Beef is alive and well within hip-hop in 2026. Now, two of the underground’s most prominent rappers are bickering back and forth, calling each other wack.
It all started when JPEGMAFIA was interviewed by Pigeons & Planes, where he declared himself the king of experimental rap. In the process, he took a not-so-subtle shot at Earl Sweatshirt. “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. So me naming it ‘Experimental Rap’ is just me laying claim to something I already had,” JPEGMAFIA said.
“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***ing rap like Lucki. I want to make songs that the young people make,’” JPEGMAFIA said, shading Earl Sweatshirt and his new music. “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.”
Earl Sweatshirt Fires Back at JPEGMAFIA Shading Him During Interview
Naturally, Earl didn’t take kindly to the sly remarks. Consequently, he responded by essentially scoffing at JPEGMAFIA’s music in the comments. “Lmao leave me alone pls i make music with my friends that i have (derogatory),” he says in one comment before firing off another. “Nobody copies cuh because his music is gnarled rough and ugly.”
JPEGMAFIA immediately clapped back at Earl Sweatshirt, not indulging in any of the sarcasm and jokes. “1st off n**** your career is gnarled and rough, you the first n**** since Joe Budden to go back underground literally. 2nd stop saying ‘cuh’ your 32 and went to boarding school,” he replied. “3rd neither you nor your friends would ever say none of this to my face. But thank you for the promo little guy.”
JPEGMAFIA is claiming the throne as the king of experimental rap, which is why he named his next album ‘EXPERIMENTAL RAP.’
“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… pic.twitter.com/nOxfDnTE1K— Pigeons & Planes (@PigsAndPlans) April 30, 2026
Earl Sweatshirt essentially rolled his eyes and continued demeaning JPEGMAFIA’s entire career. “You know what bro my fault I misspoke. bro is the king of making crunchy ass music and wearing muay thai shorts,” Earl wrote. “Super excited for the album brother (positive) seems like it’s gonna be really experimental. I fw the new leather vibe 2 twin s*** hard.”
Finally, Earl Sweatshirt ended things most recently by continuing to troll the 36-year old rapper. “Yall make sure yall go stream that Experimental Rap Songs,” he said in an Instagram story post. “Gotta give credit where its due, bro learned great rollout technique from King Troll himself and the US armed forces. Happy to support another black man’s hard work.”
The post Earl Sweatshirt and JPEGMAFIA Are Beefing Hard Right Now: ‘His Music is Gnarled, Rough, and Ugly’ appeared first on VICE.
