Mick Jenkins – Elephant in the Room

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BACKGROUND

Mick Jenkins is a 30-year-old artist out of Chicago. He broke through in the mid-2010s as part of an emerging core of up-and-coming Chicago rappers and writers. While Chance the Rapper got most of the mainstream attention, there was entire movement of artists bursting out of the scene, with Mick Jenkins, Saba and Pivot Gang, Noname, Joey Purp, and Vic Mensa being just a few artists emerging around the same time. His breakout project came in 2014 with The Water[s], and he has since carved out his own lane in today’s hip-hop landscape. He’s proven himself to be one of the great talents of this generation, with an incredible range of writing skills, laid-back charisma, a confidence that rarely approaches arrogance, and a huge locker of flows to choose from. He’s also a very intelligent thinker, with a penchant for unraveling societal issues in plain terms as well as unpacking his own trauma for the world to see.

WRITE-UP

“Put a mirror in a n*gga face and he’ll run; tell him that you love him, he might pull out his gun”. Mick Jenkins has never been one to shy away from tackling issues head on, whether they may be plaguing Mick’s mind alone or society as a whole. The 30-year-old Chicago artist has made a career of it, spending previous projects finding parallels between truth and water (2014’s The Water[s]), reflecting on love (2016’s The Healing Component), and putting his own life and conflicts on full display (2018’s Pieces of a Man). What makes Mick Jenkins special, other than his creativity in his pen, is his ability to deliver his message in the best possible way. He’s able to dig into more “conscious” topics and themes without falling into the traps that so often plague that style of hip-hop. He isn’t layering his ideas behind tons of metaphors that require dozens of listens to digest, and his music is much easier on the ear as well. It never feels like he’s talking down on the listener, and his relaxed style oozes charisma.

The Ferrari Sheppard Cover might seem curious, ditching the elephant in the room metaphor and instead depicting a young man walking with headphones on and on a monkey on his back. But really, the two metaphors speak to the same thing. As Mick Jenkins told Complex, “The monkey on your back is the elephant in the room in the sense that a lot of times when that’s how we feel, there’s a problem and we are not doing as much as we can do about it.” Elephant in the Room is Mick’s exploration of some of these elephants that he feels need to be addressed.

Mick Jenkins has one of the most unique approaches in hip-hop, finding himself as a relatable everyman who just wants to live a normal life, rather than indulge in the rapper lifestyle. Even when he’s tackling societal issues, like on the no-holds-barred “Things You Could Die For If Doing While Black”, he does so in the most Mick Jenkins way possible, listing everyday activities that could get him killed in America. There’s no aggression, no call-to-action. He isn’t trying to do anything wild or put himself or anyone in danger. “I just wanna live my life”.

“Speedracer” is the other side to the coin of Mick’s lifestyle. He’s found himself so focused on his day-to-day life and doing the things he needs to do that he hasn’t been able to make time for his relationships the way he wants to. This song was made after Saba called Mick frustrated about how as they’d both grown into their careers, they had drifted apart and hadn’t taken the time to be friends like they had been before. These are the relatable issues he tackles so well, everyone has had friendships drift away because life gets in the way. The song represents taking the time out to say something and express that he’s not happy with where their friendship is at.

The project is very light on features, but serpentwithfeet’s contributions deserve a special note. Appearing on both “Rug Burn” and the standout single “Scottie Pippen”, he adds gorgeous vocals that pair with sparse instrumentals and lowkey flows from Mick that create two stand-out moments on the project. “Scottie Pippen” is a particularly excellent track, and every time Mick Jenkins starts talking about love, you ought to listen. Mick sounds much more confident in his singing than we’ve heard in the past, and that is consistent throughout this project. His singing really does sound good, even when he’s going for harder notes than we’ve heard before. While relationships aren’t a new topics for him in the least, you can tell he’s spent a lot of time looking inward during the last few years, as well as working through problems with his girl. It’s a much more matured look on things than we’ve seen in the past, and that captures what differentiates this project from the rest of his discography well. This continues into “Gucci Tried to Tell Me”, where Mick finds himself “lost in the sauce” and as smooth as we’ve ever heard him.

