An Interesting Conversation With JPEGMAFIA

An Interesting Conversation With JPEGMAFIA

Interview and transcript by Jack Robinson

Yer Scene caught up with JPEGMAFIA after his show at the Local 506 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to talk about the tour, Veteran, and many other topics.

What follows is a slightly edited version of the full conversation that can be found at Yer Scene's Mixcloud page.

So, how are you enjoying the tour so far?

I love it man, every show is sold out except Burlington Vermont, which was still packed, we had like 10 tickets we didn't sell, but this is the first time this has happened to me like, ever, so yeah, it's beautiful honestly.

So, what was the biggest inspiration for Veteran as a whole?

I think the biggest inspiration was just my desire to make something better than anything I've ever made and show people that I'm not a one trick pony. People thought of me as a noise rapper before, and with this album I think I've added a lot to my palette, but as far as music, probably The Life of Pablo was the biggest influence, not directly, I listened to life after I finished Veteran, and I was like, damn this is kinda similar, like stuff ends abruptly and shit pops up out of nowhere, maybe subconsciously, it's also the same amount of tracks, 19.

You were talking about how you wanted to do something other than noise rap, so what were your thoughts on the rest of the scene, when it comes to noise rap, and more experiments projects, like Cities Aviv, and Ho90909?

Both of those dudes are great, especially Cities Aviv, I'm a big fan of his especially Come to Life, I love it, I love the experimental rap, I think honestly, a lot of experimental noisy rap has not been given the chance to sign, because every single black person that comes up gets compared to Death Grips, all of them. So, if people compare me to Death Grips, that's fine, I get it, the beats are noisy and whatever, but as far as the vocalization, I guess when we yell sometimes we sound similar, but like, People are really saying, like it's just like people who only listen to death grips hearing that and slapping it, they're just rounding it up, with no basis to compare, it's this guy looks like MC Ride, he sounds like MC Ride, they did the same thing to Daveed from Clipping. I want that shit to be squashed, because it's racist as fuck. It's narrow-minded as shit, all these pitchfork artists, they look the same, no one confuses them at all, they even sound the same. Cymbals Eat Guitars, and Animal Collective, you switch them around and no one would notice, and yet, every black person that comes up and does anything experimental gets compared to Death Grips, so I think a lot of the music has not been given the chance to shine, it's no shot at Death Grips, it's not their fault, it's just the fans. I love the experimental scene, Ho90909, Cities Aviv, Blackhandpath, all these kind of of dudes, they're making great shit, and it's just being lumped in with Death Grips' shit. I think it's great music, I think it

That's definitely true, with the release of Veteran, you've got samples from Counter Strike, and some of the references you drop, more specifically the line from I Hope Morrissey Fucking Dies, when you talk about choosing Lil B, over Johnny Rotten, that's some real shit .

Facts, man, facts, that was a shot at the people who say shit like "The Beatles are the greatest", we're told that the Beatles are greatest, but what if I don't think they're the greatest? What if I don't give a fuck about any of those artists? What if I like Sun Ra? What if I like Rakim? That's the people I look up to, like, whatever you believe in, if you like Slayer or whatever, I just want people to think for themselves, and not just go along (with the status Quo). I never listened to the Smiths before last year, and I didn't know anything about it (him & the Smiths), and I started looking up shit, man this has just been saying dumb shit about people for years, and the tipping point was when he made this shirt that had James Baldwin's face on it, and it said "I feel black on the inside because I wear black on the outside" or something, and I'm just like why would you do that? That man is dead and that's disrespectful, so I made that song (I cannot fucking wait until Morrissey dies), and I'm going to put out a shirt that's gonna be me peeing in his mouth, and it's gonna have I can't fucking wait until Morrissey dies, because he played it as art, so I'm gonna be like that's art too. It's like why did he think he could do that? That's why I want to slap his ass, it's just like he's so entitled, he literally thought that he could make money off of a dead black man's name, and I'm gonna slap the shit out of him for that, that's a violation, he's not a street dude, he's a white British man, but I'm gonna treat him like a street dude since he wants to act like that, so I'm gonna slap the shit out of him, real shit. That wasn't even the question, but it kind of went that way.

