All My Heroes Are Cornballs – JPEGMAFIA: Album REVIEW

The following post contains two reviews: one written by yours truly, and one by my wonderful friend Rem, whom my admiration for goes all the way back to the days of the app Cymbal. Both devoted fans of Peggy, we decided to share some of our thoughts on his latest record. So here they are, from us to you. ❤

Peggy, Peggy, Peggy… how else do I start off a review about the breakthrough Baltimore rapper/producer JPEGMAFIA without saying that he was my favorite artist of 2018, and continues to be one of the most unique and innovative figures in hip hop today? Last year’s release, Veteran, grabbed my attention like nothing else — on top of it being an incredible experimental rap album with a wealth of industrial sounds, creative samples, and hard-hitting beats, it featured Peggy’s unfiltered, slap-in-the-face bars packed onto every song, showcasing endless aspects of his blunt and unabashed personality. Without hesitation, he commented on things like gentrification, liberal arts degrees, his hatred towards Morrisey and music critics (honestly? I’ll take it), and much more. On this release, it was proven that the man can’t be suppressed, can’t be put in a box, and can’t be anything other than himself, whether the general public takes a liking towards it or not.

My expectations were hard to pin down for this new record, All My Heroes Are Cornballs, especially due to the fact that Peggy would constantly tweet about what “disappointment” was coming, along with all the videos of artists listening to the track list and ironically confirming this sentiment. All I could really draw from this information was that Cornballs would be something nobody was expecting, and was most assuredly not just another Veteran.

For the most part, these thoughts rang true. A large difference between this and Veteran, I think, is that there is a lot less to immediately latch onto. Something that made JPEG so fascinating on the last album was his ability to take such strange and intriguing noises and create something that still resembled a mainstream sound — a truly visionary approach. However, on his latest, things take a turn for tracks that are even more rough around the edges and loose in structure, and an indifference to cohesion that is more readily apparent.

In terms of overall mood, Cornballs sounds more mellow and ethereal. Elaborate production is still present, but things are noticeably less abrasive and in-your-face on majority of the songs. Regarding techniques, we see Peggy singing a lot more this time around, his voice adding a harmonious layer to several tracks. There is also heavy utilization of glitchy, digital sound effects that truly immerse you in some kind of deep-web-universe in which the artist has created. With so much going on, this project admittedly took a bit of wading through the confusing sounds for me to form a concrete opinion, but with a good amount of listens, it eventually started to click. Save for a few volatile cuts like “JPEGMAFIA TYPE BEAT” and “PRONE!”, the sounds presented are much more like that of a charming essence — something airy and dreamlike — rather than explicitly abrasive and bombastic.

As far as commentary goes, we have yet to see a shortage of Peggy’s two cents on all the bullshit this world has to offer. However, he goes beyond these themes of his last record and dives further into his own personal story, lifestyle, and past trauma. He goes from mocking Internet trolls vying for attention on “Beta Male Strategies,” to experiencing PTSD from his time spent in the military years ago, to reflecting on his quick rise to fame on “Post Verified Lifestyle,” to releasing himself of any attachment to the media and critics on “Free the Frail.” While having touched upon topics like these before in the past, the urgency in his words this time around make it clear the amount of intimacy and catharsis that demands to be heard.

Whether it be calling you out on your shit or reflecting on his own experiences, Peggy executes it all with grace and authenticity. As he continues to grow as an artist, he has yet to compromise his sound, but rather shows us new and different sides to him, both sonically and emotionally. I’m honored to be able to hear it all, and surely believe that his outpouring of artistic audacity won’t be going away anytime soon.

8.5/10

Favorite Tracks: Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot, Grimy Waifu, Rap Grow Old & Die x No Child Left Behind, All My Heroes Are Cornballs, Free The Frail, DOTS FREESTYLE REMIX

Least Favorite Track: Life’s Hard, Here’s A Song About Sorrel

Photo by Alec Marchant

Artist: JPEGMAFIA

Album: All My Heroes Are Cornballs

Release Date: September 13, 2019

For Fans of: Earl Sweatshirt, BROCKHAMPTON, Injury Reserve, Danny Brown

Score: 10/10

Returning to the scene after his 2018 standout project Veteran, Barrington Hendricks, under his JPEGMAFIA pseudonym, reimagines his sound on the album All My Heroes Are Cornballs.

Where tracks like Real Nega or Germs on 2018’s Veteran revolved more around an abrasive and at times experimentally abstract hip hop sound, Cornballs reels itself back in places, pinning itself more as a rap/RnB record.

Executively produced entirely by JPEGMAFIA – save for one track (Rap Grow Old & Die x No Child Left Behind) that has a credit by UK producer Vegyn – the album ranges from points of dreamy glitch RnB to voracious punk experimental hip hop to ambient sound collage noise balladry. This range surprisingly only accounts for three songs – BBW > PRONE! > Lifes Hard, Here’s A Song About Sorrel – and while other songs take on similar motifs – BBW is like BasicBitchTearGas while PRONE! Is like JPEGMAFIA TYPE BEAT – these tracks have a surprising amount of audible variety.

It’s a pure showcase of talent that one person could produce this entire record while also being the main singer/MC on the record, and while production is a key strength of this record this is not to discount the lyrical quality over this record.

This album was recorded in just over a year – the year following Veteran – but the literal content on this record is anything but rushed; rather spurred. Songs like Rap Grow Old & Die or Post Verified Lifestyle consist of verses that are incredibly poignant for a person who has gained a well amount of his fame in this last year. Hendricks – following a tour with Vince Staples and being booked for Coachella – has handled his sudden fame effortlessly in comparison to his contemporaries – such as Lil Nas X or Post Malone. He has returned with an album that possibly may be his best release yet, and this rarely happens after an artist gains relevancy.

In preparation to this record, Hendricks’ advertising campaign was sparse except for posts on his YouTube and Twitter about how his fans would be literally “disappointed”. This went as far as having a YouTube video showcasing people like UK producer James Blake or Floridian rapper Denzel Curry in Hendricks’ studio listening to the record with the title of the video saying “_______ IS DISSAPOINTED”. I believe this to be a very interesting and certainly impactful campaign to place in this current age. It circumvents the plague of hype that runs through the veins of nearly all modern releases. This allows the fans to have more of an unbiased opinion on this record and it doesn’t polarize the listener into thinking this is the best work the artist has made; a usual trope in a social media overran industry.

JPEGMAFIA is an internet rapper, his career was ignited by the wave of positive criticism that followed Veteran. The amount of beat switches on this record is like you’re flipping through the channels of the internet, the samples and covers he uses on here are almost ironic in their nature, the glitches and edits are so sporadic it’s like how much work Hendricks wants to put into these songs lags ahead of the actual songs. From lovely 90s soul covers to production that sounds like it’s from a distorted vaporwave dystopia, this record continuously teeters on the line of sounding both nostalgic and futuristic.

I am beyond impressed, this is a record by an up-and-coming artist who doubles down on their strengths and reroutes his values rather than silencing or stifling them. Though recorded in a small time its denseness feels like an overly analyzed, meticulously crafted and obsessively tweaked opus by an extremely mature and aware artist. From the deep lyrical metaphors to the album’s incredibly dense production, this is an album whose replay value is as impressive as its ability to balance mind-boggling experimentation with catchy and harmonious modernization.