JPEGMAFIA seems to be endlessly mired in controversy, usually of his own design: whether you’re discussing his arrogant claims leading up to the release of ‘EXPERIMENTAL RAP’ or the more recent sample dispute over ‘TSAR BOMBA,’ Hendricks has caught your attention either way. It’s a marketing strategy the rapper has pulled off time and time again, but it’s never come back to bite him quite like it has in 2026. At the end of the day, one question looms over the entire situation— what exactly is so ‘experimental’ about this new album?

That’s a difficult issue to tackle, so let’s break it down into some smaller parts: first of all, is ‘EXPERIMENTAL RAP’ boundary-pushing compared to the rest of the JPEGMAFIA discography? Here, it’s a resounding ‘no.’ Any listeners who’ve fallen headfirst into the likes of 2024’s ‘I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU’ or 2021’s ‘LP!’ will feel right at home here, on a record full of the same scattershot arrangements and frenetic sampling we’ve come to expect from the rapper/producer. Hendricks is hardly making conventional hip-hop— indeed, ‘EXPERIMENTAL RAP’ would probably be hailed as some subversive masterpiece if it were coming from a mainstream artist like Drake— but his style does carry its own hallmarks and clichés: this time around, JPEGMAFIA is following his self-made guidelines to a tee. To speak nothing of their quality, there’s very little that feels challenging about the Run The Jewels-esque vocal loops on ‘babygirl’ or the shockingly plain production on ‘Chat’ and ‘New Era.’ Aside from some choice examples, these songs are business as usual.

In fairness though, the album’s title is ‘EXPERIMENTAL RAP,’ not ‘EXPERIMENTAL HIP-HOP’— it’s through this lens that we can label the project not just as unadventurous, but as downright mediocre. Hendricks has always stood out more for his off-the-wall choices behind the mixing desk than for his prowess on the mic, but this is the first time his performance has actively dragged down a project of his. All across the album, you can hear the same triplet flows being recycled again and again and again, regardless of the track’s mood or beat. It seems impossible that an artist so revered could make such a fundamental mistake, but whether this approach to rapping was intentional or accidental, the result is utterly monotonous. With the 25 tracks on offer running smoothly from one into the next, ‘EXPERIMENTAL RAP’ begins to feel claustrophobic at a certain point (and no, not in an interesting industrial way). Ill-timed Kanye West references, casual misogyny and laughably intrusive jabs at Charlie Kirk are just some of the lowlights waiting to jump out at you.

If the project isn’t particularly ‘experimental,’ then, it’s certainly ‘avant-garde’ (not that that’s anything new for JPEGMAFIA): the album has its fair share of highlights, but they feel scattered across a tracklist that lacks much in the way of momentum or direction. Hendricks’ integration of rock samples into his work has always borne fruit, and it’s not a sound that’s lost its appeal in 2026— the dirty guitars on ‘The Ghost Of Emmett Till’ are quite the head-turner, as is that controversial sample on ‘TSAR BOMBA.’ It must be said, though, that ‘EXPERIMENTAL RAP’ does a poor job drawing attention to its boldest musical moments, with the wild sounds of ‘Meet the Dealers’ and ‘Mask On’ failing to break through the album’s own restlessness. In a bizarre twist, it’s actually some of JPEGMAFIA’s simplest ideas that stick with you most, as the smooth beat on ‘Burning Hammer’ and the iconic Kanye sample on ‘Lights’ prove. By its end, the album winds down into something rather soft and contemplative, in a move more interesting and exciting than any of the climaxes preceding: if only ‘The 1st Amendment’ wasn’t there to obliterate the atmosphere…

In contrast to its name, ‘EXPERIMENTAL RAP’ is a familiar romp for fans of JPEGMAFIA, who should all be used to the rapper’s penchant for wailing guitars, deafening industrial drum sounds and bizarre sequencing— what the record does not accomplish is its self-professed goal of putting Hendricks on top in his genre. This feels like a significant step back from ‘I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU,’ especially as far as penmanship is concerned: a below-average project from JPEGMAFIA can still be enjoyable, but it’s nonetheless disappointing.