Released: 2018

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

The Musiquarium’s Veteran Review Score: 10 out of 10

Where JPEGMAFIA’s debut album, Black Ben Carson, was a decent, if not somewhat unoriginal debut, Veteran feels very much like it could have only come from the mind of JPEGMAFIA.

The opening track, 1539 N. Calvert, has some of Peggy’s best beats yet, laying the foundation for his recently-upgraded production style. A propulsive, almost-tribal like vocal chant drives the chaotic Real Nega. Baby I’m Bleeding is reminiscent of the chopped-up vocal sampling of a project like Death Grips’ Niggas on the Moon. The experimental production on Rock n Roll Is Dead sounds like the type of deranged tape experiments that Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention would have done on late 1960s albums like, We’re Only in It for the Money and Uncle Meat.

😱 and Macaulay Culkin are both moody, R&B-laced pieces with sublime production. Whole Foods (along with a squeaking sound that sounds like shopping cart wheels) and Williamsburg both deal with the gentrification observed in his native Brooklyn neighbourhood. The bluntly-titled I Cannot Fucking Wait Until Morrissey Dies is so good that even Morrissey might struggle not to enjoy it. The Tom Clancy-referencing Rainbow Six and the closer Curb Stomp are both hardcore, dark and dystopian.

There’s a handful of interlude songs (Dayum, Libtard Anthem, DJ Snitch Bitch Interlude, Germs) that don’t really work outside of the context of the album, but as part of the complete album, it’s reminiscent of the aforementioned Zappa material from the sixties, making for a dynamic and truly experimental listen from front to back.

Veteran is JPEGMAFIA’s most realized and idiosyncratic work as of its release (plus there’s plenty of incredible non-album singles from this era) and has him sounding as savage and hungry as ever — a sign of more greatness to come from one of rap’s most interesting (and sure to be polarizing) figures since Kanye West.

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

Back to the 2018 Album Reviews Guide or the JPEGMAFIA Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard