I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU (DIRECTOR'S CUT): Album Review

The original Drake hater takes a victory lap

First off, I have to thank LeBron for inventing the deluxe album, because this is great. Second of all, I have to thank all the hip-hop nerd JPEGMAFIA glazers for introducing me to one of the most creative artists in the game right now. Peggy’s original drop of I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU in August of 2024 was one of the standout albums of last year, shifting to a more rock-influenced sound on many songs but keeping his signature harsh electronic style on other tracks.

But on top of his one-of-a-kind style, Peggy’s quality of being chronically online (or “terminally online,” as he himself would put it) makes way for some of the most creative production and sampling perhaps of all time. Among other things, the original cut sampled: an AI Future cover, an announcer call from a Knicks game, the “Boneless” Fortnite emote, and a Brazilian radio host.

And though JPEGMAFIA is well out of the range of youth, I think he’s currently the most popular rapper with a Gen Z brain—calling pedophiles “PDF files” (which originated out of a need to avoid Instagram filters), going for low blows like “No Drizzy,” and having a track where he just rattles off the titles of Playboi Carti tracks.

The deluxe album, according to JPEG himself, is an extended version of the original. It is immediately noticeably different from most other deluxes as the bonus tracks are spread across the album’s duration instead of being concentrated all at the end. Many of them transition into either each other or songs that were already on the original version of the album, creating a greater cohesion that further enhances the album.

That starts with “I.S. 231,” a stand-alone intro track that’s just Peggy singing with his father and transitions seamlessly into what was the intro on “i scream…,” the beginning of the original cut of the album. This is a good sentimental touch to this more personal version of the album, but I think I liked the immediate out-of-the-gate “if I was an NBA player, I would be Dillon Brooks, but worse” a little bit better.

But if Peggy’s purpose with this “director’s cut” was to add more of a personal, emotional flair to what was once an incredibly aggressive album with far fewer slow ballad-like tracks, this certainly accomplished it.

“PROTECT THE CROSS” was the first single released to tease the drop of this Director’s Cut. I loved this song when it first came out, and I love it just as much if not more now with the slightly updated production on this album version. The first half of this track had a few more guitar riffs added, which don’t really do much for me—I think I certainly preferred the original track, but it’s not anything ruinous. The second half, though, is undoubtedly better. The production here changed almost completely, going from more of a metal-influenced beat after the switch to a classic rock-feeling vibe instead. It is such a clear upgrade.

Lyrically, I really love this song, and it’s a great microcosm of the type of lyrical content that makes Peggy so different. He catches onto all the small cultural nuances that a brainrotted doomscroller would know while at the same time having the musical and writing prowess to masterfully incorporate them into songs while spreading thought-provoking messages. Just here, we have verses like:

Two faced, and I'm Harvey Dent mixed with Michael Jackson

I can't even get jiggy with these n****s, I feel like Michael Blackson

And y'all got thirty n****s on a beat, that shit is Frankenstein

I'm outstreamin' every n***a I beef with, I be analyzing

Man, these n****s be old and not wise

I meant all of that rippidy rappin' be makin' me soft

All of them Wah Gwan Delilahs, they standin' on nothin'

Them n****s and hoes can be bought

I still remember being an 8-year-old fan of Michael Jackson, diving deep into YouTube search results and eventually coming across Michael Blackson and his odd parodies—this song made me remember those experiences when nothing else would have. Bonus points for doubling down on his hate for Drake, which came about as early as 2016 a near-decade before it was cool.

“Jordan Rules” feels like the precise crossroads of Peggy’s two production styles—it has the acoustic drumming of the original cut’s rock sound, but also the sharp, piercing electronic noises of that defined the rest of his career.

Here, I appreciate both the thrilling first half and the slower second section. It’s also paired with some very funny lines—we got a Luigi Mangione reference (“Shot your boss like my brother was Mario”) and a joke about Tiananmen Square in the same track. It’s really quite entertaining, like it was when the original cut of the album released, to hear all of these bars for the first time.

This song is built off an extension of the beat at the end of “New Black History” from the original album, just with full verses and vocals on them now. I think this production may be a turn off for most mainstream hip-hop fans, and I don’t particularly love it, but it’s still quite fun to hear.

This beat does get a little bit excessive. It certainly fits within Peggy’s style of industrial hip-hop, but is on a thin line between sounding beautiful and irritating. It does unfortunately lean a little more towards sounding annoying. I enjoy the second half of the song a lot better when the harsh noises calm down a little.

Peggy also delivers some funnily Eminem/Babytron-esque bars—lines like “My percentage over the number like QWERTY keyboards” are just him making stupid jokes about the position he’s in in the music industry—unrecognized by the biggest names, but appreciated by an extensive audience of fans.

I really love the production of this song. It has a blippy quality to it and has that ambient “The Backrooms”-esque drone noise that resonates through the entire beat. It kind of feels like an anti-Playboi Carti version of rage music, which encapsulates the same emotions at a much slower pace.

It does reuse the same bridge from “JIHAD JOE,” a song that I did enjoy on my first listen of the album—I, unfortunately, can’t say its use entirely works here. I feel like that verse felt a lot more fitting on “JIHAD JOE” in the album’s original version.

