A Tale of Two Kanyes

It’s been 5 years since I reviewed All My Heroes Are Cornballs for Tiny Mix Tapes, comparing him to Umberto Eco and Chris Crack in the same breath. That occurred in the context of JPEG’s ascent, a relatively open slate of creative possibility, fresh off a blinding breakout in Veteran. The Death Grips comparison was obvious if contrite, but here was another rapper oozing a punk ethos, not in mere metaphor, but aspirationally, referencing Darby Crash and GG Allin with an unconcealed reverence. JPEG was deadset on becoming a rockstar, unconcerned with perception and forging his path alongside a reverent fanbase.

Half a decade later, he hasn’t really budged from this framework. Despite working on the slight fringe of the rap world, JPEG draws edgelords like moth to a flame, as his oppositionally defiant personality endears and annoys listeners equally well. He is also one of the most boundary-pushing producers working, no style too weird or abrasive to mix into his work, with I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU heavily drawing from rap-rock collabs like Public Enemy/Anthrax and Run-DMC/Aerosmith, updated for our online world.

It’s this production that made last year’s SCARING THE HOES so compelling—provided JPEG wasn’t doing the majority of the rapping. While he can be enjoyable to listen to on that record and this one, Danny Brown’s lighthearted goofiness is a perfect foil, contrasting the aggression JPEG is known for well. ILDMLFY suffers from the rapping version of “sameface”, JPEG locking into his aggro persona amidst a guitar riff beat and coming across as a one-trick pony.

On the aforementioned All My Heroes Are Cornballs, JPEG showcases far more sonic variety, with the bouncy crooner “Thot Tactics”, the anthemic “Rap Grow Old & Die x No Child Left Behind”, and of course, the singular feat that is “Jesus Forgive Me, I’m A Thot”. His palette feels so far removed from this era, it’s hard to imagine him making something like “Jesus Forgive Me”. There’s no option to turn down the dial, it’s a constant in-your-face mentality that mirrors the fans he so gleefully shits on.

At least he is not in as dire straits as his idol. The release of VULTURES 2 has been mired by the ignominious Milo Yiannopoulos’ allegations that Kanye is being force-fed nitrous oxide by his dentist, Thomas Connelly. While Yiannopoulos is far from the most trustworthy source, the sworn affidavit and parallels with Kanye’s current behavior make these claims believable and mad depressing.

It also explains the terrible state of VULTURES 2, an album that is markedly his worst, unfinished to the point where his compiled loosies by fans—i.e. Yandhi and Good Ass Job, among others, would’ve been much less embarrassing to pass off as his own releases. There are one or two tracks at most that are major-label album standard, much less up to Kanye’s discography standard. It's more evidence that Kanye is washed, further consecrating how bleak it is to follow his exploits in 2024.

Despite it all, I still love Kanye, the only human being alive. But his is an evidence of the trappings of black male celebrity, so uniquely psychically scarring to one man desperate to be loved that it serves as an acute warning sign to another, newer version of him. JPEG brands himself as defiant and uncontainable, but sooner or later, that path becomes a dead end, either by his own personal weight or by the pressures exuded onto him from outside forces.

I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU is not a bad album but it is an album stuck in doldrums, and on some level, I think JPEG knows it. But, he’s also self-aware enough to attempt to not end up like his hero, even if he’s never that omnipresent culturally. Umberto Eco did say "Social networks gives right of speech to legions of idiots”, but it remains to be seen if JPEGMafia will stop giving into the noise.