America’s Favorite Patriot, JPEGMafia, Live at The Fillmore
August 14, 2024Watching one go from serving in the Air Force to noise rapper is uncanny. JPEGMafia – AKA Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks – was honorably discharged from the military after speaking up about his superiors’ gross misconduct, and the rest is history.
His sound is a blend of homage to fellow Black creators and endless pop culture references – specifically the meme-laden internet with a Nintendo core sound. Rap is a conversation – a commentary on the times – and JPEGMafia is truly contemporary with what he chooses to address in his work. He is not one to let sleeping dogs lie, shedding light on issues such as race, politics and dissing with wild contempt for rappers such as Drake.
The rumors are true; the JPEGMafia show was a sweaty male galore fest with a 1 to 100 girl to bro ratio.
“Peggy” played at the Fillmore touring his new album “I Lay Down My Life For You.” While walking up to the venue as one hears JPEG yelling “She wanna sit on my lap” over and over again blasting on Colfax while he prepped for sound check, it was wildly amusing to watch pedestrians look shocked and utterly confused. He also kept on asking to have the sound turned up.
As a venue, The Fillmore is an Edwardian building that has classical touches throughout and sits at a grand scale, seating around 3,700 people. The backdrop for the JPEG show was a satirical podium of his logo mocking the current presidential election.
And the rumors are true; it was a sweaty male galore fest with a 1 to 100 girl to bro ratio. When the pit started to open up my Modelo magically disappeared and my ribbons fell into the crowd. As I went to grab my ribbons not thinking of the moshing that was about to occur a group of girls screamed “Let her grab her ribbons!!” As I grabbed my ribbons I smiled back at them in a shared moment of true girlhood.
One of the funniest moments was when He played “God loves You” and said “This one is for my Christians in the crowd,” followed quickly by the unmistakable voice of Danny Brown rapping one of the opening lines to the song “Make her squirt that holy water.”
Shock value is widely prevalent throughout JPEG’s work, with clever bars and titles such as “I Cant Fucking Wait Until Morrisey Dies,” “ Hunter Biden Stay Out of My Sink,” and “Beta Male Strategies” – the list goes on. His rendition of “Call Me Maybe” puts Carly Rae Jepsen‘s to shame, which he played in the middle of his set, giving it an R&B feel, but screaming. It’s incredibly unique.
The whole setlist was diverse, showcasing his new album among nearly 20 songs. He also showed a kind demeanor when he did speak to the crowd; he is almost politely mild-mannered when not performing – such a contrast to his performer persona, so loud and chaotic. JPEGMafia holds such creative integrity as an artist, from his goth aesthetic to his noisy sound, which he mixes and masters himself. One can tell that he heavily curates not just his sound but his overall image. He is one of the most experimental and contemporary artists on the scene right now and worth keeping an eye on.
