Hi, everyone. Bigthony Icetano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Pink Siifu project, Black'!Antique.

Here we have the newest full-length album from one of the most versatile artists in the hip hop underground right now. That would be Pink Siifu, a multi-instrumentalist, producer, lyricist.

Now, I usually spend this part of the review doing a bit of a contextual sound/style overview explaining an artist's overall vibe, how exactly their music might fit in the rubric of the greater art world. But that is becoming increasingly difficult with Pink Siifu, not only because he's so active and prolific. I mean, there's so much material to keep up with between his early work or the multiple, multiple collaboration projects he put out in 2022 and 2023. There were also the four full volumes of his Got Food at the Crib mixtape series last year in 2024.

But on top of all of this, there is a variation in terms of sound and mood from record to record to record to the point where you just don't really know what you're going to get next. I mean, my favorite record from Siifu so far is handily, his 2021 Gumbo'! album, which was this fuzzy, textured, trippy ode to Southern hip hop, jazz, trap, and everything in between. While I do think very highly of the album, it almost sounds nothing like anything else in his catalog because with each new record or series of projects, he is reinventing himself entirely or operating at levels of such low-key, near silence that the music is barely registering a pulse.

Because if there is an element of Siifu's music that is consistent for the most part, it's that sometimes it can run pretty quiet, though this may not necessarily be my preferred mode that he operates in. To his credit, though, it is something that he's obviously very self-aware about. He did have that collab album dropped last year with Turich Benjy, titled It's Too Quiet, which, yeah, I'm not really in disagreement with that assessment.

However, a good deal of Black'!Antique is not necessarily one of those releases. I mean, for sure, there are elements elements of the music on this record that feel akin to previous Siifu records: the buried vocals, the spacey production, as well as the rough around the edges DIY-to-its-core presentation. But Siifu on this record actually devotes more run time than he ever has to songs that not only span past six minutes in length, but also bring a lot of punk vibes and lofi distortion and noise.

This is especially true of the material in the first half, which is pretty important to note, given that I feel like with this record, we're almost getting two albums in one. I mean, I wouldn't say there is a hard border separating the first half and the second half of the record, but the first nine songs of this album are most definitely predominantly aggressive, and some of Siifu's most experimental, abrasive, and explosive material to date.

We have this short title track intro, which brings a very heavy synthesizer opening. Then eventually, these distorted rumbling percussion loops, laid back head nodding flows as well, which are punctured by these just harsh feedback laced walls of noise. Then we have multiple bars on this track, defining Sifu's creativity in the greater rap sphere, comparing himself to ODB as well as Spike Lee. It's the intro. Got to let him know.

It's just an abrupt tone setter that very quickly brings us into "Alive and Direct'!", which is a surreal synth punk rap odyssey that spans 6 minutes and 25 seconds, complete with throbbing bass. And what sounds like that really throaty sound that ODB was making during an interlude on his debut album, which has been sampled on many a hip hop song since.

But yeah, sonically, this track is pure madness and spends a lot of time building up across its linear progression. However, the tension is so great that it's just edge of your seat for every moment that it lasts.

The track "1:1" is like a piece of homespun weirdo trap with some Bone Thugs vibes. We have features from Conquest Tony Phillips, Bbymutha, as well as Elheist. We have a lot of outlandish bars on this track, too, and the refrains describe a bad dream about a broken luxury watch. There's also a pumping beat switch in the middle of the track that turns song into something that is equal parts danceable and gritty. It sounds like something off of a Tyler, the Creator record, but even crazier.

Following this, the fourth track is another lofi punk rap jammer. Meanwhile, "[Sacrifice]BonAppetit" calls back to some older vibes in the industrial noise and rap scene, bringing on artists like Ho66or, as well as BLACKIE All Caps No Spaces to make one of the most abrasive experiences on the entire record.

Meanwhile, "SCREW4LIFE'! RIPJALEN'!" is almost like a horror core throwback with some classic laidback Southern rap flows and percussion synthesizers that are much eerier than anything from the classic era of sounds that obviously led up to this point.

Following this cut, though, we hit a handful of transitional moments on the album where Siifu plays with a myriad of different sounds, be it some low-key nightmarish trap or very woozy low-key pitch-shifted samples, even a bit of Bossa Nova and some chill ambient cloud rap vibes. But once we move fully into the second half of the record, this is when I feel like we are totally in this mode of terminally chill, vibe, abstract hip hop, the thing that is typically Siifu's bread and butter.

Now, I think a lot of the songs in the second half of this record do bring some very beautiful and intoxicating textures. Then as we dig further toward the end, a lot of the songs on the record start to get shorter, sonically get whittled down and get quieter as well, which is commendable at some points because there are at least a few tracks that border on essentially being like ambient rap sound collages. But still, even these more experimental and adventurous moments are, in my opinion, no real replacement for the very strong first impression this album makes in the beginning leg. Even if there are some very cool notable appearances from Atlanta legend Big Rube in the mix as well.

But yeah, I mean, there were some major and exciting highlights for me on this album. And Pink Siifu obviously continues to be an artist who dives so boldly and creatively into vibes, aesthetics, sound palettes. But at the end of the day, the second half of this record, I just found to be not nearly as strong as the first, even if the gradual coast-down is intentional on some level. I feel like a more varied tracklist would have kept things more interesting, especially considering that this album is as lengthy as it is, well over an hour in length.

So, yeah, despite some fantastic ideas going on with this record – some of Siifu's best material in a minute, really – as an overall album experience, it is still quite underwhelming. Features maybe one too many redundant moments that I don't think add that much to his catalog, nor do I think the overall progression of the tracklist is all that compelling.

So yeah, it's decent, but I certainly have my reservations, which is why I'm feeling a strong 6 on it.

Anthony Fantano, Pink Siifu, Forever.