I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU - JPEGMAFIA: Review

Review by Lavender:

Jpegmafia is a complicated rapper to follow both artistically and personally. Earlier this year he found himself in hot water, seemingly betraying much of the political righteousness of his early work by cosigning and collaborating with Kanye West. He then doubled down on the controversy with a very poor handling of his interaction with fans on social media. I've also had an up-and-down experience with his music in recent years. After nearly everyone loved his breakthrough album Veteran in 2018, I seemed to enjoy the follow-up more than most. That switched when Peggy transitioned into his EP and LP era where most of his music came off far less exciting to me despite the fact that he continued to rack up critical acclaim.

So here we are, fresh off another critical darling with last year's Scaring The Hoes collaborative album with Danny Brown. What I was looking for most in Peggy's next outing was a continued experimental ambition but one that he matched with either the ferocity of Veteran or the vulnerability of All My Heroes Are Corbnalls. What I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU delivers is actually a healthy spoonful of both, but mixed into a sea of spite and angst directed at just about anybody. 

Occasionally that spite can get a bit taxing. don't rely on other men served as the album's lead single and I wasn't a big fan of it at the time. The version on the album doesn't do much to remedy that. Though it's far less focused lyrically Don't Put Anything On The Bible is also full of pitfalls. Most notably, Peggy's vere opens with one fo the worst lyrics I've ever heard him write. But that only comes after a strange and out of place pop number from Buzzy Lee that takes up the entire first half of the song. Other whiffs include it's dark and hell is hot which has supremely annoying vocal effects as well as loop it and leave it whose instrumental is far too blown out for its own good. 

But that anger isn't always at its whiniest, occasionally Peggy absolutely goes in with great results. The entire album opens with the line "If I was an NBA player, I'd be Dillon Brooks, but worse" which is perfectly encapsulating of most of the record's highlights. I'll Be Right There features some absolutely ferocious rapping from Peggy and an incredibly catchy vocal sample that's bene stuck in my head all week. New Black History opens with a sample of Future's Covered N Money that made my jaw drop. Then it goes onto an absolutely lethal Vince Staples verse, sounding more cutthroat than he has in years. Peggy matches Vince's demeanor reaching into a more up-close-and-personal style that is absolutely flawless. 

vulgar display of power is exactly what it sounds like. It's one of those Peggy songs that hits hard despite the fact that it's basically 8 transitions stitched together in a row rather than like, a song. Exmilitary is being labeled a standout by a lot of people and I get why. It's a song where Peggy gets personal, though it does often come back to ranting and raving at all of his opps. It's a 50-minute song that still completely avoids structure with one memorable passage after another. That leads directly into JIHAD JOE where Peggy specifically takes aim at fake friends, though he doesn't really manage to stay on topic for long. But the lyrical punchlines he delivers are clever and the two distinct halves of the song are both thumping. 

There are some other moments of loosely aligned intensity. SIN MIEDO served as the second single and it's a fine song. From the crashing cymbals to shouted samples that cut themselves off and electric guitars it's a whirlwind of a song that only occasionally loses the plot. JPEGULTRA features a pretty intense performance from Peggy even though he dips back into the well of coming for fake friends and you have to sit through an embarrassing amount of Denzel Curry rambling to get there. 

Towards the end of the record, Peggy actually does get truly vulnerable a few times. either on or off the drugs is a quieter track that lets Peggy take center stage. The instrumental is surprisingly beautiful and Peggy discussing his past through both his career and personal life is memorable. Closing track i recovered from this is a perfect ending for the record that finally cuts through all the bullshit in Peggy's persona and gets at the real person underneath. It's a very pretty moment both sonically and thematically to end on. 

I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU definitely has its slipups, but with how erratic of an artist Peggy is even his best work often does. That's why I'm happy to report that numerous songs on this record stand among the best tracks I've heard from Peggy in this entire decade so far. Rather than dialing in his focus, Peggy merely ups his intensity and hones in on his hatred for seemingly everyone, resulting in th the most intense music he's dropped in a long time. While it's far from a perfect album, I like I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU quite a bit. 7.5/10

For more hip-hop check out my review of Vince Staples' Dark Times here