Mick Jenkins “The Patience” Album Review

The Patience

Mick Jenkins

• Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
• Date: 16 Aug, 2023
• Content: cleaned
• Track(s): 11
• ℗ 2023 Mick Jenkins, Inc. under exclusive license to RBC Records / BMG Rights Management (US) LLC

“The Patience” is Chicago emcee Mick Jenkins’ fourth full-length album. Beginning as a member of the YCA collective, he would finally break out in 2014 with the release of his third mixtape, The Water(s), followed by his first EP, Wave(s) and commercial debut, The Healing Component. His next two albums, Pieces of a Man and Elephant in the Room, were met with mixed reviews, but The Patience, his official RBC Records debut, seems to be his best work yet.

Mick Jenkins’ patience did not stem from piety, despite the fact that he is a spiritually aware emcee. There was no humble resolve to wait, only the foresight to look beyond the unyielding present. That’s why he sounds so hungry on the latest album, “The Patience,” his first since breaking free from a label deal that had held him financially and creatively boxed in for the past decade.

His fourth studio album is a break from the intellectually rich productions that fans have come to expect from the Chicago emcee from the Southside. “The Patience” is stiff and tightly wrapped, held together by the cohesion of the emotions that created it.

Album Cover Art

Jenkins, in a dull, brown shirt that reflects his mood, appears dejected and completely drained like someone who had just been hit a shocking bad news and is still in disbelief, trying to process things. He could also pass for someone who has been waiting for something or someone for forever and is now running on his last litre of hope and patience.

Tracks and Features

The sumptuous album opening “Michelin Star” by Mick offers sincere advice, whilst “Show & Tell” with Freddie Gibbs delves straight into boom bap territory with a string sample and lyrics about having to disprove the skeptics in front of their very eyes. The relaxing lead single “Smoke-Break-Dance” featuring JID talks about puffing on that good shit in “Sitting Ducks” with Benny the Butcher. This song has an incredible loop with additional kicks and snares.

Before “2004” introduces some heavy synths and has Mick talk about being around the same people as he was two decades ago, he returns to the boom bap on “007,” making it apparent that he messed about and found a way out. The Beat Butcha song “Roy G. Biv” puts a novel spin on the acronym for the series of colors typically referred to as making up a rainbow, but the song “Pasta” takes a more atmospheric turn by discussing how all he sees are imposters.

Both Chi-Town residents can be heard bragging about having baddies on their arms and not being any bitches in the song “Farm to Table” with Vic Mensa. The album’s penultimate song, “Guapanese,” is a jazzy drumless crossover that emphasizes how money speaks in a particular way. The song “Mop” closes the record by endlessly mopping his flows over a bass guitar & crooning loop.

Tracklist

NO	TITLE	TIME
1	Michelin Star	1:56
2	Show & Tell (feat. Freddie Gibbs)	4:20
3	Sitting Ducks (feat. Benny The Butcher)	2:17
4	Smoke Break-Dance (feat. JID)	2:49
5	007	2:26
6	2004	1:25
7	ROY G. BIV	1:54
8	Pasta	2:25
9	Farm to Table (feat. Vic Mensa)	3:08
10	Guapanese	2:24
11	Mop	2:48

Album Theme

In a recent album promotion interview, the rapper said, “Patience — it’s not what a lot of people think, waiting. It is the capacity to accept delay, trouble or suffering without getting angry.” In the new album, he further breaks that idea down, staying focused on creating music by drawing from a strong and buried resentment.

Production Credits

Beat Butcha, Berg, Dilip, Hollywood Cole, Jai Nitai Lotus, Kulture, Otxhello, Stoic, Tee-WaTT, TYRON, Venna, VNSN & YAMA//SATO produced the album.

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