The Musiquarium

Genres: Hardcore Hip-Hop, Experimental Hip-Hop, Industrial Hip-Hop, Rap Metal

The Musiquarium’s EXPERIMENTAL RAP Review Score: 8 out of 10

Named after JPEGMAFIA’s self-proclaimed claim to the experimental rap throne, EXPERIMENTAL RAP takes the rap metal of I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU and adds in some new sounds, like gospel and dubstep.

Lead single babygirl uses a sample in a similar way to Run the Jewel’s Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck), but cranks up the overall heaviness. Burning Hammer, TSAR BOMBA and The Ghost of Emmett Till are some of the heaviest songs on the album, with the former being one of the album’s most experimental tracks and the latter containing a drum sample from the 1967 Jimi Hendrix Experience song, Little Miss Lover.

Mask On is a banger, with a section that sounds like you’re inside of a wind tunnel. No Strippers in Heaven and Bridges on Fire are soulful R&B slow jams, the latter of which features previous collaborator, Buzzy Lee (Steven Spielberg’s daughter — yes, that Steven Spielberg). Meet the Dealers, $ (Money), head and The First Amendment all incorporate dubstep and even though it’s not my preferred EDM subgenre, it’s a minor enough influence on the overall album and is mostly well-executed where it is used. The twisted instrumental of head sounds like Death Grips circa Niggas on the Moon.

The 1st amendment shows Peggy flexing his freedom of speech over some dubstep, with lyrics alluding to Charlie Kirk’s assassination, but then again, when did rappers ever care about being politically correct? Regardless, it might just be the nadir of EXPERIMENTAL RAP, and is definitely a skip. You will always lose money chasing women, but you will never lose women chasing money is a peaceful guitar outro.

This album’s aesthetic seems quite influenced by Ye, particularly his VULTURES era (JPEGMAFIA even had four production credits on VULTURES 1) and there’s even a song called Since I Met Ye, two singles, ¥ (Yen) and $ (Money) (¥$ was the name that Ye and Ty Dolla $ign used for their collaboration) and Lights, which interpolates Kanye’s 2010 hit, All of the Lights. There’s also Ye-like gospel interludes His Will and One Day It Will Be Over, as well as the theatrical War Over Land, Degenerate’s Prayer and Pop this Heat, which all implement gospel choirs into their compositions. Also like VULTURES 1 and 2, EXPERIMENTAL RAP is getting hated-on by most of the internet.

My biggest criticism with EXPERIMENTAL RAP (other than perhaps the use of dubstep and the Ye fetishization) is to do with the rapping itself. JPEGMAFIA is more renown as a producer than a rapper, but he has shown impressive vocal range and ability over the years, even dating back to the Devon Hendryx days, but here, he barely sings and all his rap flows feel like repeated triplets, with little to no variation, just speed. It’s not bad, but it’s not something I ever noticed on his previous albums. Seriously, go and listen and you’ll see just how repetitive it really is.

EXPERIMENTAL RAP is a grand album that lives up to its name, only hindered by the high benchmarks set by JPEGMAFIA’s previous works and a relatively weak rap game, but make no mistake, this is still a fantastic album with Peggy’s usual magic touch.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view JPEGMAFIA on Discogs.

Back to the master 2026 Album Reviews Guide or the JPEGMAFIA Album Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard