JPEGMAFIA

Few rappers have built their reputation as much from the production desk as from the microphone. Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks, known as JPEGMafia, was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, to Jamaican parents and spent most of his childhood in East Flatbush. A move to Alabama at 13 exposed him to racism that later fed into his music. He enlisted in the US Air Force at 18, served a tour during the Iraq War, and was honourably discharged after speaking up about reported abuse by his superiors. He has said he is a producer first and a rapper second, and he takes both seriously.

He started producing at 15 and, while living between Okinawa and Tokyo, made music as Devon Hendryx. From Baltimore he released mixtapes including Communist Slow Jams and Darkskin Manson, then the harsher, more distorted Black Ben Carson, issued independently in February 2016. Veteran in 2018 drew widespread critical acclaim, and All My Heroes Are Cornballs in 2019 was his first album to chart on the Billboard 200. Scaring the Hoes arrived with AWAL in 2023, followed by I Lay Down My Life for You in 2024 and Experimental Rap in May 2026.