Jp500: Perfect verses & Tight beats

Earlier this month, my underrated fave Junglepussy dropped her latest body of work Jp5000, and it is an experience!! JP has been putting out quality music for years now, but this project feels like her final form. When I say final form, I don’t mean her last creative evolution (because an artist as genius as Junglepussy evolves often,) but I do mean her final form as an artist with true confidence in herself. She’s been there, she’s done that, and now she’s selling t-shirts.

“Bitches love to critique, they just swear they unique.” - CRITIQUA, JUNGLEPUSSY

The EP kicks off with the melancholy and contemplative, Critiqua. In true JP fashion she manages to stay positive and self reflective while dragging no one in particular. Lines like “Bitches can’t even see/ eyelash on fleek,” and “Earned my respect held down the day shift/Pregnant with success and you know what they did” pack a punch. Her unique flow, is unlike anything else in the zeitgeist, but what really did it for me was the video. Clad in a purple suit, and green feather hat, she serves in a look I can only equate to a high fashion feminine joker. As usual, she brings her unique kink to the game, reminding me of no one I’ve seen before. Critiqua melts into its predecessor Movie Screen, which feels like more vibes, but as usual JP is spitting mantras. Her acute rhymes almost feel like a brain game. Every bar is a bar. The airy instrumental sounds like something you would hear in a Final Fantasy video game.

Nah I don’t miss the dude/ I always had to lift the mood. 

I got baggage too/But look what I produce - MOVIE SCREEN, JUNGLEPUSSY 

Movie Screen serves as a great palette cleanser for my personal favorite track Foreign Exchange. What I love about this song is JP’s honesty. To the tune of an entrancing instrumental she paints a picture of her teenage romance. Set against an NYC background, she reminisces on a date to see the indie rap duo Foreign Exchange, but the scene she sets turns out to be a mirage. Her date, though seriously sweet on her is ashamed to admit it, and distances himself, playing the game of “orbiting” , keeping tabs on her for years to make sure she doesn’t move on too far. Like clockwork, he attempts to spin the block when her star rises. This track is honest, awkward, and relatable. It feels like peeping into a therapy session; it’s healing. The rejection she unpacks is one many rad girls can relate to. To be great is to be misunderstood.

He just wanted Jimmy Neutron/From me on his futon 
Til' he met a new chick/And drained her electrons - FOREIGN EXCHANGE, JUNGLEPUSSY

The fourth installment of the EP Raqueletta has a unique frequency. Listening to it feels like a guided meditation. The entire song, she details a healthy love, an affirming love, a reciprocal love, a love that contrasts the experience she unhashed in Foreign Exchange. It allows her to be seen, supported, and loved as herself, and from what she describes, I’ll take some of that!

Big dude make my problems micro/Good new when you in my zip code. - RAQUELETTA, JUNGLEPUSSY 

The last track of the EP Mystical, is just JP having fun. She rides the jazzy beat bragging about her mysticism. With bars like “You pretty cool for a Brooklyn dude /You mad cute with your crooked tooth,” remind listeners of why they fell in love with JP in the first place. The song feels a lot like the final freestyle scene in a battle rap movie. Junglepussy in her deepest bag, delivering her best bars. It’s showtime.

You are now in the presence of an Empress/Don’t fumble your chances - MYSTICAL, JUNGLEPUSSY

This time around the underground Queen is selling her music for $10 a track on bandcamp, and I’m proud to pay. As a JP fan, I’ve watched this woman practice radical self expression for years, delivering some of the most memorable, empowering, and quirky bars I’ve ever heard. She has always chosen her vision over the opinions of others, always remained true to herself, and though I lowkey wish she would compromise a bit to get the mass appeal she deserves, I have to respect her unapologetic choice to be her no matter what. All these years, doing it indie, in the capitalist, colorist, and corrupt music industry — yeah, I have to stan. For me, she continues to be the perfect verse over a tight beat.

XoXo - Dot Com

“Rad bvtches link up!”