10 Chicago Hip-Hop Records That Mick Jenkins Thinks Everyone Should Own
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The post 10 Chicago Hip-Hop Records That Mick Jenkins Thinks Everyone Should Own appeared first on Consequence.
For this special edition of our Crate Digging series, we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop by discussing 10 essential Chicago hip-hop albums with Mick Jenkins. Check it out below, and be sure to see our exclusive merch featuring our Hip-Hop 50 design at the Consequence Shop.
Mick Jenkins was an adolescent watching TV when he first heard The Cool Kids’ “Black Mags,” and it changed his entire world. “There wasn’t anybody we could touch in the city as a young person,” the Chicago rapper tells Consequence over Zoom. “As a as a high school kid, there wasn’t anybody representing my voice. I was in my freshman year of high school, maybe eighth grade when I heard it — I think I first saw it on a TV commercial. But they quickly became everything to me.”
It wouldn’t be the last hip-hop that helped Jenkins feel seen as a young Black man in Chicago. He cites Chief Keef, Common, and Kanye, pointing out moments that instilled him with pride for his city. Though quite a few of these albums landed at a formative time in Jenkins life (2005 to 2010, to be exact), he also nods to some major Chicago releases from the late ’90s: Crucial Conflict’s The Final Tic and Do or Die’s Picture This. He tells a wild story of watching a music video shoot for Do or Die while trying to buy some shoes: “Being able to see these legends like 10 feet away from me getting some work in while I cop some Yeezys is a crazy memory.”
For now, Jenkins is gearing up for the release of his newest effort The Patience, which arrives on August 18th featuring the singles “Smoke Break-Dance” and “Guapanese.” Pre-orders are ongoing. While he claims that the album is “less conceptual,” the joys of crafting it came from a simple desire: “I just want to rap,” says Jenkins.
So, gear up for the next era of Mick Jenkins by diving into the 10 Chicago hip-hop records that most impacted his life, from Lupe Fiasco to Vic Mensa and more. In addition, be sure to check out the exclusive Hip-Hop 50 merch available now at the Consequence Shop.
The Cool Kids – The Bake Sale EP
I chose this mainly because of “Black Mags.” Huge record at a time in Chicago when nobody else was really making music like that on a mainstream level. There was Kanye, Lupe [Fiasco], and Twista, but I felt like there wasn’t anybody we could touch in a city as a young person. Those were older people. As a high school kid, there wasn’t anybody representing my voice. I was in my freshman year of high school, maybe eighth grade when I heard it — I think I first saw it on a TV commercial. But they quickly became everything to me.
I think a lot of people don’t like to give them credit, but they get a lot of credit for changing fashion too — it instantly became snapbacks and sneakers and big old starter coats and shit. That was majorly influential in my life at that time. And like I said, I felt like there was a voice who spoke for young people as far as mainstream rap in Chicago. They probably don’t even consider themselves mainstream. But I though they were big, especially for people who didn’t know anything, like I did at the time — they were big to me.
Essential Track: “Black Mags”
Kanye West – The College Dropout
This is literally who I started listening to right after The Cool Kids. For a standout track off The College Dropout, I chose “Spaceship.” I think there’s a lot of songs I could have chosen off his first five albums. But I wanted to choose something that was like… that’s where it was at for me at that time, working my first job. “If my manager insults me again/ I will be assaulting him,” that’s how I felt, you know, getting my first taste of corporate life and not liking it and then having something to identify with. That’s why I chose “Spaceship,” but College Dropout is definitely one of my favorite albums.
Essential Track: “Spaceship”
Kanye West – Late Registration
Following that right up with another Kanye album, Late Registration. And my standout track is “Gone” from that. I think “Gone” is an underrated song on that album. It’s not one of the singles. It’s not one of the hits people talk about. I think it’s amazing that this is a four-verse song. We don’t hear that very much these days at all, four verses. And even then it was like, “damn, four verses!” And the beat changes every verse, I don’t think people notice that, right? The beat changes every verse, and it’s like, “Damn,” especially for Ye getting props as a rapper, but also, so many more props are deserved for his production. And he went absolutely nuts on that song, It’s definitely one of my favorite songs in general.
But yeah, Kanye was everything to me. That’s how I felt. I didn’t have any idea of who he was going to be. I just knew who he was. I didn’t care about the future of Kanye, you know? I was enjoying what I was experiencing. I couldn’t believe early Kanye, Late Registration. I couldn’t believe there was somebody who was in the space that was speaking so directly to things that I was just beginning to understand, right? Because as I started to understand the reality of the world and like race relations and male and female dynamics and dichotomies, and what it is to be a young Black man on the Southside of Chicago, which he spoke about often… it was somebody who I felt like was just like me.
Essential Track: “Gone”
Chief Keef – Finally Rich
This is funny. I was not in Chicago when Chief Keef was dropping this album. I was in Huntsville, Alabama for college. And I was telling everybody I’m listening to Chief Keef in fucking Alabama. No one knows who the fuck that is. And they’re like, “What are you playing?” And I’m playing old songs, like “300.” They’re like, “What is this? Who is this?” And I’m like, “This is Chief Keef, he’s so big in Chicago.” Nobody knows. Then a few years later, Ye drops “I Don’t Like.” Now everybody knows who Chief Keef is. And I’m like, “I was telling y’all about this dude back in February! Y’all hated him, why are you acting like you love him now?” But yeah, Chief Keef was a huge artist in Chicago.
