You can thank Chicago producer supergroup OnGaud for most of this. Mick’s production complements his rapping amazingly. In his newest project, The Water, Mick has finally gotten the perfect balance and the perfect fusion of both styles. The Southern style comes out a lot more in his 2012 projects, whereas the Chicago sound shows up a lot more in Trees & Truths. You can also hear a strong spoken word influence in a few of his songs, which would make sense considering many of the new Chicago underground have a background or at least are heavily influenced by spoken word. His style takes influence from not only Chicago, where his home is now, but also his birth place Alabama and general Southern hip hop. Read up on RapGenius and try to decode what the lines mean yourself before looking at the annotations, because we all know how much RapGenius stretches things (although a majority of the annotations for Water I’ve seen have been correct) His use of metaphors and symbolism is something I’ve never seen before and it’s great. The phrase “Ginger ale for your hoes, I don’t want they souls” and other various ginger ale references come up a lot, the reason for this being answered on Twitter a long time ago. Mick also has many repeating themes in his music. He talks about God, he talks about praying, he talks about all of that but he doesn’t shove it down your throat, so don’t let that fact turn you away from his music.
Mick is one of the few Christian rappers (or more aptly in Mick’s case, rappers that have Christian themes) that doesn’t get preachy. Although she uses a more delirious and slower flow, their voices contrast each other and work together very well. Mick’s slight southern drawl and unique delivery make his flow stand out and end up complimenting the beat most of the time, while Wiley’s more rushed delivery with faster paced rapping rides the beat in ways it doesn’t seem possible. They’ve collaborated quite a few times now and it’s always amazing to hear the differences between Mick and Wiley’s rapping styles, but they both bring the best out of each other and it works very well. This actually works to Mick and Wiley’s advantage. Because Mick’s voice is deeper, he chooses to use a more slowed flow compared to how they use faster flows. Mick’s deep, smooth voice stands out in a class of Chicago heavy hitters with more high pitched voices ( Alex Wiley, Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa mainly). The soulful beats he raps over compliment his sometimes religious raps.
But he’s not forgetting his second roots, Chicago, in his music either. From his flow to his delivery, he sounds very southern influenced. Upcoming rapper, Free Nation leader and newest Beast Coast member Mick Jenkins is a Chicago rapper originally born in Alabama, and this mix really shows in his music.
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