Mick Jenkins on Tour
The most exciting new wave of gifted MCs is from Chicago, and riding the crest is Mick Jenkins. With his most recent album, 2018's Pieces of a Man, Jenkins solidified his place as one of his generation's most insightful and articulate rappers, a lyrical acrobat as assertive as he is pensive, as religiously devout as he is socially conscious.
With a voice that veers from sinister sneer to bashful introspection, Jenkins takes Pieces into truly forward-thinking territory, excoriating police brutality and institutional racism and extolling self-love and medicinal green. Lean, slow-rolling production comes courtesy of contributors like Detroit veteran Black Milk, plus Montreal-based future-funker Kaytranada, Toronto acid-jazz quartet Badbadnotgood, and a host of other avant-garde beatmakers. Wu-Tang legend Ghostface Killah makes a high-profile appearance, a co-sign from one meticulous wordsmith to another.
Jenkins was born in Huntsville, Alabama, and relocated to Chicago during his teenage years. He immersed himself in the city's Young Chicago Authors poetry collective and honed his verbal acuity by conducting mock trials at his high school's law academy.
Starting around 2012, when he was just into his twenties, Jenkins began self-releasing a steady stream of mixtapes. He earned a reputation as a rapper's rapper and eventually recorded and toured alongside Windy City luminaries like Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa, and Joey Bada$$. His first official album, 2016's The Healing Component, broke him out of Chicago and earned accolades from publications across the U.S. Even more ambitious and fully formed, Pieces of a Man emerged two years later.
Performing live, Jenkins variously rocks solo, triggering instrumental tracks on his own, or with a drummer, backup vocalist, and digital DJ. Either way his laser-like focus, explosive energy, and incomparable eloquence pour offstage and connect directly to audiences. This spring he brings Pieces of a Man on tour throughout Canada and Western Europe — a thrilling and timely message delivered straight from Chicago's prolific hip-hop scene.
