Mick Jenkins- The Water[s] MIXTAPE REVIEW

Today's review is on Mick Jenkins' new mixtape, The Water[s]. I have never heard of this Chicago MC before, but he has been getting a whole lot of hype from this new project of his. Any time an artist blows up off of one project, I feel like I have to check it out. Going into The Water[s] a complete newcomer, how did I like the album?

The production on this mixtape lived up to its name. This project had a very aquatic, watery vibe, and it seemed like the whole sound of the project was centered around this water theme. The beats here flowed together extremely well, and it was definitely a great listening experience. The production was layered and interesting,  with almost every beat having that watery sound. The first song, Shipwrecked, blew my mind with its production. This song starts out beautiful, with some very soft, minimalistic percussion making up most of the beat. The song eventually goes into a very relaxing bridge before it breaks into a much stronger, more energetic trap sounding beat to end the song. It was absolutely fantastic. This song, though, was one of the only tracks where the production really stood out. All these beats are great, but they all just sound like each other. There were only a few songs where I would say the instrumental was very different from the rest of the project. The song Martyrs had a cool female singing sample, and the song Jazz was probably the most unique and experimental beat here. The last song, Jerome, produced by Kirk Knight, had some more boom-bap, New York sounding production, so that definitely stood out.  Black Sheep, which was produced by Statik Selektah, was a bit disappointing for such a consistently good producer. Overall though, I loved the vibe of this project. Even if a lot of the beats sounded the same, they were all pretty good and there were enough standouts for me to enjoy The Water[s] instrumentally.

Mick Jenkins was undoubtedly the star of this project. The beats were excellent, but all they really did was serve as a background for Mick to do his thing. You can add this guy to the list of creative new hip hop artists from Chicago, along with Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa. First and foremost Mick Jenkins is a very charismatic MC. You can tell this guy has a whole lot of passion on the mic just from his voice. Mick is great from a technical standpoint as well, with a very solid flow and awesome delivery. I wasn't really bored by Mick Jenkins on this whole project. I liked how Mick had different lyrical ideas on a lot of the songs here. He is definitely big on content. The first standout track for me was the opener, Shipwrecked. This song showed how well Mick can ride beats, as he handled the sudden beat change on this song perfectly. Once the beat shifted into something more loud and dynamic, Mick was spitting faster and rapped with a lot more energy. The second song, THC, was very good too. It was really melodic, and the song had an infectious bounce going throughout its short duration. The song Comfortable showed Mick's pretty solid singing ability. He sang this hook effortlessly and it sounded great, not to mention he killed the verses on this track too. Noname Gypsy, the rap feature on that song, had a good verse too, and I enjoyed how she flowed over the beat. Honestly, there were standout songs all over this project. I really liked Jazz, Black Sheep, Canada Dry, Dehydration, and Martyrs. Martyrs was an especially great song for me. That track was fantastic, as Mick just had such a commanding flow throughout it. You had to listen to what he had to say. His deep voice just boomed through the beat had stood out. I loved it. My favorite song on this whole mixtape, though, was the last song, Jerome. This was a huge change from the rest of the album. This track had ridiculous amounts of energy and enthusiasm. Mick was literally yelling the hook here, but it sounded awesome. His verses were great as always, too. Joey Bada$$ came in for a guest verse and absolutely killed it with his raspy, nasty delivery. I loved this mixtape, simply because of how many standout tracks there were. Mick just knows how to craft awesomely infectious tracks. I think this guy has a great future, and he put together a pretty impressive project.

THE WATER[S] WRAP UP
+Mick blew me away as an MC, he has so much charisma
+He has a pretty creative rapping style
+Mick Jenkins proved to be versatile, even being a pretty good singer
+Unique water theme, even the beats had an aquatic vibe
-Samey production

Best: Shipwrecked, Martyrs, Jerome

Worst: Who Else

Mick Jenkins- The Water[s]
8.4/10