Mick Jenkins has revealed the amusing details of how he managed to orchestrate one of the wildest mid rap beef reunions in recent Hip-Hop history.
In a recent bombshell interview on Way Up with Angela Yee, Jenkins revealed the calculated chaos behind the sequential features from feuding rappers Freddie Gibbs and Benny The Butcher on his latest album, The Patience. The Chicago rapper didn’t shy away from dishing out the juicy details of how he ended up with both verses, an outcome that seems almost too good to be true.
“Oh, I realized it when I did it,” Mick Jenkins responded with a grin wen asked if his decision was intentional to place Freddie and Benny’s features back to back on the album.
However, the storyline initially started out far less mischievous than one would think, considering the devious ending. Jenkins apparently had been tirelessly chasing Freddie Gibbs for a verse, a pursuit he claims lasted longer than a calendar year.
“I had been chasing Freddie for like a year and a half, right,” he said. “Seeing Freddie out multiple times. He from Gary, so basically a Chicago n###a, all love, but every time I hit him to do the record, no response.”
Jenkins rolled with the punches. He continued, “N###as will dap you up, chop it up, smoke with you, but when you want to work, you ain’t getting no response.”
Though his patience did indeed pay off eventually, Jenkins’ label ended up suggesting he try securing a feature from Benny The Butcher in the meantime while he awaits a response from Gibbs.
“My label loves Benny,” he said. The label want to get Benny. I’m like, alright, go ahead get Benny.”
But just as Benny’s verse came through, a twist of fate occurred.
“Really almost the same day we get Benny, 2 a.m. that morning, Freddie sent me the verse just out the blue, no heads up, no nothing,” he recalled.
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With both verses in hand, Mick Jenkins believed he had something special and with that, he chose to lean directly into alignment with how fate allowed things to play out.
“So I’m like, damn, we really got a Freddie and a Benny verse, I’m finna put ’em back to back,” he said.
Mick Jenkins didn’t hold back when asked which verse was better, either. And while he ended up siding with Gibbs, he offered Benny the benefit of the doubt for what he feels as though could be considered a reserved performance.
“And I’m going to say it too, this is how I felt,” he said. “Holler at me, but I don’t think Benny knew what was going on. I’ve done what I believe Benny did, which is pay for—out of a 10, I give you one of my sevens. I give one of my sixes, you know what I’m saying? Because it’s still going to be fire. I don’t think Benny knew that I was about to do what I was about to do on that joint. I give him a pass. He ain’t come with it for real. Freddie verse was better.”
The decision to feature these two artists back to back is obviously an intriguing on given the history between them. The feud between Freddie Gibbs and Benny The Butcher was seemingly ignited following the Griselda MC’s criticism of their “One Way Flight” collaboration.
The beef has since escalated, with both artists taking shots at each other on social media and in their music. The pair were also involved in a physical altercation in the summer of 2022.
