Audiopile Review: Few artists better represent the current state of the ever-expanding experimental hip-hop subgenre than JPEGMAFIA. His 2018 breakthrough Veteran is already a modern classic, and his recent internet-rap dream collaboration with Danny Brown, Scaring the Hoes, was an immediate success. And then there’s his notable production credits, which crested last year with his explosive work on Armand Hammer’s We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, an underground sensation. But his best work might be found right here on this 2021 album, simply titled LP!, which was initially offered only via his website, eventually going for notable sums on you-know-where. Thankfully he’s decided to reissue this alongside a few other gems from his back catalog. Unexpected detours are everywhere: disorienting glitch hop, old-school sample flips, chopped-up gospel & soul, borderline rap rock, and slick R&B, all coming together within Peggy’s signature sound-collage and lo-fi production aesthetic. No one else is making beats like this, let alone rapping over them. Further proving himself as one of the most versatile artists in the game, Peggy’s delivery finds an angle to rip through whatever sonic trial he has constructed—dropping flex-heavy bars, taking down his contemporaries and the music industry at large, while slipping in nuggets of incendiary sociopolitical commentary. Despite its chaotic nature, LP! is actually fairly accessible, featuring some of Peggy’s most memorable hooks and palatable beats. For anyone remotely paying attention to underground hip-hop, JPEGMAFIA is likely a familiar name at this point, but for those yet to take the plunge, LP! is the best place to start.

JPEGMAFIA’s final album with EQT Recordings is simultaneously shinier and more ferocious than ever before. LP! is loaded with samples of soul, funk, and dialogue clips stretched into dreamy pastiches that contrast the overdriven bass rushes and Peggy’s raging flows. ‘TRUST!’ kicks off with glitzy synths and the hint of a breakbeat, then the mood immediately flips with ‘DIRTY!’ as clattering percussion is wrapped into a vicious beat. As eclectic as ever, Peggy provides a kaleidoscopic selection of tracks: ‘END CREDITS!’ features a hyped up punkish verse over epic metal shreds, and shimmering harp plucks offset heavy boom bap beats on ‘WHAT KINDA RAPPIN’ IS THIS?’.