Mick Jenkins - Elephant In The Room (Album Stream + Discussion)
- Thread starter KingsOfKings
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“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), 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.
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.
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- Mick Jenkins, The Valley of the Shadow of Death
- Mick Jenkins, The Valley of the Shadow of Death
- Mick Jenkins, Things You Could Die For If Doing While Black
- Mick Jenkins, Stiff Arm
- Ayinde Cartman, Stiff Arm
- Greenslime, D.U.I
- Mick Jenkins, Speedracer
- Mick Jenkins, Reflection
- Mick Jenkins, Reflection
- Mick Jenkins, Rug Burn