No, it's perfectly fine, so, what do you plan to do after Veteran, sound wise?

Oh man, I've got a lot of shit, there's a country song I'm gonna release, I keep flexing to release this song, but I'm low-key scared to release it because I don't think it's that good. Before I release things, it has to sound good to me, like I have to be like "this is good", because if I release it and I'm unsure about it, and if everyone says this is great, but as soon as one person says this is trash then I'll delete it. But if I'm secure with it, and I like it, then I don't give a fuck what anyone says, like if anyone says something about Veteran, I don't give a fuck, I've loved that album since it was done, and you can't harm me with that. This country song, I'm gonna keep working on it, but it's happening, I don't give a fuck, I'm stepping into the country territory, move over Garth Brooks, Trace Atkins, I'm kicking all you dudes down, I'm auto-tuning that shit, and we're getting real ghetto in this bitch, we're gonna be pulling up with horses, and jays, and straps. We're showing up at all your waffle houses, all that shit. My next album, I haven't really thought about it too deep, but it's gonna be like releasing black Ben Carson, I didn't set out to make Veteran, Veteran just happened organically, and whatever I do next, organically.

What was the recording process for Veteran like?

For Veteran? Same as it always is, I record at my house. I record wherever, I recorded this in different places, I recorded this in Baltimore and in L.A, but it's always at my house, I used to have a fake studio that was in my basement, and I record down there, but it's always just at my house. I've never recorded in a professional studio in my life. I have Styrofoam that I got from when I was in the military, they used to throw it away, and never realized how important it was for a rapper, so I used to take all of it and just use it to soundproof. I like to be isolated when I record because I get to focus. The recording process wasn't a real recording process, I'm just making music and I'm always making music, and Veteran was a snapshot of the music I was making in 2017. Like, Baby I'm Bleeding, the beat was made in 2015, I recorded in 2016, and there's a video of me playing live it at Litfest in 2016. At the time I was calling it Black Kanye West, so I just kept recording and making things until I felt it was a good stopping point, and then I mixed and mastered, and that was it.

Earlier, (before the interview ) we had been discussing the issue of gun rights in America, what's your position on the current climate with guns and gun laws?

So yeah, I, as a gun owner myself, being around these places (rural areas where gun laws aren't as strict), I can confirm that people there, they're definitely racist as fuck, they have guns because they're paranoid about the government, they're paranoid about brown people, they're paranoid about all these fucking things and their idea of fixing it, is just to shoot it all out, so they're all strapped up, there's millions and millions and millions of crazy ass motherfuckers with guns, that should not have guns, and it only reveals itself when a mass shooting happens, but this is a wide spread thing and it's because gun laws are super loose. I was able to get a gun very easily, and I was in jail. My record got expunged, but I got a license while I was on probation and that makes no fucking sense. I only got it because I was in the military, like I literally could be crazy, I could walk down the sidewalk and pull my gun out like whatever, I have a concealed carry, so like I could walk around and pull it out, if I'm just crazy, I could act sane to get the license and do the thing (get a gun), but there needs to be stricter screening, because they're loose, because the people who want guns are the ones in charge, so they're giving them to themselves basically. I just feel like gun laws should be stricter, I don't think they should take away guns, like you take away guns and people will still find them. Make it harder for crazy dudes like the dude who shot up the thing to get (possibly in reference to the Stoneman Douglas shooting) guns, he shows signs, people went on his Instagram, and he was on some supremacist shit, that's a red flag, like why do you have a gun? So yeah, stricter laws, and stricter screening.

How do you feel about your tour mates, (Milo and Euclid) currently?

