JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - SCARING THE HOES
JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown’s latest collab album has multiple great moments, however it unfortunately falls short on generally being a good project. With the production stealing the show from the performances of both artists.
JPEGMAFIA (left) and Danny Brown (right)
Hip-Hop has seen many collaboration projects with two rappers, some can come with high expectations and deliver, whilst others can disappoint. Peggy and Danny’s album strangely comes in the middle. There are moments on the album that are great and there are moments that are too distorted and can throw you off. For every great track such as “Orange Juice Jones” there are some let downs such as “Where Ya Get Ya Coke From”.
The album starts off with “Lean Beef Patty”, which was previously introduced and played on Danny’s podcast, The Danny Brown Show, with Peggy as the special guest. Named after fitness content creator leanbeefpatty, the song catches you off guard at first, as it samples Diddy’s “I Need A Girl Pt. 2”. Those first few seconds of the instrumental sounded something like Central Cee would rap on. But the beat quickly turns into chaos and distortion, the sample is continued to be used and it just doesn’t fit well with the production. Though there are some great production work from JPEG on this album, “Lean Beef Patty” just isn’t one of them.
Some of the production work that I did enjoy are on tracks such as “Orange Juice Jones”, which is named after the R&B singer, beautifully samples Michael Jackson’s 1975 song “Dear Michael”. Other production work that I really enjoyed were “Jack Harlow Combo Meal”. The haunting piano work fitted well around Danny’s vocals. “Shut Yo Ass Up” includes an instrumental that just pounds at your eardrums, as Danny lyrically shines and drops his best verse on the whole album, with lines such as “I don't rap circles 'round ni**as, I do figure eights, rent free in ni**a's heads, should do real estate”. As the song switches to “Muddy Waters” the case is the same with JPEG, though his verse is shorter when compared to Danny’s he still drops some of his best lines on the song.
With all the positives that come from this album, there are some issues as mentioned before. The biggest issue that’s with the album is the mixing and mastering. Perhaps it’s done on purpose, however the loud production can take over both Danny’s and JPEG’s vocals. It can be difficult to understand or even hear what they are saying. As said, it could be done on purpose and most likely it is, but it can be overwhelming at times. Additionally, though JPEG’s production has some really great moments, there are some low moments as well. At times it can be too much to handle and it can be overwhelming, for example with the last track “Where Ya Get Ya Coke From”. One of my least favourite tracks off the album, “Fentanyl Tester”, consists of production that is just completely all over the place and the sample of Kelis’ 2003 hit single “Milkshake” isn’t used well. Similar to the sample of Diddy’s “ I Need A Girl Pt. 2” on “Lean Beef Patty”.
There are still some great songs towards the end of the album, tracks such as “God Love You” and “Scaring The Hoes”. The album isn’t short of humorous moments, and “Scaring The Hoes” is an example of that. One of the lead songs off the album, the song references the meme about certain types of music that shouldn’t be played around women as it will “repel them”. Usually used against eccentric underground rappers, for example artists like Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA, which is why I find the record humorous. Overall, Danny and JPEG’s collab album is a mixed bag of enjoyment and frustration. There are definitely records that I appreciate and will return to, but as a whole it’s not a full pleasant listen from start to finish. Scaring the Hoes can be great at times, but as I mentioned previously there are moments where it’s just too much to handle and it can be difficult to fully enjoy.