Seen in Bethsaida" is on some next level shit. Even if the overall song felt short as if something was missing, you can't deny the fire production and Mick's flow on this joint. I loved the beat on "Love, Robert Horry". That shit banged like a MF! "Drowning" has such a progressive beat from BADBADNOTGOOD, and the live instrumentation is amazing. The way it progresses just amazes me. "Communicate" was wavey AF! KAYTRANADA killed it on the boards, I played that song over 5 times and I was fully vibing out to it. "Plugged" is a lot slower than most of the tracks on the album, and it still impresses me. And the title track intro is on another level, that production is amazing.

But let's give it up for Mick's progression as an artist. Forget about the wavey ass production and how he delivered with the concept with love, this guy has really changed and knew how to evolve. I swear his lyricism has really stepped up on this album. We get bars such as "She want a nigga that can sing/But she only ever wanna hear the C-notes" and "Lot of people like to dance around/The point I couldn't even bust a waltz around it". Mick really raps his ass off on this album, and his flow has even gotten better. I remembered when I heard him try and attempt at singing on Wave[s], and he was actually pretty decent. But his singing has lowkey improved on here, y'know. He had them vocals on "Drowning", and his adlibs on the title track, "Strange Love" and "Spread Love" were nice AF.

Overall, The Healing Component is just incredible. It's been 2 years since Mick's been working on this, and it was worth the wait. I had very HIGH expectations and it just blew me away. He really played around with the love concept very well, using biblical references and THC (the main ingredient in cannabis) as a metaphor to say love is a drug and is the healing component. The production is on another level, a lot more experimental and is definitely a step up from his previous two projects. Mick's lyricism has really improved and has even got more impressive, spreading a very positive message that needs to be heard on the album. And I say this a lot, but there was hardly any bad tracks on the album, it was fire from start to finish. It was cohesive AF and tied together very well. I was really into the album and wasn't bored at all while listening to this. In fact, it really gets better with every listen. It's just sad that this might be overlooked by the masses. It's an album that needs to be heard by the world. Probably the most lyrically-driven and focused album so far this year. Love is life. Love is the healing component. Spread love...

Best Tracks: "The Healing Component", "Strange Love", "Spread Love", "Drowning", "Angles", "Communicate", "Love, Robert Horry", "Plugged", "1000 Xans", "Daniel's Bloom", "Prosperity", "As Seen in Bethsaida"

Isaiah Rashad - The Sun's Tirade

Released: September 2, 2016

You guys knew damn well I had to do this as soon as it dropped. I mean, it's only right. It felt like forever waiting for this guy to finally drop his album. All those pushbacks while everybody else was putting out so much music. I was here asking "where's Isaiah, man?". The wait was way too long, Isaiah's album was overdue. I was on Instagram fully making rants, asking Zaywop where the album was. How you let Kendrick drop another project before we could even get your long-awaited debut?! untitled unmastered was unnecessary, could've saved that for another time. TDE could've used March as an opportunity to get out Rashad's album. ScHoolboy Q's release of his fourth album, Blank Face LP was necessary though. It was only right that we had a solid follow up to the average Oxymoron. In fact, Blank Face still remains one of my favourite albums so far this year. Has so much replay value, and there's hardly any bad tracks (maybe 1 or 2, but that's out of 17. The album is almost flawless). And after 2 years of waiting for Isaiah to drop new shit, it's finally here. No more ranting on Insta. No more going on YouTube to find snippets and wonder whether it'll come out eventually. The day has come. It's finally here...

In case you haven't caught up, Chattanooga rapper Isaiah Rashad released his debut EP Cilvia Demo in January 2014. The sound and concept of the project was enough to interest fans, who regarded it as one of the best albums of 2014, which was a very dry and disappointing year. Isaiah made it onto the XXL Freshman list in the same year, and toured with ScHoolboy Q on the Oxymoron tour. 2014 was the year that Isaiah really broke through, and along with fellow signees ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul & SZA, was really eating that year.

