JPEGMafia | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks |
Also known as |
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Born | [2] [3] New York City, U.S. | October 22, 1989
Origin | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
Genres | |
Occupations |
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Discography | JPEGMafia discography |
Years active | 2007–present |
Labels | |
Website | jpegmafia |
Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks (born October 22, 1989), known professionally as JPEGMafia (stylized in all caps as JPEGMAFIA), is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in New York City and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, he signed with Republic Records to release his debut studio album, Black Ben Carson (2016). He then signed a joint venture deal with Deathbomb Arc to release his second album Veteran (2018), which received widespread critical acclaim. His third album, All My Heroes Are Cornballs (2019) was released independently and entered the Billboard 200, while he returned to Republic for the release of his fourth album LP! (2021); both were met with continued critical acclaim. In 2023, he released his collaborative studio album Scaring the Hoes with fellow alternative rapper Danny Brown.
Hendricks was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, to Jamaican parents. [5] [6] He spent the majority of his childhood in Flatbush [7] before moving to Alabama at age 13, where he experienced a significant amount of racism that later had an intense effect on his music. [8] Hendricks moved to Louisiana and enlisted in the United States Air Force at age 18. He served a tour of duty in Iraq and also spent time in Kuwait, Germany, Japan, and North Africa, [9] before being honorably discharged after speaking up against his superiors' reported abuse. [10] [4] [11] [12] Though he previously believed that he had earned a master's degree in journalism during his time in the military, [4] [13] [14] Hendricks has since clarified that he was never officially awarded a master’s degree for the coursework he completed while deployed. [15] In April 2021, Hendricks revealed through social media that he had "a sexually, verbally, and physically abusive childhood." [16]
Hendricks developed an interest in music production at the age of 15, and he began producing after he learned how to sample. [17] Describing his production, Hendricks says "When I was first making beats, no one liked the beats. To this day I give people beats and they're just confused." He says "I started rapping because no one liked my beats." Noting that he started producing before he started rapping, Hendricks said "I'm a producer first kind of, and then a rapper second but I take both of them seriously." [18]
During his military stay in Japan, he was producing and writing music under the name Devon Hendryx, with albums released under the name including Generation Y, Dreamcast Summer Songs, and The Ghost~Pop Tape. [17] In 2015, he moved to Baltimore, where he began to make music under his moniker JPEGMafia, [19] under which he released his mixtape Communist Slow Jams in April 2015. Only a month later, he released his mixtape Darkskin Manson which was inspired by the Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore that were happening right as he had moved there. [6] Following a number of mixtapes, Hendricks released his debut studio album, Black Ben Carson , in February 2016 via Deathbomb Arc featuring a much harsher and more distorted sound than his other projects. [20] Four months later, he released a collaborative EP with fellow Baltimore-based rapper Freaky titled The 2nd Amendment. [21] After less than 3 years living there, Hendricks moved from Baltimore to Los Angeles for his next studio album. [22] In January 2018, he released his second studio album Veteran. [23] [24] In an article on Bandcamp, [25] he said "I wanted to show I'm not just a one-trick pony. I always do weird shit. I usually just keep it to myself. This time, I just let the filter go." At the time of its release, Veteran was considered JPEGMAFIA's most experimental album to date, receiving widespread critical acclaim. [4] [26] [27] [28]
After the release of Veteran, Hendricks started working on his next album. He recorded 93 songs, and whittled it down to 18 tracks. [29] He mixed and mastered it at the end of Vince Staples' tour, [30] [31] posting percentage updates frequently on his Instagram. [32] Prior to the release, he would label the project as a "disappointment" in interviews and his social media. The first single from the album, "Jesus Forgive Me, I Am a Thot", was released on August 13, 2019. [33] He promoted the album by uploading a series of listening sessions to his YouTube channel where friends and artists such as Denzel Curry, Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco) and Hannibal Buress discussed and reacted to cuts off of the album. All My Heroes Are Cornballs was released on September 13, 2019, to further critical acclaim, [34] [35] and was his first album to chart. In October 2019, he embarked on the JPEGMafia Type Tour to support his new album. [36] [37]
In 2020, Hendricks released several singles across the span of the year, and compiled them into an EP, aptly titled EP! It was released on Hendricks' Bandcamp page on November 6, [38] and on streaming services with the addition of one extra single on December 10. [39] On February 12, 2021, Hendricks released his second extended play, EP2! On October 2, Hendricks announced the album LP! , which was released on October 22, 2021, his birthday, to further acclaim. [40] Due to sample-related issues, the album was released as two separate versions: LP! released on streaming services, and LP! (Offline) released for free on Bandcamp, YouTube, and Soundcloud. On February 24, 2022, Hendricks announced via Twitter that the songs not on the "Online" version had been released to streaming services as the OFFLINE! EP. On May 23, 2023, Hendricks released the complete "offline" version of the album to streaming platforms. [41] [42] On November, 9, 2022, Hendricks was dropping hints to dropping three albums for 2023. [43] [44]
On January 15, 2023, Hendricks made a hint on his social media that he was working on a collaborative project with fellow rapper, Danny Brown. [45] On January 20, 2023, Hendricks officially announced three albums will be dropping the same year. [46] On February 10, 2023, Hendricks announced on his Twitter that the collaborative project with Danny Brown was finished, [47] and is working on his second album for the year. [48] On February 28, 2023, on The Danny Brown Show, both Hendricks and Brown announced that their collaborative project is named Scaring the Hoes Vol. 1, and played a sneak peek of the first single on the project. On March 13, 2023, the first single of the project called "Lean Beef Patty" was released to streaming services, [49] and Hendricks announced that the collaborative project was set to release on March 24, 2023. [50] The second single "SCARING THE HOES" was released to streaming services along with a music video. [51] [52] Three days later, the album was released. [53] On July 11, an extended version of the album, titled Scaring the Hoes: DLC Pack, which included four more tracks, was released on streaming services. [54]
He co-wrote and produced the tracks "Stars", "Fuk Sumn", "Beg Forgiveness" and "King" from ¥$ (Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign) album Vultures 1 , released on 10 February 2024.
