<\/p>\n
\u201cI have 23 cars, 18 mansions, and 800 wives,\u201d Brae says. His running mate (and former member of Penn State\u2019s storied EDM Club), Joey Valence, has been growing his Pok\u00e9mon<\/em> GameBoy collection, buying sealed Japanese-edition copies. This is how the duo<\/a> have spent their blow-up money after landing on a major label without leaving Joey\u2019s bedroom. While a chance meeting at a Red Lobster near State College, where the boys went knee-deep in an Admiral\u2019s Feast, set them towards their destiny of becoming the greatest rap group of all time, PUNK TACTICS<\/em> and NO HANDS<\/em> were the studious, albeit cunt-serving pursuits that placed them somewhere in the cross-section of Korn and Lil Jon. Their all-caps ascent continues on HYPERYOUTH<\/em>, a glow-up record about not wanting to grow up that cements them as not just the prankster playboys of their generation, but future festival headliners. (Coachella, honey, if you\u2019re reading this: Make the call already.)<\/p>\n Allergic to filter and gloriously silly, Joey and Brae aren\u2019t interested in upholding rap\u2019s conventions. The genre\u2019s history of being a boys club (and its frequent enabling of homophobia) simply isn\u2019t in the duo\u2019s vocabulary. That\u2019s why you hear voices like Ayesha Erotica and Rebecca Black next to theirs, because accessibility and platforming marginalized artists, Joey says, is \u201cthe biggest part\u201d of what they do, and that they use their music \u201cas a home for anybody.\u201d \u201cThe #1 thing we preach,\u201d Brae elaborates, \u201cis being yourself. No matter what niche you\u2019re into, come as you are. What you have in common for that hour at a JVB show is that you fuck with our music, you love us, and everyone around you is a friend.\u201d And Joey and Brae follow their own adage, and who they are is a reflection of the people coming to their shows\u2014folks with an itch for Pok\u00e9mon, anime, skateboarding, and car-collecting; dudes who just want to hear some Lady Gaga and do backflips off buildings.<\/p>\n Online, JVB\u2019s reach feels even more all-encompassing. Brae recalls seeing their songs used in videos of \u201cextreme sports, DIY, cooking, fashion, and straight-up street interviews.\u201d Even this year, \u201cPACKAPUNCH\u201d showed up on the WWE 2K25<\/em> soundtrack, next to the likes of Amyl and the Sniffers<\/a>, Jelly Roll, Knocked Loose, and BABYMETAL<\/a>. Soon, they\u2019ll have music in one of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater<\/em> games. \u201cOne of the cooler parts of doing what we do is [having] our songs out in the world,\u201d Brae adds. \u201cWe never thought that they would be in skate games. It\u2019s insane, because those are the games I grew up playing. Now, our stupid faces pop up in the corner when the song shuffles. It\u2019s so bizarre\u2014like, what the fuck?\u201d<\/p>\n For HYPERYOUTH<\/em>, Joey and Brae knew they wanted to make music more honestly and not rest on an artillery of pop culture citations. To be clear, the references come aplenty, as the boys drop nods to Sydney Sweeney and Pitchfork<\/em> (\u201cBUST DOWN\u201d), Xbox (\u201cPARTY\u2019S OVER\u201d), LeBron James (\u201cLIVE RIGHT\u201d), Apple CarPlay and Soulja Boy (\u201cHAVE TO CRY\u201d), G-Shock watches (\u201cGO HARD\u201d), and themselves (\u201cSEE U DANCE\u201d). But the first idea for the album was to explore singing, and the anxious, confessional \u201cLIVE RIGHT\u201d was the song that Joey finished first. \u201cWhen I sent it to Brae,\u201d he remembers, \u201che was like, \u2018Bro, this shit is ass!\u2019\u201d Brae confirms as much (\u201cI hated it\u201d). \u201cBut it was the first time we had really started exploring the theme of the album,\u201d Joey continues. \u201cAs we started working on it, it became our favorite song. We hadn\u2019t really done it in the world of rap music before, like, \u2018How do we bring this sound, that we both like and are familiar with, to our audience?\u2019\u201d Being genuine was the right move, the boys argue. \u201cWe did what we wanted, and that\u2019s what our audience reacts to. They understand it and they like it, which is really awesome to know.\u201d<\/p>\n Joey Valence and Brae resist parody on HYPERYOUTH<\/em>. It\u2019s the kind of album you want all of your favorite artists to make\u2014one that establishes a deep pocket and pulls its makers far into it. Vulnerability becomes a flashy asset and maturity is the playful equalizer. These aren\u2019t two dudes just going ballistic on stage and shouting clever bars for a quick buzz. There\u2019s elements of soul, house, and pop music woven into rap framework, proving that the ceiling is always the floor on a JVB track. The veil of chaos that the duo so often empower gets lifted on songs like \u201cHAVE TO CRY\u201d and \u201cMYSELF,\u201d as Joey and Brae reckon with the consequences of fame (\u201c500,000 units sold, the success real loud, I let the fit talk\u201d) and the burdens of letting your emotions come unglued (\u201cWas always hard to talk about my feelings on a track, but you don\u2019t wanna hear that\u201d). \u201cWe really challenged ourselves to be more open with our writing,\u201d Joey acknowledges. \u201cWe advanced in a lot of different areas on this album, and it\u2019s still equally as chaotic and fun and silly as we\u2019ve always been. But we were like, \u2018If we don\u2019t force ourselves to evolve and try some new things, when are we ever going to be able to do it?\u2019\u201d And that\u2019s a big part of growing up\u2014leaping into the unknown and embracing the shit that\u2019ll turn you inside out if you let it.<\/p>\n