It’s been three years since Baltimore rap iconoclast JPEGMAFIA released LP!, his last proper studio album, but it’s not like he’s been sitting around doing nothing since then. Last year, Peggy and Danny Brown released the collaborative record Scaring The Hoes, one of last year’s best albums. Earlier this year, he worked on a bunch of tracks from Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures, and he also made it clear that he doesn’t care that people are mad about that decision. Today, he’s come out with his own album, and it’s pretty clearly a major statement.

Over the past few weeks, JPEGMAFIA has released the singles “don’t rely on other men” and “Sin Miedo,” and those tracks represent the jagged but weirdly catchy direction that Peggy has gone. He announced plans to release the new album I Lay Down My Life For You just a few days ago, but a Thursday-morning release still qualifies as a surprise. I’m on my first listen right now, and I Lay Down My Life For You is already hitting as a provocative, powerful record.

I Lay Down My Life For You features guest appearances from Vince Staples, Denzel Curry, and Steven Spielberg’s daughter Buzzy Lee. The production is just as frantic and experimental as it’s always been, but he’s using elements — metal guitar riffs, uptempo blog-house beats, classic-rap samples — that will sound great in larger venues. People feel all sorts of ways about JPEGMAFIA, but there aren’t too many artists who can bring this kind of chaotic energy on this level. There’s definitely a decent chance that he says all kinds of objectionable shit that I either haven’t heard or caught yet, but this is already striking me as an extremely exciting record. Stream it below.

I Lay Down My Life For You is out now on AWAL. Read our 2023 JPEGMAFIA feature here.