Hi everyone, Skipthony Scoretano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of the new JPEGMAFIA album, EXPERIMENTAL RAP.

Yes, here we have a brand new record, the 6th full-length solo album from rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, experimental hip-hop kingpin, Mr. JPEGMAFIA. And this record simultaneously has been one of his most anticipated, but also one of his most controversial. But that was already the case before we even had the chance to hear the entire thing. Truth be told, JPEG or Peggy has been in a weird place with much of his audience for the past couple of years, which I hate mostly because of how fandoms and internet discourse online operate these days. Because the moment there's any kind of shift in opinion around what you do, people all like to collectively forget that there ever was a time when it was different.

So I will say here, for the sake of historical context, there was a point when Peggy was one one of the most beloved rappers in the underground. A force to be reckoned with, a guy who was appreciated not just for his forward-thinking production, but also his distinct voice, his catchy and memorable flows, as well as the confrontational energy he put behind the ideals in his bars. And the momentum he was able to build while being an independent artist was enough to give him the kind of play and attention many mainstream rappers would get when it came to coverage on various music review on commentary sites and platforms.

But a lot of that fandom and goodwill would scatter or at least sour when he decided to put himself out there and work with one of his biggest inspirations, Ye, formerly Kanye West, during a time in Ye's career when he famously was at his most unstable, was repeatedly professing his love for fascism and the H-Man — you know what I'm talking about.

And given the numerous anti-fascist and anti-white supremacist bars Peggy had dropped over the years on his records, many fans did see this as a betrayal, even if it was merely for the sake of getting the chance to work with one of his biggest idols. But honestly, as unflinching as Peggy has been in the face of criticism around this, I feel like this decision for the most part was very survivable in, in terms of the optics of his career, especially given Ye has kinda toned things down quite a bit and seems to be on a much better track as of late, and Peggy seems to have mostly choked this behavior up to mental health issues.

But still, this doesn't really explain all the extracurricular, totally unnecessary beefs that he's taken on in addition to this, with artists like Freddie Gibbs, Armand Hammer, most recently Earl Sweatshirt, who he traded words with over Instagram with some catty comments back and forth. Unfortunately, this has created a lot of static among music fans that happen to listen to artists who are kind of in this left field of rap music, because often fans of one of these guys also listen to the other two or three, and people do tend to get really defensive and even downright tribalistic when it comes to their faves not getting along. I mean, look at the line that's been drawn in the sand over Kendrick v. Drake.

Add to this Peggy really leaning into this villain era, not only with the announcement of this album's title, EXPERIMENTAL RAP, a choice he says he made because he is basically the best and most important artist when it when it comes to experimental hip-hop, that no other artist kinda comes to mind when you utter those words, and he is merely laying claim with this record to what is already his.

And even if there is, like, a little bit of irony and exaggeration there in Peggy's words, many of the most vocal listeners online talking about this don't seem to think so. And personally, while I do find this heel turn to be kinda funny and very much a part of Peggy's usually confrontational personality, I think the way it's kind of dumbed down and toxified the discourse around this record has been fucking awful and very much not worth the fireworks. Because anywhere I go on the internet and see people posting about this album, there's no shortage of replies of this like moronic hive mind, people chiming in to be like, "Ugh, Peggy is so corny!"

Now, while personally I do have my own criticisms of the album, some of these reactions really make me wonder how much people's enjoyment of their favorite underground underground artists is completely based upon vibes.

All this drama to the side, I will say I did go into this record with pretty high expectations. Not just because of what I hoped an album titled Experimental Rap would bring, but I really did love Peggy's last album, I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU. Not only did this record feature one of his best closing tracks ever, really mature, well-developed song structures too, but also numerous fantastic fusions of hip-hop and rock that were consistently tasteful and funk as hell. Also loved the features from Vince Staples, Denzel Curry too. All around one of his best records.

So really, my most basic want from EXPERIMENTAL RAP was for it to continue this momentum of what has been just like a fantastic run of projects since Peggy's breakout 2018 album Veteran. Which is an appropriate album to bring up, because I think in a lot of ways this record is trying to bring back some of that classic chaotic veteran energy, with a sprawling, chaotic 25-song tracklist where Peggy is once again breaking down his approach to song structure by dishing out all of these brief moment-as-song type of cuts that in his earlier days worked out so well for him and certainly helped set him apart from a lot of his competition.

