Danny Brown + JPEGMAFIA – Scaring The Hoes

Let’s get this out the way first: ‘Scaring The Hoes’ is sensationally good. It’s a record that defies convention, while grabbing you from first note to last. Truly lawless, it’s the sound of two top tier MCs going toe-to-toe over breakneck beats, skewing rap conventions to breaking point in the process. It’s ruthlessly entertaining, frequently funny, and more than matches the substantial hype. Equal to anything in either Danny Brown or JPEGMAFIA’s catalogue, it somehow transcends this to grab a space of its own. You emerge breathless, stunned – in short, it’s a helluva ride.

Opener ‘LEAN BEEF PATTY’ is a no-holds-barred introduction. Every single note feels tweaked to bleeding point, a sonic assault framed by chirruping SOPHIE-esque electronics and a square-wave bassline worthy of 2002 era grime. The stuttering beat on ‘STEPPA PIG’ brings out an unruly performance from Danny Brown, sheer punk rock in its outlaw bravado. Title cut ‘SCARING THE HOES’ is brutally simplistic, swapping dense electronics for a rhythm section built around hand claps.

It’s not all sonic trickery, though. At heart, this is a project that works through the unrelenting chemistry between these seismic talents. It’s been a long time coming, but the sheer unity in its creation gives ‘Scaring The Hoes’ a punch few heavyweights can match. ‘FENTATYL TASTER’ offers screeching digitalism, while the gleeful horn fanfare on ‘BURFICT!’ is absolutely hilarious. 

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A record of incredible breadth, Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA continually switch it up. ‘GOD LOVES YOU’ offers warped gospel elements, but ‘HOE (HEAVEN ON EARTH)’ completely subverts this. A record where crude in-jokes and profound observations can sit in the same bar, it can move from the cartoonish ‘GARBAGE PAIL KIDS’ to the high-speed minimalism of ‘WHERE YA GET YOUR COKE FROM’ in what seems like the blink of an eye.

Ultimately, this is an album where velocity is key. Danny Brown and JEGMAFIA communicate a ceaseless flood of ideas, the production bedrock moving from old school funk to PC Music style digi-abstraction, sometimes in the space of the same song. ‘Scaring The Hoes’ is daunting at times in its incredible acceleration, coming to a breaking halt at the same speed. Yet that’s all part of the song – ideas are stamped out, and left to go to ground. Nothing is retained, everything is spewed out across 12 stunning tracks. Just check out closer ‘Jack Harlo Combo Meal’ – it opens with jazz piano, before the chrysalis is ripped open to reveal a breaks-laden monster, a heavy-duty roller with jungle inflections. But then it swerves once more, the speed dropping to absorb a syrupy, effects-laden vocal. Sincerity and sarcasm are blurred, the unsettling impact of ‘Scaring The Hoes’ sustained from first note to last. A nerve-jangling experience, it could well rank as their masterpiece.

9/10

Words: Robin Murray

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