Two experimental hip-hop juggernauts combine to drop one of the most exciting albums the genre has ever seen.

By: John Turnham

If you know anything about underground or experimental hip-hop, you will likely have heard of JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown. Both MCs have become legends in their own right for their outside-of-the-box sound, cutthroat rapping, and multiple touchstone records in the genre. SCARING THE HOES is a clear continuation of their past quality brought into 2023.

These two may be some of the funniest rappers in the game, but there is nothing funny about Danny and JPEG’s ability; both consistently present some of the smartest bars and creative flows in the game. The concept of music that “scares the hoes” may not be familiar to those who aren’t tuned into music meme culture, but Danny and JPEG have cleverly spun this accusation and owned it completely. They know that their music isn’t particularly appealing to the average listener, but double down anyway. 

JPEGMAFIA produced this entire album, as he has done on all his solo work, and it is a wonderfully familiar sound if you are a fan of his. The record is covered in disorientingly chopped-up samples, powerful percussion, booming bass, and heavy distortion. The sound comes at you like an avalanche, track after track.

Fourteen cohesive tracks run over 36 minutes on the LP, as each bleeds into the other to continue the energy and themes in one streamlined statement. But a few tracks are worth a deeper dive for their ability to best represent the themes on the record.

Track 2, “Steppa Pig,” features piercing synths, loud synthetic bass, and enveloping vocal samples, along with a myriad of other seemingly random electronically produced tones. The track features some of the densest rapping on the record, beginning with Danny before JPEG drops two verses. As seen across the record, both rappers lean on their confidence, smack talk, and feeling of invincibility within their element in their lyrics.

If I had to identify a formative track to the album, track 6, “Burfict!” would get my vote. Titled after infamously dirty former NFL linebacker Vontaze Burfict, “Burfict!” delivers an impact to the listener akin to a Burfict helmet-to-helmet hit to an opposing receiver. The track features canned applause and an epic brass section throughout the track, reinforcing the sports theme, and it’s as if Danny and JPEG are performing their epically destructive version of a halftime show.

Track 9, “Kingdom Hearts,” contains the only featured artist on the album:18-year-old Maryland native, redveil, who became a player amongst underground hip-hop heads after his viral breakout album Niagara back in 2020. This track uses a sample from a 1996 single by Japanese singer Maaya Sakamoto, titled “Yakusoku wa iranai,” which runs throughout the song. The smooth, soaring sample is surrounded by huge bass hits, bells, hi-hats, and what may be a bass guitar at around the track’s midpoint. JPEG and Danny deliver their verses before redveil rounds off the track with a half-yelled, aggressive verse of his own. This track will make you levitate.

My one and only gripe with this record is that the brilliant bars and flows are often buried in the mix. Now I am no newcomer to JPEG’s production style, and I understand that hazy vocals are commonplace within the genre, but the project feels slightly unfinished because of it. I complain about this in particular because something as amazing as a Danny-JPEG collab is not very common, and a tweak to this aspect would have been the icing on the cake.

SCARING THE HOES marks something massive for the fans dreaming of a collaborative effort like this. JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown combined their immense talents to create an album exuding chemistry, fun, and window-smashing energy.