JPEGMAFIA – “BODYGUARD!”

JPEGMAFIA – “BODYGUARD!”

Ever since he released his album All My Heroes Are Cornballs late last year, the Baltimore avant-rap hero JPEGMAFIA has been posting pieces of new music on his YouTube channel. In the past couple of months, we’ve gotten a whole lot of teasers on Peggy’s social-media accounts, and he’s also shared the apparently full, finished songs “BALD!” and “Covered In Money!” This morning, he’s dropped a self-directed video for a new track called “BODYGUARD!”

There’s no rapping at all on “BODYGUARD!”; instead, it’s an R&B slow jam done through JPEGMAFIA’s distinctive perspective. On the track Peggy croons and pleads through heavy Auto-Tune: “Why you wanna hurt me, babe?/ How you see through my act?/ Please hit me back.” Behind him, we hear lush, contemplative piano and off-kilter drum sounds that remind me of CD skips. It’s glitched-out boudoir music.

JPEGMAFIA produced the track, and he also directed the lo-fi budget video. In the clip, all we see is Peggy, bathed in blue light like this was the opening scene from Belly. I think he might also be filming himself through the bottom of a bottle, but I’m not sure. Either way, the no-shirt/sheepskin-coat ensemble is a good look. Watch it below.

Right now, there’s no indication that these new JPEGMAFIA songs will even get a proper release, let alone appear on an album. It’s the good kind of chaos.

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