But by 2015, he ended up being quiet until he dropped a new single in September called "Nelly", a song originally planned to be on his then-upcoming debut album. He planned to release his album by the end of the year, but unfortunately, that didn't happen. So fast forward to January 2016, and he released another single "Smile", another song that was planned to be on his debut. The song was positively received, and increased the album's hype. For the next few months, he was pretty quiet, with a few snippets that came out and made fans even more anticipated for the album. In May, Isaiah was finally done with the album. It just needed to be mixed and mastered. August was when he finally broke his silence and released "Free Lunch", the album's first single a song that was widely praised and received very well by fans. In the same month, he followed it up with "i mean", a throwaway that he made for a planned mixtape. He then revealed the cover art and title for the album, releasing one more gem called "Park" before the album drops. But now, it's September 2. The moment the fans have been waiting for. The long awaited release of The Sun's Tirade,

The Sun's Tirade was very anticipated by fans, and experienced a lot of pushbacks. According to a recent podcast episode with Juan Epstein, Isaiah had said that he was dealing with a Xanax and alcohol addiction while on the Oxymoron tour in 2014, which really affected him for a long time. Due to this, he almost got dropped from TDE and was even banned from putting out music until he got his shit together. The silence from Isaiah formed a lot of anticipation for his next album, which was arguably the most anticipated TDE release, especially after Kendrick released To Pimp a Butterfly. The album was originally supposed to be released before the end of 2014, and then before the end of 2015, before being pushed back once again to this September. It is the third Top Dawg release of the year, the previous being Kendrick Lamar's untitled unmastered in March and ScHoolboy Q's Blank Face LP in July. The album features 17 tracks with guest appearances from Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, SZA, Kari Faux, SiR, Syd tha Kid and more.

Anyway, I'm hyped to review this joint. The time has finally come and I ain't waiting any longer to write about it. LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. where u at?
A little opening voicemail skit from Dave Free, who is pretty much asking Isaiah about what the fans have been bugging him about: where the album is, and what's taking him so long. Dave doesn't understand the process and feels like Isaiah doesn't care about his fans, cos he ain't putting out the album. It sets the mood very well, and I like how it mocks how the fans have been bugging Isaiah about the album. Anyway, on to the next one.

2. 4r da Squaw
The album really kicks off here, where Isaiah makes a chill track, taking time to reminisce about his life back at his hometown Chattanooga, along with his friends and family that miss him. He uses a laidback and lazy flow, and he really flows over his 2 verses very well. The production from FrancisGotHeat is just amazing, got me bumping my head non stop. This song is too wavey, man!

3. Free Lunch
The album's first single, which, last month, pretty much was a sign that Isaiah was finally gonna drop another album after 2 years. I remember when snippets of this tune came out in February. I was fully playing that snippet repeatedly, being mad that Isaiah was taking too long with the project. When it dropped while I was on holiday, I was straight banging it out, dancing to it and shit. It's still one of my favourites on the album. I love the production on here, so laidback and something I can always vibe to. The hook is way too catchy, I always love to sing the hook, haha! And Isaiah really delivered with his short but sweet verses, he flowed over the beat like it was nothing. I love this track!

4. Rope (feat. SiR)/rosegold
The Antydote & J.LBS link up with Zay for a double track. The first part "Rope", produced by The Antydote, has SiR on background vocals while Isaiah does a verse, where he sings about his father and how he called him, crying. The beat is pretty soulful, and has a rocky feel. Isaiah's raspy singing really suited the beat very well.
The second part is "rosegold", which has a J.LBS beat that reminds me of A Tribe Called Quest so much. It sounds like an Ummah/J Dilla beat that could've been on Beats, Rhymes and Life. Isaiah's verse is a lot more impressive and his flow is even better than before. It was a lot easier for me to vibe to this than the previous part. This is some trippy nostalgic 1996 Tribe shit and Isaiah didn't fail to impress me. One of my favourites on the album.

5. Wat's Wrong (feat. Zacari & Kendrick Lamar)
When I saw the tracklist for the album, I was hyped that Isaiah finally did a joint with K Dizzle. The amount of times fans asked for this, and we were finally gonna get it. And now that it's here, it doesn't disappoint. The beat is just too chill and got me bumping my head so much. In this song, Isaiah battles with his emotions, and his first verse was great. I loved his flow and delivery. Kendrick comes through and snaps like it's nothing, crafting such a technically outstanding verse, with his alliteration of Ms & Bs. His flow was on some André 3000 shit, and I loved how he questions his intentions in his verse. It's the reason why he's easily the best rapper out right now. He never disappoints. Anyway, Isaiah comes back with another verse, and his flow this time is out of this world, GOD DAMN! He killed it 1nce again. Zacari's hook is also nice as well, and he sings pretty well on this, he really puts the track together. This song is probably the best song on the album.

