The late Biggie Smalls (R.I.P.) once said, “If you don’t know, now you know!” If you were at Hype Hotel at 9:10pm Saturday, now you know. A nuanced, even subversive approach to inner city issues, Mick Jenkins’ The Water(s) proved a top 2014 mixtape. Live, a DJ, drummer, and backing vocalist aided the Southside Chicago MC in reducing the stage to ashes.
Following a quick fix of a technical difficulties, the wordsmith and band began the blistering set with the one-two of “THC” and “Drink More Water.” Working the latter, he’d yell “Drink more,” and the audience cascaded back “water.” At full volume.
Most refreshing.
On the Kaytranada-produced “The Rain,” an update of Missy Elliott’s 1997 original, Jenkins calls the bluff of rappers brandishing “them shooters”:
“Like huh? What? Where did this nigga come from? He speak his spoke with so many layers, He must be onion. I’m peeling back all these roots. The feeling is that you’re less appealing, Once you get to peeling back all these troops.”
After overpowering “Jazz,” and the debut of percussively encoded trap hailstorm “Perception,” the crowd grew. A communal revelation for the uninitiated was well under way. The antithesis of SXSW’s bulk hip-hop selection, especially in topical content, Mick Jenkins closed out his set as a potential game-changer.
Complete SXSW Music coverage at austinchronicle.com/sxsw/music
This article appears in March 20 • 2015.
