Back in March, talented Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins teased his upcoming follow-up to 2016’s excellent The Healing Component, tweeting, “My next album is fully in the works. It’s different. I know y’all want that hard shit. Ima give it to you.” Today, he’s dropped a new track entitled, “A Layover”.

The track opens with the telltale sound of a joint being sparked, which suits the vibe conjured by producer THEMPeople’s hazy, ominous beats and Jenkins’ effortless sounding delivery quite perfectly. As the succinct, two-minute cut draws to a close Jenkins amps up the energy and intensity of his delivery before disappearing back into the cloud of weed smoke from whence he came.

“A Layover” matches the murky, opaque vibe of “Pressed For Time (Crossed My Mind)”, the tune Jenkins shared back in March with the tweet about his upcoming album, but Jenkins said that the latter song wasn’t indicative of what’s in store on the new record, so who knows if “A Layover” will be a stand alone single or a part of that project. Either way, it’s another glimpse of the MC’s abilities and further makes the case for Jenkins being the next big star to emerge from Chicago’s very rich hip-hop scene.