And while I do look back on that Veteran era very fondly, I didn't expect though for this revisit to this vibe, this sound, to have such a wild effect right out of the gate. 'Cause this record starts with a kind of epic, angelic set of vocal passages, a comedian Paul Mooney snippet as well, where he's kind of interacting with the audience and making them laugh, all of which sets the stage for the first single from this record, "babygirl," which by usual JPEGMAFIA standards is a pretty cut-and-dry song between its booming beats and looping Saul Williams vocal chops. Its greatest sins, though, are really, again, by JPEGMAFIA standards, it's kind of predictable and doesn't really seem at all interested in outdoing what Peggy has accomplished in the past, in any way. Which has long seemed like a core tenet of his work. That just doesn't seem to be a focus on this song at all, especially between these very average triplet flows and a kind of underwhelming rock-infused outro.

Now, by contrast, the following "Burning Hammer" is a lot more diverse and multifaceted. Lots of building snares, and abrasive, strange samples and noises, and keyboard and guitar passages kind of breaking us into different sections of the song. Versatile, but very little of this blizzard of ideas stuck with me before the 2-minute mark. Prior to that point, the track is really a blur, and after that, honestly, I'm not really crazy about committing this spacey alt-metal outro that sounds like the moody bridge of a Limp Bizkit song to memory either.

The song "Money" is the first real banger on the record, in my opinion. Peggy leans even further into these nasally triplet flows, but there are some very notable variations there, as well as some over-the-top inflections too, that bring a decent amount of variety. Plus, throughout the track, I love these samples of the word "money," all these sound effects referencing money, booming 808s, and electro-style synthesizers. It's the perfect kind of thematic, quirky, controlled chaos that JPEGMAFIA does best when he hunkers down and focuses on pulling it off. And I can't help but love the humor inherent in this song's concept, too.

However, the record loses steam once again on the following track, when it really kinda fails to live up to a moment set by the core piano chord sample on "Pop this Heat," which is lifted straight out of Brenda Russell's "A Little Bit of Love," which you have heard heard before if you are familiar with that amazing Big Pun and Fat Joe song "Still Not a Player," which, if you're a '90s hip-hop head, like, you know this track like the back of your hand. And this is a huge song for Peggy to tap on the shoulder of here.

However, if any artist can kind of pass this test with flying colors, I think it's him, especially given what he did with the sample that was famously used on Wu-Tang's "Tears" on his last record. But the listening experience of "Pop this Heat" is effectively in one ear and out the other. The sample flip itself is unimaginative his standards, and this kinda "lyrical, miracle" flow, which is a term I hate to use in this review, betrays the smooth vibe of the instrumental and the flirty, player-themed lyrics that he's trying to drop here.

"Meet the Dealers" featuring DATPIFFMAFIA is a much more exciting listen by comparison. I love the massive beat on this one, packed with glitchy electronics and industrial switch-ups. What sounds like a car alarm at one point, too. I think it's got some really heavy, psychedelic, echo-drenched sections too that make for some of the best production Peggy has ever put out. But again, despite all of this texture and adventure on the production side, he can't really rap outside of this nasally, one-note triplet flow. Which again, to me is weird, because he has never been this predictable as a rapper before. Why is he so eager to paint himself into a corner so early on the album? We're just 6 tracks in.

Thankfully, "head" is a song I could see going toe-to-toe quality-wise, thrill-wise, with some of the best moments on Veteran. Between all of its stuttering, and fragmented rhythms, and freaky blasts of digital digital noise. Then, "Degenerates Prayer" provides some of the most surprising sample work on the entire record, contrasting harsh, unnerving shots of Suicide's "Frankie Teardrop" with some drum breaks that were popularized by M.I.A., using them on the song "Bird Flu." This is one of the few tracks on the record I would actually say lives up quite nicely to the title EXPERIMENTAL RAP.

But by contrast, "The Ghost Of Emmett Till" is maybe my least favorite song on the record so far. Again, not only due to the complete lack of vision with these Bunny Sigler, samples were used in much the same way on "Numbers on the Boards" from Pusha T. But the call and response bits that are employed here make little sense on this beat, because at its core it pretty much feels like the exact kind of rap-metal fusion that I hoped Peggy wouldn't do on his last record, and yet it's here now. Just like these boring, aggressive one-note flows over these chugging riffs. It just feels so predictable and beneath him.

And of course, because on some level Peggy still feels like he has a score to settle, the following track is titled "Since I Met Ye," effectively doubling down on his decision to collaborate with him, during a point in his career where he was a hot potato, opening the record with "Since I met Ye, I'm dead to you dudes, that's why I wear jet black." And I hate to make this comparison, but the guy is trying to exude "I don't care" energy over a thing that happened 2 years ago, much in the same way Drake was on ICEMAN. Like, this is surely a bar that anybody who has actually disowned you over this whole thing 2 years ago is not going to hear because they're not listening to this album.

