I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU

by

JPEGMAFIA

Not to overthink it, but there's a real advancement and evolution of production techniques happening here that are straight-up fascinating when compared to JPEGMAFIA's earlier output. This sounds hard in a different way, toning down a little bit of the wilder production found on, say, Scaring the Hoes, in favor of something that takes on more of a heavy-metal-like style, complete with some absolutely killer guitar parts. Or are they "guitar parts?" It doesn't matter. Either way it'd be fun to see JPEGMAFIA team up and tour with a full band for some of this stuff.

Sonically, the way Peggy's vocals play around with quiet/loud and calm/yell-type stuff fits really well with this current batch of material. Lyrically, I think he continues to have a unique style that can handle playful as well as deathly serious. That said, I think some of his flows are started to feel a little standard, if not slightly overused in spots. That's fine, in a way--so much of the record feels like a step forward from his previous work that having Peggy's lyrical stylings in the middle of it all actually helps ground it.

This record is exciting from start to finish. While I don't think I'd pick out every single track for a shuffled playlist, in the context of the full album listen I think every single track works. If I'm picking, I guess I'd say that Exmilitary is my current favorite, but ask me next week and my answer may change.