Album Review: SCARING THE HOES - JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown

At long last, a hip-hop collaboration that has been teased for years has come to fruition. Rappers JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown, known for their eccentric styles and unconventional approaches to the rap genre, have finally come together to release their collaborative debut SCARING THE HOES. Named after a Twitter meme and with a tracklist full of niche internet inside jokes, this project promised to deliver with its lead singles “Lean Beef Patty” and title track “SCARING THE HOES”. Luckily for the hip-hop community, this long-awaited project has lived up to and even exceeded all of its high expectations, delivering both hilarious and complex bars over intricate and hard-hitting instrumentals that highlight both artists’ skills in many different ways.

At only 36 minutes spread over 14 records, this album doesn’t leave much room for filler or lackluster songs. By forcing themselves into the creative difficulty of brevity, JPEGMAFIA (Peggy) and Danny Brown rely on a lightning-in-the-bottle approach and encourages a rapid pace throughout the tracklisting. The project’s opener exemplifies this well, cutting straight to the chase in under two minutes and setting the tone for what’s to follow. Both rappers are known for their unique styles: New York’s JPEGMAFIA orchestrates multi-instrumental, complicated beats that propel his always top-notch bars, and Detroit’s Danny Brown has an immediately recognizable and distinctive nasally deliver that complements the often lewd and exhibitive subject matters that he tends to discuss.

There is a certain level of grunge and inaccessibility to this project, with challenging but rewarding sonics that seldom turn conventional or euphoric. Simply put, this album will not be for everyone or every occasion, even those already versed and familiar with the genre. Many of the tracks on the album’s front half are very abrasive, from “Steppa Pig” and “Garbage Pale Kids” to “Fentanyl Tester” and a personal favorite “Burfict!” Only JPEGMAFIA could find a way to interpolate Kelis’ “Milkshake” and reference “It Takes Two” on the same song successfully, which is exactly what he does here and throughout the entire project — pairing unlikely ideas together cohesively.

The album’s second half is generally more playful and melodic than the first, as demonstrated by the biblically-sexual double entendres on “God Loves You” and piano-backed, hysterical “Jack Harlow Combo Meal”. This project never tries to reinvent the wheel, but unintentionally paves a path forward for hip-hop and experimental rap in general with its brazenly confident, well-architected, and playful tracks following each other one after another. JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown excel in their individual lanes, and I’m glad that their friendship has spawned such a natural collaboration that greatly expands both of their discographies.

It has been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a rap album without political subtext, personal exploration, or thematic cohesion this much. Every track here instead is simply an ear worm with distinct, memorable one liners and schemes, never overstaying its welcome and instead offering some of the most shocking but captivating hip-hop in a long, long time. While it’s often evident that JPEGMAFIA was the primary creative force driving this album and shaping its sonic soundscape, as he was the sole force creating these instrumentals, Danny Brown’s contributions pair too nicely to call that a fault. I hope this exceptional album is just a sign of what’s to come from two of the best in the game. We have an album of the year contender on our hands with SCARING THE HOES.

Favorite tracks: “Lean Beef Patty”, “Steppa Pig”, “SCARING THE HOES”, “Garbage Pale Kids”, “Fentanyl Tester”, “Burfict!”, “Orange Juice Jones”, “Kingdom Hearts Key (feat. redveil)”, “God Loves You”, “Jack Harlow Combo Meal”, “HOE (Heaven on Earth)”

SCORE: 9/10