6. Park
This was also previewed in February. I wasn't hyped for this as much as I was for "Free Lunch", but when this song came last week on SoundCloud, I was fawking with it a lot. This shit really BANGED! And the bass on here is too much. wooooo. Great song.

7. BDay (feat. Kari Faux & Deacon Blue)
A birthday celebration song, which centers on how Isaiah felt when he turned 25, happy and out of control. Ktoven is on the boards, along with Deacon Blue, who also has some vocals on this track. The beat is just out of the world, I could just imagine TUT just killing this shit, as a matter of fact, he could've jumped on this. Isaiah's flow sounds more depressing and dull, but still impressive. Kari Faux comes through and ends the song with a catchy outro, and she does her thing, so it's cool. I just love the song, everybody does their thing, and the flow & delivery was on point. The production was on another level, and I loved it. Another standout!

8. Slikk da Shocka (feat. Syd)
The Internet lead singer Syd comes through, linking up with Zay for a romantic track (named after the legendary No Limit rapper), pretty much similar to Cilvia Demo track "West Savannah" with SZA. Here, he sings with Syd about how much his lover means to him. He left her to pursue his music career, but now he's on his own and is missing his girl dearly. It's pretty depressing, but so beautiful at the same time. But like "West Savannah", it feels so short, and I would've loved it more if it was extended/longer.

9. Tity and Dolla (feat. Hugh Augustine & Jay Rock)
This is the song!!!! I just heard snippets of this last week, and I was even more hyped for the album. And it's here. The sample is just too chill, and the way Pops & Crooklin flipped it was amazing. Isaiah did his thing with his verse, and his flow was on point. His hook even had some references to OutKast's Stankonia. Hugh Augustine was up next, and he delivered too. But shit, Jay Rock snapped, wasn't expecting himself to kill it like that! His verse was fire. But I just love this beat way too much, it's FUEGO, man. Too wavey! One of my favourites.

10. Stuck in the Mud (feat. SZA)
We all know that anytime Zaywop & SZA link up, they don't disappoint. They're just like Big Sean & Jhené Aiko or Drake & Rihanna. They have such chemistry. Ronnie Drake, West Savannah and Warm Winds. Now this one! This one is a 2-part track, and the first part sounds very nostalgic, and has a similar feel to OutKast's Aquemini (the title track) with the rumbling bass, dry rattle and bass-heavy live sounding drums that feel drenched underwater. SZA comes through on the hook, and her vocals are amazing as usual. But Isaiah's verses really impressed me, as he raps about how helpless he is, even with the advantages he has. His flow was also amazing, and it was impressive too. The second verse even had a style that was reminiscent of Slum Village.
The second part is a lot more depressing, talking about Xannies and also hinting at how his girl is controlling. So he asks to work on himself, as he's dealing with problems. It's pretty interesting, as it's like he's talking to himself. Plus, he even sounds a lot more unfocused, to the point he's not even rhyming at times. It's not better than the first part, but I still fawk wit it tho. The change in mood on this song was amazing.

11. A Lot
Who would've thought someone like Zaywop would get on a Mike Will Made It beat? I never thought it would ever happen, to be honest, so I was very surprised. But it didn't disappoint, it BANGS like a MF, and I can even imagine so many people on the beat. Rae Sremmurd, Future, Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, Drake, Lil Wayne, so many people! And Zay killed it with his lazy flow, he really rode on this beat so well.

12. AA
Another banger, as he raps about his alcohol problems, but at the same time, thanks God for his money, bitches and all that. But he switches up his flow on the second verse and he delivers so well. I actually fawk with this, and I thought it would be wack.

13. Dressed Like Rappers
Ooooh, this is ill. I like this. He starts off with a very nice hook, and his singing on there was actually decent. But his verses were amazing, as he touches on drugs, depression and love. It feels quick tho, and I was expecting another verse.

