JPEGMAFIA, Jesus Forgive Me, I Am a Thot | Track Review

Underrated alternative rapper and producer JPEGMAFIA delivers a brief, but totally intriguing record with “Jesus Forgive Me, I Am a Thot.”

“Huh, sucka, I’m prominent, I was anonymous / I been in front of you every time…” Sometimes, a song title is enough of a reason to check out a song.  In this case, there’s no escaping a song named “Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot.”  Honestly, any song title that manages to incorporate one hip-hop’s favorite slang words, thot, piques interest.  In this case, “Jesus Forgive Me, I Am a Thot” arrives courtesy of alternative rapper and producer JPEGMAFIA (Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks).  Worth noting, he’s quite underrated. The brief song which is only about two-and-a-half minutes long, is quite intriguing, particularly being my first experience with JPEG.

Starting with the noisy intro, “Jesus Forgive Me, I Am a Thot” makes the listener ask, WTF is going on.  Things settle in more on the first verse, but JPEGMAFIA throws a lot of different things at the listener within the rapping and singing itself.  That includes vocal inflections, shouting, coupled with vocal effects.  More interesting is how JPEGMAFIA manages to reference religion, sex (“Show me where the prophets go / Show me how to keep my pussy closed”), and the state of his career (“Pray I end up like Charlize Theron”). Ultimately, “Jesus Forgive Me, I Am a Thot” is quite a reflective number, including pop cultural references to Britney Spears (“Britney, this is a sign / Pray you grow healthy and hit your prime”) and David Byrne (“Speaking in tongues like David Byrne”).

Final Thoughts 

All in all, JPEGMAFIA delivers quite the intriguing record with “Jesus Forgive Me, I Am a Thot.” Hey, he closes the song out with a praise: “Praise the motherfuckin’ lord.” Hmm, that’s some sketchy praise… Regardless, quite an interesting song.

JPEGMAFIA • Jesus Forgive Me, I Am a Thot [Single] • EQT Recordings • Release: 8.13.19

Photo Credit: EQT Recordings