Against a blend of narcotized trip-hop and uplifting R&B, the New York rapper’s fourth LP flips all traces of self-doubt into a source of power and independence.
Over three brash, gut-busting albums, Junglepussy (aka Shayna McHayle) has established herself as one of New York’s funniest and most unpredictable rappers. Her music fizzes with outlandish, sex-positive lines delivered in a rollicking flow and bolstered by her endless self-reliance in the face of shitty men. There’s very little she won’t try musically or otherwise, even making a stellar acting debut opposite Regina Hall in the 2018 dramedy Support the Girls. Junglepussy follows up that performance with her fourth album, JP4, an eclectic blend of narcotized trip-hop and uplifting R&B that expands on both her sound and themes of self-sufficiency by leading listeners deeper into her psyche than ever.
Junglepussy’s vervy punchlines are still her strongest asset, and her bars delight and divulge in equal measure. She’s obsessive to a fault on “Telepathy,” with a monotone delivery that contrasts her single-minded lust: “No more drunk sex in your Porsche/I’m my own snack, why you brought me to the store?” she asks over knocking drums and a squawking synth from producer Dave Sitek—before clarifying that her friends think she should dump this guy. “What a waste of toothpaste/Brushing my teeth only to smile in yo face,” she seethes later on the bouncy “Morning Rock,” accompanied by the sound of scrubbing and spitting into the sink. “Brushing my teeth but the regret donʼt erase.” The back-and-forth between her authoritative declarations and admissions of inner turmoil tee up Junglepussy’s comedic lines for head-spinning effect.
JP4 slips through many mercurial moods, yet solid production choices enable all of them to resonate as distinctly Junglepussy. Trip-hop is the main touchstone here—on the taunting “Spiders,” lurching drums and a distant bassline from Nick Hook recall Massive Attack, while the spooky laughter and ad-libs echoing in the background intensify the uneasiness. Sporting Life (formerly of Ratking) submerges late-album highlight “Arugula” in an amniotic glow, with a looped, pitch-shifted horn sample that recurs like the fog of breath on glass. Junglepussy adopts an affecting mumble that magnifies her lyrics, which sound on the verge of a crack-up: “Congratulations, maybe Iʼm jaded/I couldʼve sworn I seen you loving things you said you hated/Wasnʼt I the one to make you love the shit you hated?”
Junglepussy is more in her head than usual throughout JP4, but she transforms all traces of self-doubt into a source of power and independence. Over a ruptured backdrop and roiling synths on “What You Want,” another Sitek production that evokes his more agitated songs with TV on the Radio, she broods on making an exit from the music industry: “I canʼt afford to mingle it cost me my sanity/I be happy out the industry like Iʼm Kelis/Rock stars is Black farmers peep the harvest.” But she always finds a way through. On “Out My Window,” a feel-good centerpiece that’s close in spirit to 2018’s buoyant JP3, she recruits Brooklyn gospel/R&B singer Ian Isiah for a sunny chorus that builds to the funk-inflected bridge where she sing-songs her boasts: “When youʼre poppinʼ you confuse them/Make them pay for the amusement.” JP4 embodies that sure-footed confidence, creating another lane for Junglepussy to mold in her own image.
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