JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown Team up on Eclectic Album
Falcon Rating: 5/5
June 29, 2023
Both notorious for their absurd twists on hip hop music and aesthetics, rappers and songwriters Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA have joined forces for perhaps the most eclectic yet immediate collab album of the year. The beat-making style of JPEGMAFIA—or Peggy, as his fanbase affectionately calls him—has developed since his breakout record Veteran into a postmodern tapestry (or Frankenstein monster) of uncanny internet culture. Paired with an electric charisma on the mic, he could be considered a match made in heaven (or hell) for Danny’s infamously manic delivery, which feels more like the Joker on laughing gas.
After months of fan speculation, the duo dropped their lead singles “Lean Beef Patty” and “SCARING THE H**S” in quick succession, following a promotional run on Danny’s podcast. The two tracks overlap only in their undeniable thrill, featuring bombastic synths and freakish sax flourishes over booming drums. The final product would share this same head-spinning sonic range packed in its 36-minute runtime—held together with the same heart-pumping energy.
The duo trades erratic flows on “Steppa Pig,” “Garbage Pale Kids,” and “Fentanyl Tester,” smothered by instrumentals that find grooves in the strangest samples (children’s chants and the iPhone ringtone). Listeners who can acclimate to these grime-soaked soundscapes are rewarded with surprisingly lush soul and gospel chops (including a Michael Jackson sample?) on the likes of “Burfict!,” “Orange Juice Jones,” and “God Loves You”—and Peggy and Danny crashing into them like a tank through the Louvre. The result is a different sort of beauty, more sweaty adrenaline than soft brushstrokes. The record’s sole feature, rising teenage rapper/producer redveil, lends a youthful passion to the ascendant “Kingdom Hearts Key”—just in case the record needed any more energy.
The LP’s final leg is perhaps less manic than its introduction, but deep cuts like “Jack Harlow Combo Meal” and “HOE (Heaven on Earth)” have a slippery groove that sprinkles yet another spice onto the omnivorous collage of cuisines. The full listen will have anyone panting for breath, with just enough thrillseekers ready to jump back into the madhouse to sell merch and vinyls. Given that Danny’s, and especially Peggy’s, solo work often have several more strings attached, this in-your-face all-killer-no-filler approach feels like pure lightning in a bottle. It’s the riotous intensity of early hip-hop set in some sort of digital apocalypse.
But for a newcomer, the elephant in the room may be the album’s outrageous title, SCARING THE H**S. The name seems to be an ironic reference to the popular internet-heavy phrase that has been following the careers of the duo, a catch-all insult at any music considered strange enough to supposedly terrify a mainstream female audience. But upon deeper analysis, this rhetoric applied seriously reads more like gatekeeping with misogynist undertones. Although the use of the title by JPEGMAFIA and Danny is as much of a joke as the likes of “Jack Harlow Combo Meal,” labels like “alternative” or “experimental” or just “weird” shouldn’t read like warning signs. If this album frightens you a little, it’s probably intentional, but there’s nothing like a good scare every once in a while.
This article also appears in our April 2023 print edition.
