Mick Jenkins’ “The Water” is a great 57 minutes

Alabama-born, Chicago-based rapper Mick Jenkins’ self-released album, The Water[s], is a great, 57-minute piece of music.

Like many other Chicago rappers, Jenkins writes more for the poetry aspect of music rather than trying to strike big with lyrics that don’t make any sense.

With a flow similar to that of Kendrick Lamar and a bass guitar tone to his voice, Jenkins pulls off the portrayal of the tough and rugged streets of Chi-Town.

At first listen, one would think Jenkins was trying to make a full-length rap album for the Culligan Man  saying things like, “thank God for the waters” and starting off a song with “drink more water.”

Jenkins sings about water as a spiritual object rather than a liquid that comes from the sink.

For being a self-released album, The Water[s] has great production value to it.

From the sound quality to the instrumentals being rapped over, the instrumentals aren’t random bells and whistles. Rather, they are more relaxed, which sounds better with Jenkins’ poetic style. That kind of approach is shown in his song “Jazz.”

Jenkins changes it up a bit with the 10th song on the album. He keeps the laid-back instrumental but sings about ginger ale, with the song aptly titled, “Canada Dry.”

The track, full of irony, is about Jenkins drinking ginger ale instead of water. He sings about how his grandparents would be so upset with him for drinking it.

The last track, “Jerome,” featuring New York rapper Joey Bada$$ veers away from the laid-back instrumentation.

It also features a sampling of songs including a chorus from Notorious B.I.G.’s song, “Dead Wrong.”

“Jerome” proves to be a great energetic ending to such a mellow album.

Overall, the album is a must-listen. It is necessary to actually listen to the lyrics to get the meanings of the songs, because if you don’t you’d think Mick Jenkins was just advertising water, natural thirst-quencher.