The standout track off Finally Rich is “Love Sosa.” When I came back to Chicago for winter break, I went to a house party. I was on the second floor smoking, I was just away from the party. “Love Sosa” came on, I heard it playing, and I’m like, “Oh shit, I might want to dance for this joint.” So I go downstairs, and I stopped on the landing and I had never seen so many hood dudes — and when I say that, I mean the aesthetic. Everybody was probably from the hood, but I mean the aesthetic for guys who don’t dance. Those guys. I never seen so many of those guys in the middle of the dance floor going absolutely crazy. Like just jumping up and down. It was nuts, and I remember I didn’t even go down there. I just stopped on that landing and thought, “Damn, I never seen nobody make dudes do this.” I’d seen this before, but not in this space, not with these people, not in this type of situation.
Essential Track: “Love Sosa”
Vic Mensa – Straight Up EP
Straight Up is the first project I ever heard from Vic Mensa. The standout song is called “Like the Way.” I am a huge Vic Mensa fan. I wasn’t rapping when I first heard of Vic Mensa, and I checked out that project Straight Up and I just thought the dude was amazing, dude was cold. I’m rocking with it. You know what I’m saying? It wasn’t even a question. I found out that he went to Whitney Young [High School] and I’m like “Damn, this motherfucker’s my age. That’s crazy!” But I thought he was one of the best rappers in the city. “Like the Way” is a very smooth song, it’s a vibe, easy. He’s still one of my favorite rappers. He does not do what he was doing back then now. I’m more than positive he’s capable but yeah, his artistry has gone in a different direction so definitely something I still cut on for sure.
Essential Track: “Like the Way”
Lupe Fiasco – The Cool
I actually think The Cool is better than Food & Liquor. I know that’s not a popular opinion, but it’s definitely one of my favorite Lupe albums. The spotlight song is “Go Go Gadget Flow,” which I thought was funny because we’re doing a Midwest joint and I’m from a city in the Midwest that’s the best city in the whole wide world… Nothing else needs to be said. So that’s why I chose “Go Go Gadget Flow,” and like I said, The Cool is definitely one of my favorite albums.
Essential Track: “Go Go Gadget Flow”
Common – Be
This is one of the top three hip hop albums for me, easily. Common is one of my favorite artists. I think this era of him working with Kanye is the best music that he made, just because you can’t really beat that production for somebody like Common. I think it was an amazing marriage.
“Go!” is my favorite record off of the album and it’s the spotlight record. I think “Go!” is like a perfect record. Not a perfect song — when I call songs ‘records’ versus a song, I am trying to make a differential, because it’s about the experience, it’s everything about it and not solely just the music. It’s called a record for me. I think a “Go!” is one of those. It’s definitely a smash hit. It hits a couple of different vibes, you could listen to it in a couple of different spaces. Only thing is that it didn’t have a video, and it should have had a video.
Essential Track: “Go!”
Common – Finding Forever
Another Common joint. Love this album as well, more Kanye production. The spotlight song is “So Far to Go” with J Dilla and D’Angelo. On Finding Forever, it feels like Kanye was more involved on this one than on Be as far as composition goes. Obviously he’s producing on both, but I think I hear more Kanye in the studio next to Common in creating the song, and on Be I hear more Kanye on the beat and Common just doing whatever he wants to do. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I think that’s what I hear, from my ear and knowing both of those artists the way that I do. And then other than that, I don’t think it’s that different, I think it’s the continuation of what they were already doing. You know, I think it was like, “Yo, let’s just go back again. Let’s do some more.” It definitely sounds progressive. It sounds like a more progressive place from where Be was made.
Essential Track: “So Far to Go”
Crucial Conflict – The Final Tic
These last two albums, I just felt like you can’t make a list of Chicago hip hop that influenced you, if you lived in Chicago, and not included these albums. The essential track off The Final Tic is “Hay,” which was their breakout hit. These songs put me in the place where I’m like… I just want to smoke, like, where’s my joint at?
Essential track: “Hay”
Do or Die – Picture This
This is a classic record. When I was in high school, Ye had just came out with the Yeezys. And we were so hyped to find Yeezys, but couldn’t find them in those stores and there were lines everywhere. We got a connect on Yeezys, actually, from Kanye’s barber, one of our guys knew him. We fly by his crib to go pick up the shoes and Do or Die is in the living room shooting a music video. It was crazy. We come upstairs, the barber’s like, “Yeah, go straight to the back.” So we go straight to the back. But we walked past Do or Die shootin’ a music video, I think TLC was in there, we were like, “Damn!”
We get the Yeezys and leave straight out, because we didn’t want to interrupt but yeah, that was crazy for me as a high schooler. Being able to see these legends like 10 feet away from me getting some work in while I cop some Yeezys is a crazy memory. Do or Die and Crucial Conflict… they’re not ‘unsung,’ per se, but they’re underrated legends. I think everybody in Chicago knows that. But you know, the rest of the world I don’t think keeps them so frontal. That’s what happens. That’s the nature of the game. But legends couldn’t do it without those two.
Essential Track: “Po Pimp”
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10 Chicago Hip-Hop Records That Mick Jenkins Thinks Everyone Should Own
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