His music has mostly been described as experimental hip-hop [2] [55] but has been said to incorporate a wide range of genres into his music such as trap, R&B, vaporwave, and noise rap. [56]
In an interview with Cambridge Union, Hendricks noted that his biggest influence is Kanye West. [57] He states that one of his earliest influences was the rock group Hanson. [57] [58] He has also cited Ol' Dirty Bastard, Throbbing Gristle, Skinny Puppy, MF DOOM, Lil B, SpaceGhostPurrp, Danny Brown, Chief Keef, Ice Cube, Rick Rubin, Cam'Ron, Björk, Janelle Monáe, Radiohead, The Backstreet Boys, Dirty Beaches and Arca as influences. [59] [60] [61] [62] [63] [64]
In March 2020, Hendricks started a vlog series on his YouTube channel called HTBAR (How To Build A Relationship). [65] The series features JPEGMafia talking to other artists and friends about various topics, mostly about music, life and politics. Each episode's soundtrack consist of unreleased songs, demos and instrumentals produced by JPEGMafia. [66] Artists that have featured on the vlog series include Danny Brown, Kenny Beats, Lykke Li, Orville Peck, Saba and more. [67] Hendricks has also appeared on The Cave, a YouTube series created by hip hop producer Kenny Beats. [68]
Hendricks is a fan of professional wrestling, and has incorporated several references to it in his songs. [69] He made an appearance for wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on an episode of their television show AEW Dynamite in September 2020. [70] In 2021, AEW star Darby Allin was featured on Hendricks' thirteenth HTBAR episode.
Hendricks appeared on the 7th episode of season 5 of The Eric Andre Show , "Named After My Dad's Penis", and competed in the third Rapper Warrior Ninja sketch - a parody of the TV show Sasuke (which aired in the United States of America under the title Ninja Warrior) and its American spin-off American Ninja Warrior . Hendricks competed along with Lil Yachty, Murs, Trippie Redd, and Zack Fox in a challenge to cross a platform while freestyling and dodging various attacks. Hendricks fell off the platform while freestyling and failed. [71]
Hendricks currently lives in Los Angeles, California. [4]
Studio albums
Collaborative albums
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Veteran is the second studio album by American rapper JPEGMafia. It was released on 19 January 2018 by Deathbomb Arc and Republic Records. A music video for "Baby I'm Bleeding" was released on 1 December 2017. A second video was released on 18 May 2018 for "Real Nega". On 12 September 2018, a video for "1539 N. Calvert" was released. The album was released to widespread critical acclaim and was featured in numerous year-end lists; in 2019, Pitchfork listed it at number 171 in their list of best albums of the decade.
U Know What I'm Sayin? is the fifth studio album by American rapper Danny Brown. It was released on October 4, 2019, by Warp Records. The album features guest appearances from Run the Jewels, Obongjayar, JPEGMafia and Blood Orange. Executive produced by Q-Tip, with contributions by Paul White, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Standing on the Corner and JPEGMafia, the album received widespread critical acclaim, appearing on several publications' year-end lists.
All My Heroes Are Cornballs is the third studio album by American rapper JPEGMafia, released on September 13, 2019 by EQT Recordings. After the release of his record Veteran (2018), he began recording tracks for its follow-up, with a total of around 93 songs by 2019. He handled the production, mixing and mastering in his home studio. The album features guest appearances from Abdu Ali, Helena Deland and Buzzy Lee, as well as additional vocals by Refined Sugar, Vegyn and Young Emoji. Vegyn also serves as a co-producer on one track.
The discography of American rapper and producer JPEGMafia consists of nine studio albums, seven extended plays, three mixtapes, three video albums and 29 singles.
Scaring the Hoes is a collaborative studio album by American rappers JPEGMafia and Danny Brown. It was released on March 24, 2023, through AWAL and Bandcamp as a pay what you want download. The release featured sole production by JPEGMafia and included a sole guest appearance by independent Maryland rapper Redveil. The album had been teased for a year leading up to the release of its first single "Lean Beef Patty" on March 13, with the album's official title being announced the same day. On March 21, the title track from the album was released as a single. On July 11, an EP expansion to the album, titled Scaring the Hoes: DLC Pack, was released.
"Black Enuff" is a song by American rapper Redveil featuring fellow American rapper JPEGMafia. It was released as a single for Redveil's first extended play Playing w/ Fire on April 5, 2023. The song was solely produced by Redveil. The song received positive reception from critics who praised the duo's chemistry.
"Lean Beef Patty" is a song by American rappers JPEGMafia and Danny Brown. It was released as the lead single from the duo's 2023 collaborative album Scaring the Hoes on March 13, 2023. The song features sole production from JPEGMafia and was released alongside a music video.
"Tantor" is a song by American rapper Danny Brown, released as the lead single from his sixth studio album, Quaranta. The song was released on October 17, 2023, through Warp Records. The song was produced by the Alchemist and composed with him alongside Brown, Baird Acheson, Gabriel Acheson, and Ryan Raines. "Tantor" was released alongside a music video.
JPEGMafia, also known as Peggy, is perhaps one of the most unique voices in the experimental hip-hop scene.