JPEGMAFIA

JPEGMAFIA is the recording name of Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks, an American rapper and producer born in 1989. He is born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and is based in Los Angeles. His music develops from an experimental hip hop foundation and also draws on alternative R&B, cloud rap, East Coast hip hop, glitch hop and hardcore hip hop.

Background

Hendricks grows up in Flatbush to Jamaican parents, spending most of his childhood there before moving to Alabama at 13. He later says that the racism he experiences there has a significant effect on his music. At 18, he moves to Louisiana and enlists in the United States Air Force. He serves in Iraq and also spends time in Kuwait, Germany, Japan and North Africa before being honourably discharged.

He also studies journalism while deployed, although he later clarifies that he is not awarded a degree. In 2021, he says that he has a sexually, verbally and physically abusive childhood.

Early music and influences

Hendricks develops an interest in production at 15 and begins making beats after learning how to sample. He describes himself as a producer first and a rapper second, and says that he starts rapping because people do not respond well to his beats. He is based in Baltimore for a number of years and says that the city strongly influences his work. After his military service, he relocates to Japan and makes music there under the name Devon Hendryx.

He cites Kanye West as his biggest influence. He also names Hanson among his earliest influences, and has mentioned Ol' Dirty Bastard, Throbbing Gristle, MF DOOM, Lil B, Chief Keef, Ice Cube, Rick Rubin, Cam'Ron, Björk, Janelle Monáe, Radiohead, The Backstreet Boys and Arca as influences.

Recording as JPEGMAFIA

In 2015, after moving to Baltimore, he begins recording under the name JPEGMAFIA. His first releases under that name are the mixtape Communist Slow Jams and, a month later, Darkskin Manson, which is inspired by the Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore.

He follows several mixtapes with his debut studio album, Black Ben Carson, released in 2016 on Deathbomb Arc. The album has a much harsher, more distorted sound than his earlier work. Later that year, he releases the collaborative EP The 2nd Amendment with Baltimore rapper Freaky.

Albums and collaborations

After less than three years in Baltimore, Hendricks moves to Los Angeles to record his next album. Veteran is released in January 2018 and is widely described at the time as his most experimental album. It receives strong critical attention.

He then records 93 songs for his next project, reducing them to 18 tracks. He mixes and masters the album after Vince Staples’ tour. The first single, “Jesus Forgive Me, I Am a Thot”, appears in 2019. The finished album, All My Heroes Are Cornballs, is released later in 2019 and becomes his first album to chart. To promote it, he uploads listening sessions to his YouTube channel, with guests including Denzel Curry, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and Hannibal Buress.

In 2020, he releases several singles and collects them as EP!, first through his Bandcamp page and then on streaming platforms with an additional track. He follows it with EP2! in 2021, and then LP! later that year. In 2023, he completes and releases the collaborative album SCARING THE HOES with Danny Brown, after first previewing it and issuing the singles “Lean Beef Patty” and “SCARING THE HOES”.

In 2024, he releases “Don't Rely On Other Men” and “SIN MIEDO”, and later previews “Don't put anything on the bible” before issuing I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU, his fifth studio album.

Live activity

After All My Heroes Are Cornballs, he undertakes the JPEGMAFIA Type Tour in October 2019 in support of the album.