14. Don't Matter
Something a lot more different. Shit reminds me of OutKast and Gorillaz to be honest. I can hear 2D and André 3000's vocals all over this beat. Zaywop flows on this energetic beat about sex and faith, and he does well, he really impress me with his flow and content. Lance Skiiiwalker is on the hook and he does his thing too with his vocals. I really dig how energetic and upbeat it is, this is some OutKast/B.O.B shit.

15. Brenda
According to Isaiah himself, "Brenda" is a dedication in memory of his late grandma, and it's just too groovy, has that jazzy TPAB vibe. Zay delivers with his flow and impressive wordplay, and I love it. The beat is just as good as the bars, Chris Calor really came through with some fire, that beat has some nostalgic chill vibe to it. And when Zay comes through with his second verse, he sounds so much like Pimp C/Big K.R.I.T. It's just hard to not hear the similarities. And the sax on here is amazing, props to Terrace Martin. Another standout!!!

16. by george (outro)
The "outro" to the album, which is pretty chill and laidback. Isaiah still comes with his singing I've-been-up-for-2-days-straight ass flow throughout the whole song, and I like it still. The beat is so wavey and fire, and Zay's crooning all over the track is nice AF.

17. Find a Topic (homies begged)
RAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! This is just too much. Vibes are just in full effect, and it's amazing. I almost thought this song was gonna be some lyrical "Soliloquy" shit, but nah, it's even better. Isaiah's flow is just on point, and his verses were great. His background adlibs even made the song a lot better. I can straight ride to this shit, it's just too wavey. One of my favourites and a great way to end the album.

Final Thoughts
If this is was 2 years of anticipation leads to, then shit, I wouldn't mind if we waited every 2 years for another album from Isaiah. Nah, I'm lying. I bet by January 2017, I'll being asking for some more new music. The Sun's Tirade was worth the wait. I was hyped for this album, and it didn't fail to deliver. 2 years since we've got a new project from Zay, and we got 16 new tracks, and they don't disappoint like DAMN!!!!

I mean, let's talk about the production. Such a step up from Cilvia, and all of the beats were fire and so impressive. There's a better variety of beats on the album, than there was on Cilvia. "Tity and Dolla", "Wat's Wrong" and "rosegold" are some of the best instrumentals on the album, and those were the ones that really impressed me and had me bumping my head non stop! "Wat's Wrong" and "Tity & Dolla" are just straight bangers! They stay on repeat, I can easily just ride to them songs. And "rosegold" reminds me of some '96 Ummah shit, it's way too nostalgic for me, it's like I'm on a trippy ride when that beat drops. "Don't Matter" is some OutKast/Gorillaz type shit. As I said before, I can imagine 2D & Andre 3000 all over that song. "Rope" sounded like some indie rock song, and his vocals were pretty impressive. And "A Lot" is so sinister, but bangs at the same time, I can imagine so much people on that joint.

The features also did their thing, and really delivered. SZA was nice with her background vocals on "Stuck in the Mud", she could've did a verse, would've loved to hear more of her wonderful singing. Kendrick Lamar killed it as usual on "Wat's Wrong". Jay Rock snapped on "Tity and Dolla", same with Hugh Augustine. Syd's soft background vocals on "Slikk da Shocka" gave such a good romantic & depressing vibe to the song. Isaiah's flows have improved and stepped up too, I really loved his flow on songs like "Wat's Wrong", "Tity and Dolla" and "Find a Topic (homies begged)". He even knew how to switch it up on tracks such as "A Lot", "AA" and "Park". But one thing was that I was expecting more hard hitting lyrical/deep cuts like "Tranquility", "Soliloquy" and "Shot You Down", and even if there wasn't much of that, I'm glad that Isaiah gave us fans some chill shit, and he really progressed with his sound.

So yeah, in conclusion, I loved The Sun's Tirade, a pretty solid album. Cop this shit! It was worth the wait, and almost every song was a highlight. Is it better than Cilvia? I don't know yet, I might need a few more listens. But so far, I love it, it's probably the best TDE project released this year (that's only if Soul doesn't drop this year). And it might be AOTY. Mick Jenkins just needs to deliver some next level shit on The Healing Component so that he can take Isaiah's spot for AOTY.

Recommended Tracks
Wat's Wrong
Tity and Dolla
Find a Topic (homies begged)
rosegold
Brenda
Bday
Free Lunch
Stuck in the Mud
4r da Squaw
Pretty much all of the tracks are recommendable