Shipwrecked
It’s been about eight years since Mick Jenkins’s critically acclaimed mixtape The Waters came out. And to this day, I always have to play at least one song from it when it’s raining outside. The album’s conceptual intent is brought forward immediately as you press play, with sounds of waves splashing against the shore. The best way to describe this album is a sonic baptism; as we are taken through this album, I feel cleansed and renewed, dunked into the vast unknown, and as metaphorical hands thrust me back up. I’m taken through Mick Jenkin’s experiences played out in each track, and as I reach the point where I breach the surface, I gasp for air and reflect on the journey I just went through and see how I can use what I just learned to grow.
I’ve stated before how enthralled I was with Mick Jenkin’s, specifically how he equated water with the capital “t” Truth. Maybe it was because I was taking a philosophy class, but I bought into it, drank a metric boatload of water a day, and sought more opportunities to learn about myself and the Truths Mick talked about in his albums. With bridges like
Drink more water, water, take a little sip, nigga
Drink more water, water, take a little sip, nigga
Drink more water, water, take a little sip
Just a sip will make a nigga feel like gold
And claims like
Water is the most important natural component that we have today
It makes up our world, our bodies
It has the ability to destroy, and create
It is the healing component, THC
It’s hard not to seek out a tall glass of water and chug it down.
I think one of the lines that resonated with me the most is off of the track ‘Vibe” on this track, and Mick says
I know this shit has been stressful, but would you cope with me?
I’m knee-deep in these waters, I’m asking you would you float
If you knew that I could build a boat
And I told you that God spoke with me
This bar is one of many biblical references laced across this mixtape, but this one stands out to me the most. It references Noah’s Ark, a story where Noah and his family and two of each of the world’s animals are held in a vessel, saving them from a world-engulfing flood. Mick once again uses water as a device to represent the power it has to create and destroy. While also using himself and his music as a vessel for protection.
It’s a parable for trust and faith; in the song’s scope, Mick is asking his girl to trust in him, making it in music despite all the stress and turmoil they might be going through. I feel a kinship to this.
Mick’s frustration gets the best of him in another song on The Waters, and he sends shots at rapper Riff Raff saying.
I couldn’t afford to get my girl into this open mic that I performed for
But somewhere in the world, there’s a RiFF RaFF concert that people gon’ swarm for — I never understand that shit
It reminds me of a Kanye lyric wherein “Touch The Sky” he says
Before anybody wanted K. West beats
Me and my girl split the buffet at KFC
Dog, I was havin’ nervous breakdowns
Like “Man, these niggas that much better than me?”
Both instances show desperation and frustration. I can imagine many artists like myself feel, in a sense, shipwrecked. I tend to beat myself up a lot when it comes to this and say, “If you were really good, you’d get recognition already.” But when I feel those thoughts creeping in, I think of those lyrics off of “Vibe” and use what Mick says as an affirmation to myself. I treat my talents as the Ark and put my trust in faith in it. Will it take me far? I don’t know. I’ll rather brave the ocean and risk being shipwrecked than being stagnant in the water.
