MOST DISAPPOINTING TRACKS: Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot, Kenan Vs. Kel, Beta Male Strategies, JPEGMAFIA TYPE BEAT, Grimy Waifu, Rap Grow Old & Die x No Child Left Behind, All My Heroes Are Cornballs, BBW, Thot Tactics, Free the Frail (feat. Helena Deland), Post Verified Lifestyle, BasicBitchTearGas, Papi I Missed U
Possibly the year’s most disappointing project yet, Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks (aka JPEGMAFIA)’s third studio album and follow-up to the widely praised 2018 project, Veteran, fails to live up to the hype generated by his own delusions.
The disappointment kicks off with the lead single off the project, ‘Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot’, a hopeful track with a spacious piano beat. The end of each verse switches into an aggressive industrial sound, which provides a stark contrast between the two parts of the song, which have little to no transition, which shocks the unexpecting listener.
All of the tracks are written and produced by Peggy, with ‘Rap Grow Old & Die x No Child Left Behind’ having additional production from Vegyn, a Frank Ocean collaborator and host of blonded RADIO on Apple Music.
The second half of Kenan Vs. Kel is hellish collision of sound, with a droning, heavy guitar riff looped and the Baltimore rapper shouting at the top of his lungs.
‘Rap been so good to me, I hope it get me canceled’, JPEG exclaims on lowkey third cut, ‘Beta Male Strategies’. Immediately after this is a complete 180 in ‘JPEGMAFIA TYPE BEAT’, which features an extremely loud and claustrophobic vocal sample from Atari Teenage Riot, which eventually soothes into a beautiful transition into the next track, ‘Grimy Waifu’. JPEG’s metaphor of a gun being a ‘grimy waifu’ seems like the perfect representation of Peggy’s influences. Hip-hop and anime have always had some crossover on influence and audience, and Peggy is only acknowledging this fact by comparing his own pistol to a ‘waifu’ or anime girl.
‘PRONE!’ was composed with no organic instruments, Peggy claiming that his intention was to “make a punk song … completely digitally”. The tracks’ manic energy is equally matched by both the wild beat and performance by JPEG.
The song titles might be one of the best parts of the album, and are all weird, extra long phrases or references to Internet/Twitter culture. Along this vein, ‘BasicBitchTearGas’ is one of the standout titles, and hilariously includes a ‘No Scrubs’ interpolation. Peggy is no stranger to pop covers however, and is in fact a pretty big Carly Rae Jepsen fan.
‘Post Verified Lifestyle’ sees Peggy reflecting on exactly that: how his life has changed following his ‘verified’ status on social media, which is one of the signs of success as a 21st century artist. He claims that people (specifically, the ones he doesn’t f*ck with) are now starting to rock with him.
All My Heroes Are Cornballs is one of the most impressive projects this year, thanks to Peggy’s every changing style and myriad of influences, which is revealed through his music.
LISTEN/STREAM DISAPPOINTMENT HERE:
Written by: John Yu (@stimyulus)