JPEGMAFIA

JPEGMafia is the musical alias of songwriter, record producer, and forward-thinking hip-hop artist Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on 22 October 1989, he was raised in the borough's Flatbush neighborhood by Jamaican parents. Although he developed an interest in music production as a teenager, he enlisted in the US Air Force at age 18 and spent multiple years abroad—including stints in Japan, Iraq, Kuwait, and Germany—before returning to America, moving to Baltimore, and officially launching his music career as JPEGMafia in 2015. He released mixtapes like Communist Slow Jams and Darkskin Manson that same year, but it was his full-length debut, 2016's Black Ben Carson, that introduced his brand of experimental, controversial, and politically tinged hip-hop to the masses. The critically acclaimed Veteran followed in January 2018, hailed by outlets like Pitchfork and Rolling Stone as one of the year's best releases. One year later, All My Heroes Are Cornballs found JPEGMafia moving in an avant-garde direction, expanding his sound to make room for industrial, ambient, pop, and punk influences. The album peaked at Number 105 in America, Number 94 in Canada, and Number 86 in Ireland, marking JPEGMafia's first time charting in any country. Released in 2021, his next album LP! came packaged in two versions—"offline" and "online"—and kept his sound moving in an avant-garde rap direction. He returned three years later with his fifth studio album, the surprise-released I Lay Down My Life for You, which packed in guest appearances from Vince Staples, Denzel Curry, and Buzzy Lee.