Topics include political unrest, feminism, hipsterism ('Real Nega'), the flaws of liberalism ('Libtard Anthem'), and gentrification ('Whole Foods', 'Williamsburg'). Thompson of Pitchfork, the rapper borrows the evocative language of artists like MC Ren, Ice Cube, and Eazy-E, and brings in the irony and bad-faith argumentation of usual internet discussion. In fact, critics described the album's 'dissonance', 'lithe sexuality', rage, and 'jaded indifference' as a 'incisive, contradictory, sometimes sarcastic' manifesto on the 'jarring' state of the United States' social climate, specifically the 'monstrous, Twitter-shit spirit of 2018', by a man mentally on the edge. Veteran continues JPEGMafia's trend of referencing elements of popular culture, political and social issues, which he considers a presentation of a internet-dominated era. Turner notes the 'goofy production keeps the record from same navel-gazing mythologizing'. These alterations happen abruptly all within 'Thug Tears', beginning with the rapper singing, then rapping in staccato notes before rapping smoothly and singing again.

JPEGMafia's vocal performance is mostly abrasive (in a manner David Turner compared to MC Ride) but ranges from aggressive to calm to crooning. The instrumentals are an amalgamation of noise and glitch styles in the vein of Tigerbeat6 and Mille Plateaux, as well as punk rap, noise rap, trap, and 'space-age R&B'. Matthew Moyer of Orlando Weekly labeled Veteran as the most freeform hip-hop album ever, even more so than the works of Death Grips and clipping. 'I Cannot Fucking Wait Until Morrisey Dies' was also much longer, with 'an intro and a whole other part' before being whittled down to 1 minute 27 seconds. 'Dayum' was originally much longer, consisting of 3 different beats that he made, before being edited down to 1 minute 26 seconds because it was 'not needed'. 'Libtard Anthem' originally featured JPEGMafia doing a verse, but removed himself from the song in favor for Freaky's guest verse because he felt that 'he summed it up perfectly'. JPEGMafia calls Veteran an exercise in editing, in that there are were a lot of moments he took out and some that almost didn't make it, and that he 'reeled it back' more on Veteran compared to earlier records.

JPEGMafia attributed the album's aggressive and chaotic nature to 'other shit' he experienced in Baltimore, and was able to fully understand it when he became level-headed in Los Angeles. The album was originally intended to be released on October 22, 2017, his 28th birthday. He recorded around 120 songs and set aside 19 for the album. Most of Veteran was recorded while JPEGMafia was living in Baltimore and was mixed and mastered when he moved to Los Angeles in mid 2017.

Jpegmafia veteran vinyl