Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks, better known as rapper and producer JPEGMAFIA, has been making movements around the world with performances at Gov Ball in Queens (New York, U.S.A), Splendor on the Grass in Byron Bay, (Australia) and the long awaited Fuji Rock coming up this month.

Photo by @jpegmafia on Instagram

Hendricks, a former member of the U.S. Air Force blends his understanding of American political discourse and his love for hip-hop and alternative music to create his own unique music, which some may say is a full-body experience. He is able to create music that brings together emotion, politics, pain, and love in  a way that we haven’t really heard up until this point – and through this, he shines in his musical versatility and has attracted many fans, especially youngsters who resonate with his aggression.

Though being born and raised in Queens, Baltimore City is where Hendricks claims his foundation and main source of inspiration came from. In The FADER’s documentary on JPEGMAFIA in 2018, Hendricks described his relationship to the music out of Baltimore as “deeper, harsher, it’s more painful. it’s more soulful. It’s still something different about it to me”.

JPEG is growing in the music scene and mastering his ability to strip down music to include the raw transparent conversations. His latest work “OFFLINE” is a 5-track project that consists of work that did not make his “LP!” album. Both versatile and eclectic, “OFFLINE” is a great depiction of JPEGMAFIA’s ability to do it all; lyrics, rapping, production and sound.

Peggy has a history with Japan dating back to his late teens, when he joined the military and was deployed in the U.S. base in Japan. During which, him and some friends created a group called Ghost Pop where he gained some exposure in the Japanese music scene. This month, on Friday July 29, JPEG will return to Japan to take the White Stage at Fuji Rock – prepare to lose your mind.

Written by Karen