Tim Ovenden
Two lovable oddballs. Two boisterous performances. Two burst eardrums. Tim Ovenden saw JPEGMAFIA and Slowthai on consecutive nights, while he should have been studying. He now writes a review on his favourite of the two gigs… while he should be studying.
JPEGMAFIA, often fondly nicknamed Peggy, is certainly a unique voice in the hip-hop scene. I was going to add ‘experimental’ before the word ‘hip-hop,’ but, to quote the man himself, “white writers wanna paint me as edgy… can’t handle the fact that I’m rapping.” Yes, his beats are kooky. Yes, his song titles are silly. That doesn’t make his words any less important. As a white male, I know I need to be aware of my privilege. Peggy prods at this privilege so often in his music- it’s almost impossible to listen along as a white person and not feel some inherent, yet important, discomfort.
*Explicit Content in this video
I felt a little hesitant about going to see one of his shows. His white male fanbase has been well documented, and there was something uneasy for me about being at a predominantly white gig, with everyone rapping along to the n–word. Artists No Name and Dean Blunt, among others, have been outspoken in their discomfort at having mostly white fans. Peggy, however, has stated in multiple interviews that his fan demographic does not bother him, so I decided to go, support the artist, and have a great time.
Something about the man you can’t not love
When Peggy first showed his face, I was grinning from ear to ear. There’s just something about the man you can’t not love. It was quite a cosy venue and I was mere metres from his noggin, without any need to wade right into the heart of the moshpit. That was a mistake I made in Rock City the following day, getting right front and centre for Slowthai, before being thrown about like a dog toy after the first beat began. Thankfully, I managed to escape the crush with my glasses unharmed.
Compared to that, JPEGMAFIA’s crowd was positively tame. I spotted two lonely old boys avoiding the riff-raff with balcony seats. The only vendetta I have against seating at concerts is the need of some people to stand up for particular songs, with everyone else then obligated to awkwardly follow suit. Sit down and clap if you have to.
One song got everyone singing in complete unison
Despite being a massive fan of JPEGMAFIA, even I struggled to remember a considerable portion of the lyrics. However, one song got everyone singing in complete unison. After parting the crowd in two like Moses, Peggy entered and graced everyone with an A Cappella cover of Carly Rae Jespson’s Call Me Maybe. I believe this act is a Peggy show regular, but considering how catchy his covers are – including No Scrubs and the Backstreet Boys’ I Want It That Way – I want to see a gig of bad A Cappellas. I also wish he had played at least one song from ‘EP2!’; it’s an essential part of his discography, and doesn’t get the plays it deserves, considering how accessible it is.
It was a cringey few minutes
Unfortunately, the night wasn’t all plain sailing; it was revealed that Peggy’s bandana had been snatched while he was crowd surfacing. He was evidently very annoyed, ordering the thief to cough up for quite some time. The crowd tried their best to unearth this scumbag, and it was a cringey few minutes, but the bandana never showed, despite Peggy even pleading that he made it himself. A sad affair really, but JPEGMAFIA carried on, always giving his all. This was Peggy’s first show in England (and what a great impression we Brits made!), so I would be interested to see how his voice holds out across the tour; he was screaming at the top of his lungs for over an hour.
When it was all over, there was the option to wait around and meet Peggy for photos and autographs. I had gotten shy when I thought we’d locked eyes during the set, so the notion of chatting to him was too much for me. I fled the cesspit of sweat for some chippies, but it got me thinking. Seeing an artist is great, but actually meeting and chatting to them is a completely different ball game. I don’t want to waste their time. What artists do I love and yet would also be completely unfazed walking up to in the street for a chat? What’s yours, dear reader? Unless you’re the ‘person’ who stole Peggy’s bandana, in which case, I wish you a very unpleasant evening.
Tim Ovenden
Featured image courtesy of Alex Watkin. Permission to use granted to Impact. No changes were made to this image.
In-article images courtesy of @jpegmafia via @instagram.com . No changes were made to this image.
In-article video courtesy of @JPEGMAFIA via @youtube.com. No changes were made to this video.
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