JPEGMAFIA's new album Experimental Rap isn't even out for another two weeks, but it's already led to the extremely entertaining Instagram-comments feud between Peggy and Earl Sweatshirt. That bit of gossip will probably get more attention than any of the actual music on Experimental Rap, but JPEGMAFIA's music always leaves us with a lot to consider, even when you factor non-musical shenanigans out of the equation. After sharing lead single "babygirl," the king of making crunchy ass music and wearing muay thai shorts is back with a new song and its elaborate big-statement video.
Contra Earl Sweatshirt, JPEGMAFIA's new single "War Over Land" is not gnarled, ugly, nor rough. Instead, it's a dramatic, swelling number that combines his choppy and emphatic flow with strings, pianos, and wailing electric guitars. It would sound cinematic even if we didn't have the video.
The "War Over Land" video opens with a tight close-up on a man's face as he puts a gun to his own head, and it pans over to a group of kids filming the suicide on their phones. JPEGMAFIA co-directed the clip with Logan Fields, and it's mostly made to look like a single tracking shot. Peggy, dressed up like Blade at Fashion Week, walks through a field where he walks past kids with guns, a stripper, a zooming Cybertruck, a desperate mother, etc. Check it out below.
Experimental Rap is out 5/21 on AWAL.
