JPEGMAFIA Talks With Saba and Previews Unreleased Songs In 'HTBAR' Episode 8
Peggy continues to release music on his own terms this year.
In the last episode of his ongoing coronavirus quarantine How To Build A Relationship series, JPEGMAFIA connected with ZelooperZ, slowthai and Omar Apollo to preview new music and walk through their respective creative processes. The latest installment sees the producer-rapper tap Pivot Gang‘s own Saba (a recent feature in the HYPEBEAST’s 20 Best Albums to Listen to While Staying Home feature) to walk through an empty Los Angeles and talk about their early come-ups.
Peggy also talks about the state of music labels and his frustration with dealing with them (but due to clarity, an argument can be made that he’s commenting on the state of music journalism, too).
“I’m not arguing from a point of ego, I’m arguing from the point of, “Why do these people have this power in the first place? If you’re bastardizing the art and you don’t respect it — and not respect artists in general, and then not respect their art — then why are you even there? It just confuses me as to why these people can make or break an artist’s career. What have they done? What have they accomplished? Can they play an instrument? Have they made a hit? Have they made a beat? Did they take the low-end out the synth so it fits real nice in the beat and you can hear everything more clearly? No. They don’t even know what that is. So why do I have to go through these people for my career to work?… At the end of the day these are just useless shallow people that live in New York and have too much privilege. They shouldn’t have the power to make or break any f*cking thing.”
JPEGMAFIA continues to release a stream of new singles, but it remains to be seen if they’re a part of a larger body of work coming in the future. His latest, “BODYGUARD!” was an emotional ballad that ditched rapping for auto-tuned singing. Other offerings include “Millennium Freestyle”, “Covered In Money!” and “BALD!” each featuring his emphatic energy, witty observations and eclectic experimentation.
Watch the new HTBAR Episode 8 above and stay tuned for more. In other music news, catch up on some escapism with HYPEBEAST’s 10 Other-Worldly Music Videos to Lose Yourself In.
