LP! - Jpegmafia: Review
JPEGMAFIA
is a New York/Baltimore rapper who has taken the world of experimental hip hop by storm in recent years. With his breakout record Veteran in 2018 he used unconventional song structures and a wide array of experimental influences to craft a truly unique and eclectic rap sound. He has prolifically released music since then with a number of one off singles, the 2019 album All My Heroes Are Cornballs and a pair of EP's over the last two years. Both of those EP's helped lead up to the visual stylings and sonic composition of LP!.
Review By Lav:
Peggy made it pretty difficult to write a review of this record that reaches any kind of conclusion but I'm gonna try. I really enjoyed his last two records and his sound was a refreshingly weird take on hip hop that impressed me even if not every single experiment hits it out of the park. I wasn't quite as enamored with either of the EP's he released even though they both certainly had their highlights, I thought they were easy to forget which is something Jpegmafia has never been before. So that brings us to LP!, a record which features 20 songs ranging between one and five minutes many of which features drastically different and entirely distinct musical passages within their run time. While the record is already difficult to pin down from a tracklist standpoint it is more like 50 different unrelated musical passages masquerading as 20 different songs. Oh yeah and because of sample clearance there are two different versions of this record floating around with different songs and different versions of songs. While I think the offline version is certainly worth hearing I'm also well aware that most casual fans aren't going to buy the thing from Bandcamp and will be much more familiar with the streaming version which puts me in a weird position. Ultimately I decided to strip this review down to the basics and tell you about some of the must hear songs, some of the issues I have with the record and try to make an ultimate judgement on this era of Peggy's discography overall.
While I do have some critiques of the record make no mistake, LP! has a number of tracks that just absolutely fucking rule. TRUST! was a single that I enjoyed quite a bit and it serves as the opener here. I find the song to be incredibly charming on top of the technical and creative proficiencies involved. NEMO! is one of the best songs I've ever heard from Peggy with an awesome alien beat and seamless bouncing between refrains that is so ridiculously smooth. END CREDITS! is a crazy fucking song that employs some wrestling samples and they really do fit in as it seems like Peggy is crafting a song dedicated purely to being the hugest and hardest hitting hype track of his entire career, and in a career that includes Baby I'm Bleeding that is saying something.
REBOUND! is a hilarious and hype ass song and it's the first time in a long time that I've heard Peggy make something that really could seamlessly fit into the tracklist of Veteran. To this day I think that's still my favorite of his albums so a return to form was very satisfying. BMT! is my favorite track on any version of the album. It's a ridiculously hard banger and with the vocal samples backing a fuzzed out beat it sounds like something X and Ski Mark would have uploaded to SoundCloud. It's another moment where I am just incredibly impressed with Peggy's ability and versatility.
Some of my favorite individual moments on the album come unfortunately tied to very inconsistent songs. THOT'S PRAYER! is a cover/interpolation of Britney's Baby One More Time that is certainly interesting if not a bit novel. SICK NERVOUS & BROKE! is a multi-phased banger that I like for the most part as Peggy shows off his ability to go all in as well as dial it back in the same song. The piano ballad finale seems like a really weird and momentum halting choice even though I appreciated seeing Kimbra of all people show up.
KISSY, FACE EMOJI! has this really awesome digitized cloud rap passage in the middle with one of my favorite verses on the entire album. Unfortunately it's bookended by two of the most boring musical passages on the entire album. Finally there's THE GHOST OF RANKING DREAD! obviously makes references to reggae legend Ranking Dread. The song features Tkay Maidza on the hook and while it's a far FAR more conventional arrangement than most of what else is here it completely gives up at one point and just wanders out for much of the second half.
While the record generally avoids anything that sounds actively bad and it would take me hours to list off everything on the record and decide how much I liked it, there are certainly a few tracks I know I could have done without. ARE YOU HAPPY! certainly feels like the most aimless song on the entire album and I'm not sure why or how its individual pieces are supposed to form a complete song. DAM DAM DAM! is another weird song but it's almost something great. I think the synth laced instrumental it opens up with is a compelling pseudo ambient moment, but it doesn't fit in at all with the tracklist or even the song itself really. Once Peggy starts rapping however it's easy to see just how bad of a choice this is for an instrumental to rap over. The results are a pretty big mess even if I can see what he was going for in principle.
So LP! both online and offline versions is still certain to sound unlike anything else you'll hear in rap this year. Peggy solved the biggest issue I has with his EP's by returning to an experimental and uncompromisingly unique sound. This makes the record a chaotic listen that is certain to keep you on your toes even if that comes packaged with some head scratching moments. It feels intentional how throw together the tracklist is and it gives the whole thing a spur of the moment intensity that helps make up for some of the inconsistencies. Any time JPEGMAFIA is taking his music in a bold new direction you know that I'll be along for the ride and LP! is no different, I just can't wait to see what he does next. 7.5/10
This cover is super simple and seems more like a slice of life snapshot than a thought out cover. Even though it doesn't have a lot going on it's still successful and makes you want to look around and see if you're missing something. The top half of the cover is a little too empty for me and I would have used that space to brand this and make it more than just a photograph. 6.5/10
For more experimental hip hop check out my review of Injury Reserve's By The Time I Get To Phoenix here
