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Some rappers rap about cars. Others rap about weed, money and women. Mick Jenkins raps about water.
"It represents truth, very simply," says the 24-year-old Alabama-born, Chicago-raised MC. "Water is probably the most important element in the world, and so is the truth about the world—about beauty, about success, about happiness."
Jenkins is one of hip-hop's rising stars, a poet schooled in the art of penning stories from city blocks. But he also has a deep conceptual streak, known for weaving rich, extended metaphors throughout his albums. On his last two releases, 2014's The Water[s] and this year's Wave[s], he has used water as a metaphor for discussing how humanity deprives itself of experiencing natural truths.
Jenkins' fervor for tackling social issues on record has garnered him a reputation as a thinking man's rapper. Critics label his output as "conscious rap," but for Jenkins, it's crucial, basic common sense. His music is heady, theoretical and critical of the world we live in. Often, he's asked why his music is rife with social commentary and criticism, as if he's doing something above and beyond other artists.
"I think it's crazier that we so often come across albums that we don't have to dissect, that don't have a concept," he says. "We're making believe that the audience doesn't care about [social issues], isn't going to try and figure it out, doesn't want to hear that, or isn't smart enough to understand it."
While all of Jenkins' projects are connected through lyrical continuity, acid jazz-inspired production buoys the weight of his words. "Martyrs," The Water[s]' lead single, typifies his ability to balance weighty content with crowd-bouncing beats. An obscured sample of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" roots the song in black American history, while punching bass drops and ticking hi-hats keep it running as Jenkins powers through hard-hitting couplets. "All the little niggas got guns now/ And they carry them to the fucking beat/ All these little girls give it up now/ Shame, I could see the cherry stems in the fucking street." He lifts "Martyrs" higher with a sinister hook that flips radio-rap tropes while glaring back at the "Strange Fruit" refrain. "I'ma get all this money/ I'ma buy all this shit/ I'ma fuck so many hoes/ Nigga, I'ma fuck yo bitch/ I'm just with my niggas hanging."
Everything Jenkins does is deliberate. Last month's Wave[s] EP stepped away from sociopolitical concerns, delivering dance-baiting tracks recounting romance and lost love. But Wave[s] is merely a placeholder, Jenkins says, intended to establish the theme of his forthcoming debut studio album, [T]he [H]ealing [C]omponent, which he says will be about "what real love looks like. Not even romantic love, like love for the next man—your brother."
From the audience's perspective, Jenkins seems like an obsessive plotter, building these concepts and threading them through his art. But to hear him tell it, everything comes naturally.
"This is very much my struggle, my honesty, my feelings, my experiences," Jenkins says. "I just write it down as it comes."
SEE IT: Mick Jenkins plays Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave., with the Mind, J-Stock and Easy McCoy, on Friday, Sept. 25. 9 pm. $18.50. 21+.
WWeek 2015