I mean, at least the production has some interesting moments between this sort of chopped and screwed glitch-hop fusion, a quality that very much carries over onto the track "Yen," which was my favorite single from this record. There's a heavy, lumbering noise-rap quality to this track that very much reminds me of, like, early midcity Clipping. Though I will say, once again, Peggy's speedy, monotone flows make it hard to kind of hang on to much of what he's saying, as there's not really much emphasis on any one bar or word or phrase or expression he's trying to get across. I mostly feel like I'm listening to an auctioneer go ham through a walkie-talkie.

The following, "GYBB" (or "Get Your Bitch Back"), there's definitely something to this one, but I would be lying if I didn't say the intro is kinda what dominates most of the attention here. 'Cause Peggy literally says this [Don't come to me with no goofy, ghetto shit / I'm racist], and God knows why. It's like edgy in the absolute worst way, because I can at least recall in the past, when he would sort of throw stuff out somewhat offensive like this, there would at least be a commendable target at the other end of it, but I can't really say that's the case for this one.

Deeper into the content of this track, of course, there's mentions of fucking other people's bitches, which is not a new angle or, you know, a new low for him or anything like that, really just something that kind of loses its sting after he's referenced doing so for the 7th or 8th time.

The only other major highlights around the midpoint of this record, in my opinion, are "Mask On," which is a groovy boom bap cut, which might just be the catchiest song on the entire album. The refrain that kicks this track off is awesome. It's a great 8 Ball & MJG sample, plus the heavenly synth arpeggios that make for the pre-chorus are just an amazing transition. And then also in the middle of this record, we have the track "Lights," which I mostly draw attention to for its My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy sample flip, because yeah, pretty much the beat in the whole chorus here is just "All of the lights," which once again, the way it is implemented here, lacks vision and adventure. It kind of sounds like a cheap remix that would be excusable for a mixtape, but maybe not so much for a whole brand new original work album. Again, another moment on the record where I'm kind of confused as to why Peggy would pull on this thread if he wasn't he himself going to knit anything together that's all that memorable with it. This really just makes me want to listen to the Ye song.

Then the final leg of the record, in my opinion, is kind of a mixed bag. We have "War Over" which I think is my favorite single from the record. A really anthemic moment with some gorgeous piano and guitar passages that lays a great foundation for Peggy to essentially dissect his confrontational nature in a really poetic way, backed up by this gospel-infused crescendo on the back end that is actually kind of mind-blowing. Really could have made for a perfect closer given a different tracklist arrangement.

With "Bridges on Fire," though, once again we are getting this tired, trippy triplet flow that betrays the mood and tone of the instrumental, especially with this beautiful and low-key buzzy Lee feature on the track. I just don't know why Peggy is going through the motions, essentially, uh, over this really just beautiful nuanced instrumental. Thankfully, he switches things up in the second half, but by that point it's kind of too little too late. Thankfully, "No Strippers in Heaven" and "Chat" do a better job of executing moments that just have more low-key energy.

But of course, this album isn't going to go out with at least one more "FU," which comes in the form of "First Amendment," a track that right now is mostly garnering attention for its opening bars about Charlie Kirk. And while I do see the humor in it, and I think Peggy did a great job of pairing these bars with a song of this title, I wish he went further to make a point beyond the shock value of what the start of this track brings, because the ending just kind of fizzles out and the whole thing just feels kind of hollow.

Then beyond that, the record closes out with this guitar outro that frankly I get zilch from. This is boring. This is pointless. This is going nowhere. This is like the biggest non-ending of any JPEGMAFIA album ever, which ultimately is leaving me feeling pretty meh on this record overall. Like, for sure there are enough highlights and interesting moments to leave me feeling like I will look forward to the next album, for sure, but I'm still left kind of bewildered because Peggy could have done so much better, and I'm just not really sure where that potential went. Did it go into the pullout? Did it go into the frustration that he had with his audience that was clearly driving some of the content of this album?

I mean, another comparison I hate to make, but as much as people early on I think identified with the in-your-face energy of his music, and like the energy that he held for figures like Morrissey, for example, it's weird now to see him kind of turn up in a similar place where he's like becoming the Morrissey of underground hip-hop — maybe not ideologically, but in the sense that he has this tendency to say things on a regular basis that get him in hot water with his fans. It just kinda feels like he wants to be somebody who is hated personally but worshiped artistically, and I'm just not sure, if that circle can be squared.

I dunno, maybe it can. All I hope is that along the way in that journey, the music gets more interesting. I'm feeling about a strong 6 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, JPEGMAFIA. Forever.