Review: "JP4" Album by Junglepussy
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Junglepussy just released her “JP4” album, and she’s as wild as ever. Her talent hasn’t dwindled at all since her last album, “JP3”. The 28 year old blends alt-rock, rap and new sounds in an empowering way that we haven’t heard before.
The intro track, “Bad News”, an a newly emo take on Junglepussy with emo guitar and echoey effects. Think less bravado, and more a late night noir film with some ominous vibes. She’s making her sound more diverse, as artists like Princess Nokia have been doing with more experimental sounds that stretch the definition of hip hop. Men have been playing with sound for decades - why are girls boxed into corny lyrics and the male gaze? Track 6, “Spider” is another vintage-sounding, slowed down track perfect for late night vibes.
“Main attraction” lightens things up with some high hats and her a syrupy melody sung by Junglepussy. It’s almost like an alter ego to the last track, but her sugary delivery is permeated with her edgier rap voice. In the chorus of “Main Attraction”, we hear the rapper dreaming about a low-key bae who likes classy whiskey drink, and has antisocial tendencies: ‘I want somebody who don't like nobody (‘Body)/I want somebody who don't like to party (Party)/Sit in the crib and sip a hot toddy (Toddy)”
She brings out her less vulnerable side in the verses but still years for someone who’s “not a social butterfly” amidst a sea of lying, untrustworthy dudes. She just wants someone to do cozy thing and home with, and to be honest, ever since COVID, it seems like that’s all we can do anyway.
“Telepathy” has another equally weird background that feels like a Santigold meets N.E.R.D production with slicing words about the many fantasies in her complex mind with sexy, cocky lines like “I'm my own snack, why you brought me to the store?/You wanna buy me what it is you think I want/He purchasin' the sun, the moon, the stars”.
“Morning Rock” is the feminist wake n; bake anthem we never knew we needed. Setting our alarm clock to this song ASAP. As the playful refrain goes “Morning rock/ I roll the chef” she puts basic dudes on blast with statements like “Why I gotta smile so you comfy?/I gotta hate me for you to love me/I gotta teach you how to treat me/I gotta keep sellin' the fantasy” and “What a waste of this hairdo, six hours at the salon to impress you.”
She acknowledges that she needs to sell a fantasy that’s not the real her in order to succeed, but urges her fellow queens to be happy with themselves and the place they’re in, leaving us with a philosophical line that sticks in our memory. “Tellin' all stores the grass ain't greener on they side, nah/Whoever said that was high off the pesticides, bruh/Look at my lawn, bask in all the colors 'round here.”
“Arugula” transports us to deep Brooklyn in a Spike Lee scene with that drunken delivery against an equally slurry saxophone backbeat, but “Stamina” ft Gangsta Boo is still the highlight of the album for us, starting out with a beat that sounds like a tango.
The lyrics might be filled with sexually explicit spice, that’s more what we hear from the mainstream, but how could she not with a feature from the OG Gangsta Boo (the only female of Three-6-Mafia)? It’s about both being an outcast, but still embracing your sexuality as you desire.
Though each female rapper in the game is slaying their respective journey, “Stamina” is a quiet reminder that Junglepussy was here before Megan Thee Stallion, and Gangsta Boo was there before both of them.
It’s a way of letting us know that freakiness and embracing your sexuality has always been present in female rap, but these three multigenerational queens are here to remind you that their brand is definitely not for the male gaze.