Political Noise Rapper
The rapper and producer JPEGMAFIA, was raised in Brooklyn and in various spots across the South. He recently relocated to L.A. from Baltimore, where he had established himself as a force in the underground scene, fluent in hip-hop and noise music. Just as importantly, the former member of the Air Force is fluent in America’s melting and morphing political discourse, including its online underbelly, which has weaponized bad faith as it turns uglier and more shameless.
His most recent album, Veteran, was a critical and commercial breakthrough, filled with thrilling beats, gritty collage work, and verses filled with cutting animations of anonymous commenters and cable news talking heads. In his songs, Hendricks leaves room for slightly more ambiguity than he does in conversation. He often lapses into the syntax and attitude of the people he’s skewering, without reverting back to first-person to explain or moralize about the subject. There’s little hand-holding.
The ODB scream is the best sample I have ever heard in hip hop in his song “Real Nega”. Check it below.
