It’s disappointing when a favorite artist of yours releases new music and you can clearly see they’ve gone downhill. It’s even more disappointing when they release new music and it sounds so good, but their marketing proves the artist as a person has gone downhill.
I was introduced to JPEGMAFIA around 2021 by my late friend, so “HAZARD DUTY PAY!” will always hold a special place in my heart. Although I’ve never listened to much rap–and the experimental bent of his music was anything but accessible–it immediately became a staple in my rotation. In 2022, he was my top artist on Spotify Wrapped, and I saw him live for the first time in what remains one of my favorite concerts of all time. Let me be clear: seeing him live again in Columbus in 2024 was still so much fun. However, “separating the art from the artist” is sometimes difficult.
With so many artists and celebrities being exposed and canceled, I’m always praying that my favorites are actually good people. JPEG’s complicated situation refuses to offer any easy answers. Demonstrated by his 2019 album title, he has been anti-celebrity-idolatry for years, but has also contradicted himself (and then un-contradicted??). He has stated that Kanye West has been a huge inspiration to him in his career, but in recent years Kanye has become, to put it lightly, a morally questionable public figure. Seemingly undeterred, in January 2024, Peggy announced his involvement in Kanye’s newest album. I, of course, dramatically fell to my knees at this news, accepting that one of my favorite artists is, in fact, an asshole.
People always say to put things in perspective. If I was a musician and had an opportunity to work with a long-time role model, I’d be crazy not to. In JPEG’s most recent album, he somewhat acknowledges this situation. In “i scream this in the mirror before i interact with anyone,” he raps “I’ma take off even if I land wrong / And take everything I can get my hands on.” This by itself is valid, and it’s clear he’s just doing what is best for his career. However, it seems like he did “land wrong” with the way he marketed this latest tour.
For some reason, when JPEG and his team were cooking in the graphic design studio, they decided to take direct inspiration from an infamous piece of fascist propaganda. Everybody’s so creative! I had been back and forth with my feelings over him with all the discourse online, but this boggles the mind. It’s one thing to be known as an experimental, ironic online agitator, but I find it hard to see any irony in collaborating with a Hitler-admiring-Holocaust-denier and then using fascist motifs in advertising a tour.
Depsite everything, few artists can claim to be as unique as JPEGMAFIA. His intense irony and distinctive online persona have brought him into turbulent times recently, depending on how you look at it–and quite frankly, how much you even care. Some celebrities–music artists specifically–love being contrary just to be contrary and love being ironic for the sake of being ironic. The bottom line is this: do not hold any celebrity in too excessive esteem and always be aware of how you are perceiving information.
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