Released: 2016

Genres: Experimental Hip-Hop, Industrial Hip-Hop, Hardcore Hip-Hop, Glitch Hop

The Musiquarium’s Black Ben Carson Review Score: 7 out of 10

Compared to JPEGMAFIA’s Communist Slow Jams mixtape, Black Ben Carson feels like a more standard rap album, though it isn’t fully conventional either, thanks to the overall experimental production.

The album begins with Drake Era, where Peggy boasts over a sparse but menacing industrial beat. ALL CAPS NO SPACES is basically JPEGMAFIA’s theme song, addressing the correct spelling of his stage name. On Cuck, Peggy sounds like he’s doing an impression of Death Grips’ MC Ride, though it’s the next track, I Smell Crack, where Peggy ends the song claiming that “Death Grips can’t do that”.

In 1988, N.W.A dropped the highly controversial Fuck the Police, and 28 years later, JPEGMAFIA drops a slow jam called I Just Killed a Cop Now I’m Horny (how far we’ve come). On the The 27 Club, Peggy raps about the legendary phenomenon about musicians who have died at the age of 27, referencing Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain. This That Shit Kid Cudi Coulda Been targets the titular rapper/singer, with Peggy even impersonating his vocal style.

Black Ben Carson isn’t as good as Communist Slow Jams and is a fairly inconsistent album that doesn’t really have the best replay value when compared to many other rap albums from this year, but what it is, is another showcase of JPEGMAFIA’s sound and a stepping stone towards perfecting his already impressive craft.

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

Back to the 2016 Album Reviews Guide or the JPEGMAFIA Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard