“I ain’t preaching and I’m never that pretentious
Not pretending, Quasimoto how my back is
I’ve been bending, I’ve been lifting all the pounds
Break it down, pass it ’round
Politicking with my peoples, then my partner, then my realm
Quality is what we seek, I’m not playing till we peak
Quintessential to survival is the cunning to compete, you picked defeat”
Mick Jenkins released his first video from The Wave[s], “P’s & Q’s” a track produced by Kaytranada with an expressive guitar loop throughout. See Mick’s description below, he explains that he was thinking about literary devices and chose alliteration, so in “P’s & Q’s,” you’ll hear lots of those. Mick makes it sound easy as he still paints a cohesive picture while employing the constrained writing technique.
Nathan R. Smith directed the video and I read about the process via NPR.
“For the “P’s & Q’s” video, we wanted to shoot something with a constant flow of motion to complement Mick’s unending verse. I created the idea of Mick walking through a scene of complete chaos, yet being unaffected by everything. To create that effect, I had Mick walk backwards from left to right through the entire scene as people pelted him with various items. That way, once we reversed the footage, Mick would look like the only person moving forward and everything would lift off of his body, leaving the chaos behind. Everything in the shot — the fire, water, even the train — was in-camera.”
The “P’s & Q’s” artwork was created by @YesimanArtist. I’ve been listening to Jenkins’ soundcloud a lot today, there’s not a superfluous release on it, all tracks are substantial and artistic. He’s laid a solid foundation and I can’t wait to hear The Wave[s].