The exact moment NBA player Dillon Brooks lost his command of heaven: Brooks, after beating LeBron James' bear in the 2023 playoffs, failed to live up to his slander while his aggressive style of play fell into floor, Brooks uncharacteristically hit free agency as the Memphis Grizzlies leaked that he would not re-sign “under no circumstances.” Brooks' story features as an omen on “I Scream It In The Mirror Before I Interact With Anyone”, the opening track from JPEGMAFIA's fifth studio album, I'M GIVING UP MY LIFE FOR YOU. In the opening lines, the 34-year-old Baltimore rapper—whose iconoclastic presence is forged in a clashing blend of noise, rap and punk—likens himself to a worse version of Brooks as cymbals titillate in the background. It's an introduction to JPEG's scathing humor laced with a dash of random wisdom: You can play the role of tireless provocateur as long as you keep performing.
On I'M GIVING UP MY LIFE FOR YOU, JPEG is cementing itself in the role of agitator. The continuation of his partnership with Danny Brown in 2023 Scaring the hoes it's covered in frantic energy, as if JPEG can't decide where to aim first. At times, his highly online subject matter takes the flourish out of his writing. But his innate ability to shift between dizzying flows amid chaotic production marks the album.
In a 2023 interview, JPEG said he aspires to create music that “tears you apart”. On I'M GIVING UP MY LIFE FOR YOU, it feels like it's tearing in 30 directions at once, incorporating a dizzying mix of genres seemingly at random. The imperfect marriage of a future 2014 sample and an insistent hum sound on “New Black History” registers as grating rather than electric. His “vulgar show of force” growls and roars are eroded by a blistering rock backdrop. Elsewhere his charming, staccato raps are perfectly matched by the entropy of the production: on “it's dark and hell is hot”, a 170bpm Brazilian funk production assisted by DJ RaMeMes, or over a static Jade sample on “I' ll Be Right There.” As in its 2018 release VeteranJPEG's ability to walk the line between distortion and incongruity allows the industrial chaos to feel somewhat familiar—as if the only thing more jarring is the unified sound direction.
No matter the subject, JPEG's raps never shy away from confrontation (he described Drake's discussions of “New Black History” and “it's dark and hell's hot” as “flying bars”). On I GIVE UP MY LIFE FOR YOU, he continues to shoot with an air of superiority: “Fake-plug-talkin rapper Tubi/They've got a machine behind them, and yet they can't fill their rapping capacity,” spits “SIN MIEDO.” There's room to target white people doing black and shit with their own skeletons in the closet, all to go along with a fun Denzel Curry appearance. His pop culture references are simple and powerful: Calling himself “Black Michael Phelps” is objectively funny. Constant airing of complaints is fun, but eventually it can feel like the JPEG trolls are reaching a critical mass. There is an uncanny carelessness in using “African booty” as an insult, while also claiming it scares people “who have no black friends.” He'll go and liken himself to the IDF on the five-minute project 'Exmilitary', then name the next track 'JIHAD JOE', not bothering to adjust for the contradictions between his personality and his political commentary .