The production choices are different from his previous projects, with open, spacey instrumentals giving Mick’s laid-back persona the perfect backdrop. The whole project feels like the soundtrack to a chill Sunday morning. “Is, This Cigarettes” encompasses this perfectly, with Mick layering punchlines on top of a barebones instrumental, pulling back the drums to give himself more freedom to manipulate his flows and emphasize his bars. This song differs from much of the album, ditching personal anecdotes in favor of an overarching idea throughout his adulthood. Without a story driving the verse, Mick has the freedom to go from one scheme to the next, jumping from gargling to orcas to Star Wars in consecutive bars and still making sense of himself. It’s like the punches just keep coming, and it makes the hook sound that much better when it comes back around.

When Mick Jenkins does get more personal, his pen still shines through. While he’s more known for punchlines and doubles/triples, his story-telling proves just as powerful on “Reflection”, where Mick opens up on his experience as a young Black man in America and on his relationship with his father. This is one of the strongest moments on the entire project, and it’s when these Elephants in the Room are truly put on full-display that the project truly shines. The two full-length features on this project each have some of the best moments on the album, and that’s honestly just a testament to how much they both shine. Ayinde Cartman sparks things into high-gear with a spoken-word barrage to cap off the already-excellent “Stiff Arm”. Greenslime gets the only rap feature on the album, and he arguably outshines Mick Jenkins on “D.U.I.”, delivering a menacing verse that feels like death is around the corner at all times.

Considering the context of the album’s release, with Mick having public frustrations with his label and this album being released just to fulfill the rest of his contract, it’s a strong addition to his catalogue. He admits this isn’t meant to be his magnum opus, and that he wouldn’t want to sign half the rights of his magnum opus away to a label. This arguably makes the project we get even more impressive, because there’s songs on here that would be standouts for most artists’ entire careers. It’s clear what this project was meant to be for Mick, as it adds a strong addition to his catalogue, gets him out of his label deal, and lets him focus on his next work. These songs aren’t meant for any RapCaviar playlists, but they certainly improve upon the already excellent Mick Jenkins discography. And if this is the type of work he puts out when he isn’t trying to create something grand, it’s exciting to think about what type of album he could make down the road.

FAVORITE LYRICS

“I can’t erase the times when I dropped the ball,

Was tryna handle it all, I’m no Kyrie in the least,

I had to learn it the Harda-way, n*ggas Pennys decreased”

– Mick Jenkins, The Valley of the Shadow of Death

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“Brought my sand to a fire hydrant, created a beach”

– Mick Jenkins, The Valley of the Shadow of Death

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“I just wanna live my life”

– Mick Jenkins, Things You Could Die For If Doing While Black

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“Grind heavy, Tony Hawk,

hands on, do it manual,

more Rodney Mullen my walk,

Kick, Push all the hoes,

no Fiasco, I’m Spock”

– Mick Jenkins, Stiff Arm

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“We gon wait for recognition or flip the conference table first?

Their fear or ours? Ain’t no telling what’s worse”

– Ayinde Cartman, Stiff Arm

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“You and your crew peas in a pod, put you in the same coffin”

– Greenslime, D.U.I

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“I’m skipping rocks that used to be my stepping stones”

– Mick Jenkins, Speedracer

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“Donovan Mitchell, I’m definitely finna talk all this Jazz,

Constantly victim, I’m more than kind of hip to the blues”

– Mick Jenkins, Reflection

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“He 6’2″, I’m 6’5”, he used to make me feel small,

I used to think he was strong, now I know he just weak”

– Mick Jenkins, Reflection

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“I like to keep it a buck, you used to keep it like eighty, hope you feeling my growth”

– Mick Jenkins, Rug Burn

DISCUSSION

How did you like the project on first listen? Did that change in subsequent listens?

How does Mick Jenkins fit into the landscape of hip-hop moving forward? Do you think he continues to stay largely to himself, or do you think the creative freedom afforded by leaving a label will let him branch out more?

What do you think of Mick’s singing on the project? Do you think he’s improved in this area since his earlier works?

Where does this project rank amongst Mick’s discography?

Did you like this sound for the project overall? What direction would you like to see him move next?