JPEGMAFIA gives fans a look at the cutting room floor

JPEGMAFIA is a prolific rapper and producer with cult-like status that started releasing music back in 2009 under many aliases. Nicknamed Peggy by fans, the artist started making waves in the underground from 2016-2017, with singles like “I Might Vote 4 Donald Trump” and “Baby I’m Bleeding.” Both singles showed off his abrasive style and political messaging.  

This initial buildup culminated in his critically acclaimed album, “Veteran,” released in 2018, which set the trajectory for the rest of his career. In 2025, we’re off the heels of Peggy’s most personal album yet, “I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU,” and we have just received the director’s cut in the form of 14 new tracks. Peggy has directly expressed that the director’s cut is his “original vision of the album” before trimming down the fat.  

More specifically, there are eight new songs that are added and change the sequencing of the original track-list and six new songs on the b-side.  

What set “ILDMLFY” apart from Peggy’s past projects was its metal and rock influences that could be seen in the guitar-heavy production, the song titles (i.e. “vulgar display of power”) and the first single and new full-length track, “PROTECT THE CROSS.” The latter tells the audience that this sound remains the core of this album. It is pretty unremarkable aside from some vocal deliveries and a beat switch. While unique enough to merit its own track, it sounds like a worse version of what he did on “i scream this in the mirror before i interact with anyone.”  

The next track “Jordan Rules” is a favorite of mine. It’s most akin to Peggy’s work on “OFFLINE!” with a glistening sparkly sample that loops throughout the whole song. The punchy drums complement Peggy’s rapping, and the guitars during the second verse elevate his provocative and absurd lyrics including references to Luigi Mangione.  

The next tracks “CULT STATUS” and “COKE OR DOPE?” are versions of other tracks we heard on the original release. “CULT STATUS” is a continuation of the industrial Flume beat at the end of “New Black History,” though now with two verses and a whole chorus from Peggy. Likewise, “COKE OR DOPE?” is the original version of “JIHAD JOE” which is replaced entirely and moved to the b-side.  

An experimental industrial hip-hop beat seems perfect for Peggy in concept, but for me, “CULT STATUS” is ironically not experimental enough. It uses the same Flume beat that’s already heard without any variation for half the track. It uses the same drum pattern throughout the whole song, and even when the melody and baseline show some variation, Peggy barely changes his flow and delivery.  

“COKE OR DOPE?” has a sound very reminiscent of Veteran with some solid rapping, but I just prefer “JIHAD JOE” so much more with the better first half production by Kenny Beats and his more engaging delivery in that version as well. 

For the title track, we get some soft jangly guitars that lay the foundation for Peggy to be vulnerable and rap about his personal struggles with partners. On the second half, Buzzy Lee delivers some chillingly soft and layered vocals to play out the track.  

“Boy You Should Know!” starts with a chopped-up sample of Ciara’s interpolation of the iconic intro of “My Boo.” From there, the beat turns into a club mix until the second half where everything gets stripped back to a simple drum beat. Eventually, Peggy’s high-pitched inflection triggers some beautiful ethereal bells that start playing in a loop for his last verse and outro. 

Moving on to the b-side, there is a great three track run here with “What the hip hop hell is this?,” “Come & Get Me” and “Bloodline Freestyle.”  

“What the hip hop hell” is a track that fans have been wanting ever since it got leaked back in 2023. It’s since become a favorite because of its masterful vocal chopping and screwing and nasty bassline. Here it sounds the same just with better mixing.  

“Come & Get Me” contains one of Peggy’s more unique flows and one of the best uses of Peggy’s heavy guitar on the project, as it’s used to fill the gaps between the sections of elegant orchestral string samples that make up most of the track.  

“Bloodline Freestyle” is the last song of the b-side that I can vibe with because, along with his fun melodic flow and soft guitar provided here, something about the way Peggy samples soul music just clicks with me every time.  

Moving back to the main track-list we see that a new track, “ALLAH,” is now the official outro of this project. When listening to the original project, its outro track “i recovered from this” was a perfect closer because of how authentic, raw and vulnerable it was for Peggy. So, I was a little apprehensive when I saw a new outro track.  

“i recovered from this” has Peggy acknowledging his past wrong doings, while “ALLAH” ties together the religious themes present throughout the project and sees him now praying for forgiveness. The track also gets reinforced by repetitive Lil Durk vocal samples.  

With this director’s cut, we can see that Peggy’s original vision for “ILDMLFY” wasn’t perfect and the flow of the album works better with fewer tracks. Nonetheless, the fact that—excluding the intro—seven new songs could be added to the main track-list without making the album feel extremely bloated is an impressive feat 

Rating: 3.75/10