While listening to JPEGMAFIA’s latest album, “LP!,” you’re in for a spectacle of drama. With 18 tracks in total, the album runs as a 50-minute diss track to JPEGMAFIA’s haters, the rap industry and disingenuous listeners. Everybody’s catching shots.
JPEGMAFIA departs from his cyberpunk style found on “Veteran” and focuses on making beats closer to his “All My Heroes Are Cornballs” sound. There’s a focus on glittering samples, like “DIRTY!,” behind arguably the heaviest drums you’ve heard this year. The cutthroat attitude in “LP!” justifies this change: he has a lot to say these days. “I feel like hip-hop tried to put a hit on me / Pussy n****s put me in a box, it’s belittling,” he raps on “KISSY, FACE EMOJI!” Considering how much he enjoys experimenting with different cadences and percussive patterns, JPEGMAFIA wishes to break out of the box of expectations.
On paper, JPEGMAFIA truly does stand out from other rappers. He released his first studio album, “black ben carson” at age 27, he served a tour in Iraq with the U.S. Air Force and he doesn’t post pictures with other rappers for clout. His beef with underground rap duo, Armand Hammer, further proves that he’s as isolated as an artist can be among internet personalities with a passion for sonic discord. His song “BMT!” shows an isolated rapper at their angriest: “F**k that harness, f**k them planes / F**k your music, f**k them chains / F**k your videos, f**k your face.”
The album runs as vindictive as it gets. JPEGMAFIA’s beef with ELUCID, a member of Armand Hammer, is the target for most of these shots. The two rappers fell out after JPEGMAFIA recycled a 2018 beat that was originally meant for ELUCID. The plucking loop on “NEMO!” mockingly mirrors ELUCID’s groove on “Safehouse,” almost to boast his rapping ability on an even playing field.
It all comes to head on “REBOUND!” The nearly Rastafarian instrumental leaves plenty of room for JPEGMAFIA to be as intentional as possible between the brass horns: “All that s**t that you did to your girl / I just wish that you’d do it to me / He told me to stop dissin’ his kin, huh / Oops, I did it again.” JPEGMAFIA’s pen does gymnastics while his angst takes the fore.
Traditionally, sample heavy albums have qualified as rap-classics by fans — consider Lil Wayne’s “No Ceilings” from 2009. However, the music industry cares more about the legality of the album’s samples rather than the artist’s performance on throwbacks. That said, JPEGMAFIA let all the samples fly on “LP!,” but is constrained by the legality of samples for certain songs. To combat this, he released a “LP! (Offline version)” that features new songs and the rawest version of the album.
“My goals are different my body is different my mind is different, where I came from is different. We’re not aiming at the same thing … This is the true LP! & i hope you all enjoy 💕,” JPEGMAFIA wrote on his Bandcamp.
Sampling has always been an essential part of JPEGMAFIA’s sound, considering his prowess as a producer. “LP!” adds to the list of self-produced music released across his career. His samples on the album give another layer of wit that reveals clearer context track-by-track. “END CREDITS!” includes the famous speech from Arn Anderson, widely known as The Enforcer in All Elite Wrestling (AEW): “You know what I do? / I pull out the Glock, put it on his forehead / And spill his brains all over the concrete.” With the persistent disses, the sample fits perfectly and cements JPEGMAFIA among the list of rap-greats with nods to the wrestling world. Considering his default exuberance, you can bet that he’s making every effort to throw the last punch with drama present.
The same controlled chaos that distinguishes JPEGMAFIA’s sound also maps him in perpetual misunderstanding. Many experimental acts share a chaotic sound; however, JPEGMAFIA isn’t doing it for the aesthetic or the image. He is justifiably upset. In the aforementioned Bandcamp message, JPEGMAFIA speaks out against contractual chastity: “I live and die by the quality of my music, not the hype. And the minute anyone does anything to impede on that. You are dead to me.”
“LP!” remains an effort to reclaim control of JPEGMAFIA’s own music from labels and social obligations. This is his last album on a contract before going independent, taking a step away from Republic Records.
For that reason, this album is much more than an experimental, battle-rap album with a Britney Spears interpolation in the middle. JPEGMAFIA won’t accept less than he’s due. His decision to go independent leaves a mystery to his direction from this point. However he follows up, we can rest assured that he’ll fend for himself whether we’re with him or not.
Mason Stoutamire is an Entertainment Intern for the fall 2021 quarter. He can be reached at mstoutam@uci.edu.