JPEGMAFIA and Earl Sweatshirt would seem to be musical peers rather than rivals, but the pair has recently exchanged verbal barbs online. After a recent interview, JPEGMAFIA seemingly took a jab at Earl Sweatshirt, prompting a bit of a digital tussle.
JPEGMAFIA’s issues with Earl Sweatshirt have apparently been ongoing, as evidenced by a Billboard last summer where Peggy, as he’s known to his fans, centered himself as Hip-Hop’s sole “risk taker” and accused Sweatshirt of not being innovative.
“Alchemist, Earl and them? They’ve been making the same f*cking song for the last twenty f*cking years. Nobody gives a s—t. I’m not them,” JPEG said in that interview.
Fast forward to 2026, an interview posted by Pigeons & Planes featured the nomadic rapper who has roots in New York and Baltimore, explaining why his upcoming album is titled EXPIRIMENTAL RAP.
From the Pigeons & Planes interview:
“I’m already the best in this space of experimental rap. There’s no one who competes with me. People cannot do what I do,” he tells P&P. “So me naming it ‘Experimental Rap’ is just me laying claim to something I already had.”
“Other people in this genre, they want to pretend and try to be cool and be like, ‘I don’t want to be experimental rap. I want to be something else. I want to f**king rap like Lucki. I want to make songs that the young people make,’” he adds. “I’m not having a midlife crisis, musically, so I don’t really need to do that. I can just be myself, and I let other people try to figure out who they are at 40 or whatever.”
Eagle-eye fans online connected JPEG’s comments to being a shot at Sweatshirt, who commented under the post with barbs of his own.
“Nobody copies cuh because his music is gnarled rough, and ugly (derogatory),” Sweatshirt said in one comment. In another, he wrote, “Lmao leave me alone pls I make music with my friends that I have (derogatory).”
JPEG fired back, writing, “1st off N*gga your career is gnarled and rough, you the first n*gga since Joe Budden to go back underground literally. 2nd stop saying “cuh” your 32 and you went to boarding school. 3rd neither you nor your friends would Ever say none of this to my face. But Thank You for the promo little guy.”
Sweatshirt, who is four years junior to his rival, kept the trolling going, giving an apology to JPEGMAFIA.
“You know what bro my fault i misspoke. bro is the king of making crunchy ass music and wearing muay thai shorts, super excited for the album brother (positive) seems like its gonna be really experimental,” Earl Sweatshirt wrote.
On social media, fans are chiming in on the beef, although it doesn’t seem like it’s going any further than words at this point.
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Photo: Getty
