Live music review: Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA packed Stubbs for collaborative rager Friday  

Hip-hop in the internet age has become more robust by the day. With outlets like Bandcamp, Album of the Year, and RateYourMusic all at our fingertips, there’s never been an easier time to discover and enjoy new music in both the obscure and mainstream spheres. For Brooklyn rapper JPEGMAFIA, also known by fans as “Peggy,” and Detroit-now-Austin-based Danny Brown, the internet music hive has played a prominent role in their colossal upcoming. With both having a beyond prolific output to date, the new collaboration between the two rappers, Scaring the Hoes captures lightning in a bottle worthy of studied bells and whistles that make fans hear something they didn’t on previous listens. The collaborative effort is a mere 36 minutes long and fits every experimental oddity fans could hope for going into it. The new album also brought out fans in droves at Stubbs which was sold out for Brown and JPEGMAFIA for a live collaborative rager on Friday. For relentless music fans that chomp at the bit for weird music and what lies beneath the surface, Danny and Peggy have brought their unending creativity to the forefront, which comes as an attempt to make the underground and mainstream collapse on top of each other.

With universally critically acclaimed albums under both of their belts, Brown and JPEG decided to come together to make an album that pushes the boundaries of the hip-hop underground—with the resulting recording hilariously titled, Scaring The Hoes, Brown and Peggy managed to produce an album that delivered unbridled aggression along with its clever hooks that captivate as they rattle the listener in an abstract rap whirlwind. It’s worth mentioning that JPEGMAFIA produced this record with an analog SP-404 sampling machine, which shows the rapper making a masterpiece while also burning out on analog beat-making as a whole as a result of the awesomeness that manifested in this cathartic new project.

To promote the 2023 album, JPEG and Brown have embarked on a Summer tour, promising to perform their latest collaborative efforts combined with cuts from their respective catalogs. With both emcees having a prolific output on their own accords, this tour was a must-see to witness what bizarre musical concoctions the hip-hop team had cooked up for fans. Since Peggy’s surprise appearance at Brown’s 2023 SXSW performance, expectations were high for what looked like a match made in heaven.

When JPEG and Brown took the stage just after 9 p.m, the sold-out Stubbs crowd was ecstatic. Austin fans chanted Danny! Danny! Danny! while awaiting the pair, welcoming home Brown to his adopted city. After a brief introduction from JPEGMAFIA, the duo launched into the album’s first single, “Lean Beef Patty.” A track that kicked off the artist’s new era, the opening lyrical stanza references the emcees’ utter disdain for tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter last year and has been positioning the brand for his powerful, often harmful narratives. JPEG is outspoken about these issues, and he never holds back when it comes time to talk. Brown’s explosive verse that closes the track came in quickly and tightly, with not a single bar missed by his focused, yet frantic delivery.

The set continued with more cuts from Scaring The Hoes, “Burfict,” “Steppa Pig,” and “Garbage Pale Kids,” all of which retained the undeniable chemistry of the two rappers, with loud-as-hell singalongs from the crowd in tow. When these numbers wrapped up, Brown left the stage for JPEG to present his own set of tunes from his solo catalog, composed of bodies of work that always go the prolific distance. “1539 N. Calvert” from JPEG’s 2018 masterpiece Veteran, a seminal record that changed the way the internet age looked at experimental rap.

Peggy commanded the crowd through banger after banger, only stopping for brief technical difficulties that were quickly remedied. A highlight of JPEG’s solo set came with the “BALD!” cut from the 2021 release LP! As a side note, Peggy kept busy over the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping his fans fed with quarantine releases that all kept up with massive quality despite there being a plentiful quantity of records throughout the pandemic shutdowns.

When Brown returned to the stage, it was off to the races again. More thrilling songs came in the form of “Run The Jewels,” “Kingdom Hearts Key,” and “Hermanos,” a track released as part of the bonus EP earlier this summer to commemorate tracks from the cutting room floor for the full-length record that came earlier this year. The record was a pleasant surprise for fans who have come to expect the awesomeness that the hip-hop artists churn out with every single release they’ve done together, as it always comes with the expectation that the pair never misses when they collaborate. They haven’t missed a beat yet.

When JPEG left the stage to let Danny take the reins, the set continued, full speed ahead. Tracks off his 2017 experimental hip-hop ripper Atrocity Exhibition came with “Really Doe,” “When It Rain,” and “Ain’t it Funny,” all made thunderous appearances, a landmark release for the Detroit-born rapper. All of these cuts hit hard, with Brown immersing himself in the harrowing beats and ice-cold bars that take listeners to the depth of his psyche. The lanky rapper’s solo set also included “Monopoly,” a track off his breakout 2012 mixtape XXX, a 22-track epic that doesn’t slow down for a single moment despite its 61-minute runtime, an epic in the context of today’s abbreviated, made for streaming hip-hop world.

Order your copy of Scaring the Hoes here.

For the last hurrah, JPEG rejoined the stage for a triple threat of bangers the audience had embraced for this momentous night for the Austin crowd. Then Danny and Peggy launched into the title track of their latest effort, “Scaring The Hoes.” The crowd gave every bit of energy they had left in the sweltering, Texas Summer heat for the closing hits of the night, leaving dedicated fans to mosh their remaining energy out before leaving the venue. The last few months have been a long tour for these two, and with Austin being the next to last date, the rust was non-existent, the pair were tour sharp and the performance felt like a sonic tornado that didn’t let up until its end. Let’s hope for more collabs from Peggy and Danny; these two push the boundaries with every new thing they do.

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