JPEGMafia

Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks (born October 22, 1989), known professionally as JPEGMafia (stylized in all caps as JPEGMAFIA), is an American rapper, singer, and record producer.

In 2015, he moved to Baltimore, where he began to make music under his moniker JPEGMafia, under which he released his mixtape Communist Slow Jams in April 2015.

Only a month later, he released his mixtape Darkskin Manson which was inspired by the Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore that were happening right as he had moved there.

Born in New York City and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, he signed with Republic Records to release his debut studio album, Black Ben Carson (2016).

Following a number of mixtapes, Hendricks released his debut studio album, Black Ben Carson, in February 2016 via Deathbomb Arc featuring a much harsher and more distorted sound than his other projects.

Four months later, he released a collaborative EP with fellow Baltimore-based rapper Freaky titled The 2nd Amendment.

After less than 3 years living there, Hendricks moved from Baltimore to Los Angeles for his next studio album.

He then signed a joint venture deal with Deathbomb Arc to release his second album Veteran (2018), which received widespread critical acclaim.

In January 2018, he released his second studio album Veteran.

In an article on Bandcamp, he said "I wanted to show I'm not just a one-trick pony. I always do weird shit. I usually just keep it to myself. This time, I just let the filter go."

At the time of its release, Veteran was considered JPEGMAFIA's most experimental album to date, receiving widespread critical acclaim.

After the release of Veteran, Hendricks started working on his next album.

He recorded 93 songs, and whittled it down to 18 tracks.

He mixed and mastered it at the end of Vince Staples' tour, posting percentage updates frequently on his Instagram.

Prior to the release, he would label the project as a "disappointment" in interviews and his social media.

His third album, All My Heroes Are Cornballs (2019) was released independently and entered the Billboard 200, while he returned to Republic for the release of his fourth album LP! (2021); both were met with continued critical acclaim.

In 2023, he released his collaborative studio album Scaring the Hoes with fellow alternative rapper Danny Brown.

Hendricks was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, to Jamaican parents.

He spent the majority of his childhood in Flatbush before moving to Alabama at age 13, where he experienced a significant amount of racism that later had an intense effect on his music.

Hendricks moved to Louisiana and enlisted in the United States Air Force at age 18.

He served a tour of duty in Iraq and also spent time in Kuwait, Germany, Japan, and North Africa, before being honorably discharged after speaking up against his superiors' reported abuse.

Though he previously claimed to have a master's degree in journalism, Hendricks has since clarified that, though having studied the subject while deployed, he was not officially awarded a degree.

In April 2021, Hendricks revealed through social media that he had "a sexually, verbally, and physically abusive childhood."

Hendricks developed an interest in music production at the age of 15, and he began producing after he learned how to sample.

Describing his production, Hendricks says "When I was first making beats, no one liked the beats. To this day I give people beats and they're just confused."

He says "I started rapping because no one liked my beats."

Noting that he started producing before he started rapping, Hendricks said "I'm a producer first kind of, and then a rapper second but I take both of them seriously."

During his military stay in Japan, he was producing and writing music under the name Devon Hendryx, with albums released under the name including Generation Y, Dreamcast Summer Songs, and The Ghost~Pop Tape.

The first single from the album, "Jesus Forgive Me, I Am a Thot", was released on August 13, 2019.

He promoted the album by uploading a series of listening sessions to his YouTube channel where friends and artists such as Denzel Curry, Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco) and Hannibal Buress discussed and reacted to cuts off of the album.

All My Heroes Are Cornballs was released on September 13, 2019, to further critical acclaim, and was his first album to chart.

In October 2019, he embarked on the JPEGMafia Type Tour to support his new album.

In 2020, Hendricks released several singles across the span of the year, and compiled them into an EP, aptly titled EP! It was released on Hendricks' Bandcamp page on November 6, and on streaming services with the addition of one extra single on December 10.

On February 12, 2021, Hendricks released his second extended play, EP2! On October 2, Hendricks announced the album LP!, which was released on October 22, 2021, his birthday, to further acclaim.

Due to sample-related issues, the album was released as two separate versions: LP! released on streaming services, and ''LP!

(Offline)'' released for free on Bandcamp, YouTube, and Soundcloud.

On February 24, 2022, Hendricks announced via Twitter that the songs not on the "Online" version had been released to streaming services as the OFFLINE! EP.

On May 23, 2023, Hendricks released the complete "offline" version of the album to streaming platforms.

On November, 9, 2022, Hendricks was dropping hints to dropping three albums for 2023.

On January 15, 2023, Hendricks made a hint on his social media that he was working on a collaborative project with fellow rapper, Danny Brown.