вЂњWhy would I pray for your health?/Baby, I pray for myself,вЂќ he screams on вЂњREBOUND!вЂќ вЂњTIRED, NERVOUS, & BROKE!вЂќ in particular, spews at various targets, including someone вЂњbuying a ticket to get beat up at my show.вЂќ For all the energy behind his vocals, thereвЂ™s a dead-eyed focus to the sneak disses peppered throughout LP!. His aggro tendencies have always been at the forefront of his art, but thereвЂ™s more venom this time, more kiss-offs, threats, and vague stories to fuel his glitchy fire. LP! has enough laughs and smirks to scan as an overall fun time, but the lyrics further plumb the depths of JPEGвЂ™s contempt for people whoвЂ™ve crossed him. One moment heвЂ™s shouting out Bad Bunny and the late MF DOOM, and the next heвЂ™s interpolating Britney SpearsвЂ™ вЂњ.Baby One More Time.вЂќ This fusion of past and present is playful without feeling contrived, the beatsвЂ™ minimal nature never diluting the raw mashups on display. And then thereвЂ™s вЂњOG!,вЂќ which takes a sampled beatbox and rapping session and adds drums that blast like mortar shots. A three-song run near the middle of the album typifies these strengths: The ghostly wails and funky bass behind JPEGвЂ™s thundering voice on вЂњREBOUND!вЂќ are immediately followed by вЂњрџ’Ї,вЂќ a sea of synths flowing around a warped vocal sample.

JPEGвЂ™s sense of humor is clearly intact, and his myriad influences continue to pull his work in strange directions. Even the projectвЂ™s title-the most basic descriptor imaginable with an exclamation point at the end-feels like a middle finger or at least a metatextual rib poke. LP! supercharges the ire and catharsis of this moment in his career, playing up the contrast between JPEGвЂ™s abrasive cheekiness and his warmest batch of beats to date.ДЇor starters, LP! has been released in two forms: the вЂњOnlineвЂќ version-uploaded to streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, etc.-and the вЂњOfflineвЂќ version available on YouTube and Bandcamp, which boasts a handful of extra songs, extended versions of existing ones, and a slightly tweaked tracklist. This rise has also eroded what little patience he had for the rap industry machine, and on his latest project, LP!, his final under EQT and Republic, heвЂ™s practically bursting a vein at the idea of freedom: вЂњMy time in the music industry is over because I refuse to be disrespected by people who arenвЂ™t respectably in the first place,вЂќ he said in a note on the albumвЂ™s Bandcamp page. JPEGвЂ™s notoriety has increased exponentially since the late 2010s, netting him guest spots on tours with Vince Staples and his first entry on the Billboard 200 with Cornballs. His rage is palpable while being offset by a deep passion for craft and left-field pop culture reference. His two breakout records-2018вЂ™s independent Veteran and his 2019 major-label debut All My Heroes Are Cornballs-mine from different ends of the noise-rap spectrum, but JPEGвЂ™s humor and world-weary thoughts on racism and music industry bullshit are the adapters through which heвЂ™s able to process any musical energy. Every project, from 2015вЂ™s Communist Slow Jams onward, sways from hazy synths to bludgeoning boom-bap to earnest covers of pre-Y2K ballads on a dime, mixing and matching the styles as fresh perspectives on a well-established formula. His music-a blend of rap, noise, and punk filtered through the cultural vacuum of the internet-has always existed in the space between brash and sly, hollowing out the center of that Venn diagram with a jagged shovel. The chip on JPEGMAFIAвЂ™s shoulder has only grown bigger with time.

Heroes of the storm offline