Oh, I love them man, they're the funniest. I've been a big fan of Milo since Toothpaste Suburbs, I was listening to him in the military a lot, when I was in the desert, I would like, study a lot of rappers and his flow I used to study a lot, so to be on tour with him is surreal. I still get star struck when I'm around him, it's crazy. Euclid, he's from Armand hammer with Billy Woods, he's like, one of the scariest rappers ever. I?d be so scared to get on a track with him, he just bars the shit away, he finds the pocket on the beat and he just goes in, and I just feel like I'd sound basic next to him, he just has all these bars, and I'd just like do something goofy. I have a lot of respect for both and I genuinely enjoy their music. I actually produced a track on Euclid?s last album and it's called barbarians, and actually it's the same beat as my thoughts on Neogaf dying.

What branch did you serve in the armed forces and what did you do?

Airforce. The chairforce, I was in charge of classified plane parts, that was my official job, I deployed to Kuwait, Iraq, Germany, went through Japan, and somewhere in North Africa, I can't remember where, but when you're deployed anyone in the military can tell you they'll just put you wherever when you're deployed, I was in customer service, I was in the field, I was in charge of plane parts, warehouse shipping, wherever they needed me. The military was like, I don't even know, I'm really grateful I was in the military because it helped buy me (music) equipment, and it made me grow, but fucking a, the military just puts you in stressful situations on purpose, and the people that are over you aren't always as qualified as you are for some jobs. Imagine, working somewhere where your boss didn't know how to do your job, at all, but they were there just because they had rank, so someone could be an asshole and if they have rank over you, they're going to make your life a living hell, and there's nothing you can do. I worked with a dude who beat his wife in her sleep, went to jail, came back the next week, and was just there. I was just like "he's here? He beat his wife.", he didn't even let her wake up, and then a few weeks later they tried to kick me out for skipping PT. It's like they pick and choose who they want. It's like some police shit, if you don't fit in this clique, they just shun you. I've said this in other interviews, but I was a good human being and a bad airman, they were good airmen, but horrible human beings. So, they could only be in the military because if they go out into the real world, they'd be in jail, or shot, or something they can't function in society, they have to be in the military, because uncle Sam would protect them, but the military was simultaneously a growing experience and also a fucking terror, that's the only real way I can describe it.

Last question, what are your three influences within rap, and three outside of rap?

Three of my biggest influences in rap would probably be Kanye West, Ice Cube, and MF DOOM. Kanye because he's the best hip hop artist, to me, not the best rapper, I was talking with Milo about this earlier, he's not the best rapper, and he's not the best producer, but he's the best artist overall, he's the best at presenting his ideas perfectly, like no one can copy that. Ice cube, he's influenced me the most, because before Amerikkka's Most Wanted, I didn't know you could rap about political shit, and be on some street shit. I felt like when you rapped about politics, you had to be preachy and whatever, but Ice Cube broke that down for me, like oh I can say "fox news suck my dick", like there's no rule against that, and DOOM, because that's the father, like he has one of the most original styles, like I feel that DOOM is an internet rapper that foreshadowed the internet, like he's the godfather of internet rap, almost every rapper is influenced by him in some way. So that's my top three. Outside of rap, that's a little bit harder because I listen to a lot of shit, but there's only a few people that I click with. Probably Bjork, she's just like, I don't know, I look at the things she does, and I can't figure it out. Like sometimes, I listen to her music and I'm like how this even come to exist? Like there's a song called Innocence on Volta, and I listen to that shit and I'm like what's going on here? I love it though, and also one of the things I take from Bjork, I never put texts on my albums like her, she never puts text on her albums she lets the picture speak for itself, so I take a cue from her with that, so Bjork. Arca, he's a god, I've never seen a producer who's just like, he has no style, he keeps evolving, and the last album he did, the self-titled one, that's like some classical electronic, my homie said it was boring and blah blah blah, because he likes &&&&, but that shit is hard, people don't understand he grew so much, like he's on some shit 20 years from now people will be listening to, the man is a saint. Arca, Bjork, and what else, Janelle Monae, because Janelle Monae, she's one of my favorite artists of all time, I actually have this song on the ArchAndroid called Oh, Maker, it got me through a lot of shit in the military, when I was depressed and shit, I would put this song on, and that album on. So, I'd say Arca, Bjork, and Janelle Monae, are like maybe my top three, I listen to a lot of shit but I'm just randomly picking.