Back in New York

Back in the fort

I'm back with the band

Jump out the house

Jump off the porch

With the 30 in hand

Lyrical content is also pretty standard: some more Drake shots, some more oddly specific pop culture references (Genius says it’s Mortal Kombat this time around, I heard some Chinese names and I was confused since I don’t really play the game). I overall do enjoy most of the song, though.

Peggy love song? This song certainly lives up to the hype of being the album’s titular track—it’s a sort of collage of all of his past relationships that gets extremely personal to the point that he even has to censor some parts of it (there’s a line where the sound is literally just muted in the middle). He admits to a lot of things, both highlights of his past relationships and questionable things he’s done.

Buzzy Lee (who, by the way, is Steven Spielberg’s daughter) has a great vocal performance in the song, which is nice considering I didn’t love the song with her in the album’s original cut (“Don’t Put Anything On The Bible”).

I think this song is a nice breather and change of pace from the rest of the album’s nonstop electronic sounds and harsh, fast beats.

I love this track. It’s very reminiscent of Peggy’s signature “Call Me Maybe” cover in that it’s his experimental spin with a more pop-sounding track. It’s a looped Ciara sample that layers with his own vocals nicely.

This, along with “What the hip hop hell is this ?” are the most catchy tracks on the album. I think they have a similar rhythm that I’m drawn to, as well as their common ancestor of dance-like production.

The second half feels like an entirely different song, with a beat that begins with a slow acoustic drum line and eventually evolves into a fully electronic instrumental that sounds like glittery rain falling on a speaker. Both halves are enjoyable.

I discover a lot of funny things through Peggy lines. Apparently, “Cooking With Kya” is a TikTok user who just cooks while twerking,

And I get to whipping the butt like I'm Cooking with Kya

and it’s so funny that he just decided to do a random name drop of this woman I’ve never even heard of.

JPEGMAFIA really figured out this formula of pulling one line from a pop song, distorting and looping it, and then rapping over it. For most rappers, this would get repetitive, but he introduces new ideas into each one. The previous track was a clubby dance song, but this track is a more introspective, almost hymn-like religious one.

This song samples a Lil Durk track. I’m not really much of a Lil Durk listener at all, so I never knew he was capable of vocals like this. On top of that, the lyrical messaging of this track further enhances its effect. The “on my knees for a God I can’t even see” line is probably the best one-liner this album has.

I'm on my knees for a God that I can't even see

3 a.m. in the Chi' with your ex, I made her believe

They got secrets to hide, they just prayin' that nobody sees

She on her knees for a man that she ain't even see

Then on top of all of that, this track perfectly transitions into:

This song is incredible. The beat is so innovative on top of varying itself enough to remain interesting, yet consistent throughout the whole track. The echoey voice that acts as a motif during the entire song makes it so cohesive while still having that same experimental flair that’s Peggy’s signature.

The lyricism in this song is also some of the best on the album. It addresses a combination of themes like race, the entertainment industry, and his music creation. “Malcolm ain’t die for this shit” and the related lines on that theme so perfectly encapsulate his comments on the mentalities he sees in society.

Yeah, I heard all your beats wasn't hits

I can't argue with talent or lists (Uh-uh)

What the hip-hop hеll is this?

Oh, you mad you not on some lists?

These bars, combined with his comments on underground rappers in the original cut (I forgot what song he said them on, but they were pretty scorching) provide a humorously interesting mixed perspective on the experimental scene.

That incredible instrumental is immediately followed by another that’s just as interesting—“Come and Get Me” has a beat that’s an amalgamation of orchestral strings, rock-style electric guitars, and some classic 808s.

This is also another song with some random digs at things Peggy doesn’t like and even includes a reference to Geometry Dash, which some of his beats feel inspired by at times. The song gets a lot more unusual in its second half, where he goes for some vocals that certainly sound fine, but just feel a bit unusual. It’s a good track overall, but it’s certainly carried by the production.

I like the electric guitar in the background of this song, and it does truly feel like a loosely-coordinated freestyle track where Peggy just says a bunch of things that are on his mind. That’s how a lot of his tracks are styled, but it’s especially noticeable on this one. I do think this freestyle feel doesn’t exactly work perfectly on this track. It’s not too much of a highlight on this deluxe.

The final real track on this is “HATE,” which features FREAKYMAFIACULT (not sure what the relationship between him and JPEGMAFIA exactly is) and is probably the most panned song on this album I’ve seen based on popular opinion. The beat is a little bit overly aggressive, but I do still enjoy it. It’s a decent offering.

This is a short 30-second instrumental, but I think it’s pretty funny because it samples the Geometry Dash menu sound.

I do like this expanded version of the album. There are certain intro songs and interludes that really tie together the previous project, but also some new tracks that make the collection of songs feel like a whole new LP. A lot of the songs do show a more emotional side that encapsulates the album’s title a whole lot better. There are some songs that I wouldn’t have hated to see get left out, but this is certainly an upgrade from the album’s earlier 2024 version.

Ratings:

PROTECT THE CROSS: 10/10
Jordan Rules: 9/10
CULT STATUS: 8/10
COKE OR DOPE?: 8/10
i lay down my life for you: 9/10
Boy You Should Know!: 9/10
What the hip hop hell is this ?: 9/10
Come and Get Me: 8/10
Bloodline Freestyle: 7/10
HATE: 7/10

Overall Rating (Deluxe): 8.4/10