Chicago Singer theMind Drops Debut Album ‘Summer Camp’

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theMind’s soulful crooning has been a consistent part of music coming out of Chicago in the past couple of years, but surprisingly, the singer born Zarif Wilder only just released his debut mixtape on Wednesday (June 29th).

Prior to this, theMind has appeared on Mick Jenkins’ last two albums (The Water[s] and Wave[s]) his two-track release Sip earlier this year, and Jenkins’ latest track, “Sunkissed“, off of his forthcoming debut studio album THC. Wilder has also appeared on tracks by Pro Era members Kirk Knight and Nyck Caution, Chicago artists G Herbo and Frank Leone, and, most recently, with Saba and Joey Purp on “Cornerstore” off of the latter’s recent iiiDrops album.

But that’s just the vocal side of things: Wilder has been an active producer in the Chicago rap scene, as part of collective THEMpeople, since Chance The Rapper’s debut 10 Day, appearing on projects by Smino, Hurt Everybody, Alex Wiley, and dozens of other Chicago heavyweights. THEMpeople provide the vast majority of the production on the Summer Camp, with Knox Fortune (who’s set to release his own album on August 5th), Beatmachinearon, and Carter Lang also appearing.

Fellow Chicago artists Towkio, Noname, Donnie Trumpet, Sean Deaux, and Michael Anthony all show up on Summer Camp, an eleven-track project of love songs perfect for late-night summer listening, but the tape is predominantly Wilder’s. The project details a “cool little adventure that I created between me and this girl”, as Wilder explained to Noisey earlier this year, and skits between the singer and a female speaker are interspersed throughout the album. Stream the project below, via the artist’s soundcloud

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