Posted by JPEGMAFIA has never stood in one place.
The rapper’s early work across that seismic stream of mixtapes found him bouncing between different styles, switching up his approach several times in the same track. Whether he’s called Devon Hendryx or ‘Darkskin Manson’ or plain ol’ Peggy, 2019’s ‘All My Heroes Are Cornballs’ found the rapper impacting his punk-like rap template on the broader consciousness.
A breakout moment of sorts, the album was followed by last year’s ‘EP1!’, and now the appropriately titled ‘EP2!’. A seven-track strong flow of moments, ideas, and sketches, ‘EP2!’ switches between feeling raw and simply undeveloped, the billowing range of ideas capturing the anxious mind-state in the same manner as Little Simz’ lockdown EP last year.
‘LAST DANCE!’ is a rugged opener, its swagger leading into the rather more sombre, vocal effects laden ‘FIX URSELF!’.
‘KELTEC!’ revels in the switching of masks, JPEGMAFIA toying with elements of identity while never fully emerging from the shadows; ‘THIS ONES FOR US!’ meanwhile gets straight to the point, one of the project’s more directly visceral statements.
Ending with ‘PANIC ROOM!’ paranoia and the twirling synthetic pipes of ‘FEED HER!’ it’s an EP that never allows itself to be pinned down. ‘EP2!’ feels like a transitional work, the result of an artist firing out creative shots and seeing where they land. Taken as a pair, these dual EPs represent someone who wants to clear the decks – where JPEGMAFIA goes next is entirely down to him.
7/10
Words: Robin Murray
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