The enjoyment of Pink Siifu is that you just by no means know what you’re gonna get.
The rapper, who spent his childhood in Cincinnati and Birmingham earlier than making waves in New York and Los Angeles, first began effervescent when he linked with underground producer Swarvy, who continued the custom of left-field Hip Hop and digital beats served up on the now defunct Low Finish Idea membership in LA.
Siifu rapidly discovered himself recording with rap’s pioneering underground MCs, turning into mates and collaborators with artists like Navy Blue, Ahwlee, MAVI, Earl Sweatshirt, Maxo, and extra. From his collaborative work with Ahwlee as B. Cool-Help and AKAI SOLO as Black Sand, to his blunted out initiatives with Fly Anakin underneath the Fly Siifu moniker, the shape-shifting polymath has spent nearly a decade sneaking out from underneath conventional rap style tags. His solo work is much more eclectic.
His albums from 2018-2022, Ensley, NEGRO, and Gumbo’!, span head-nodding boom-bap to left-field noise-punk experiments to Badu-ian soul hymns that might make R&B legends of yesteryear resentful.
After I interviewed Siifu in 2020 for Ardour of the Weiss, he broke down the distinction between his first two LPs: “Ensley is a venture that I made with my household, my mother and my mates and my group, not just like the group of Black individuals in Black oppression, however what I’ve skilled firsthand with my mates. With NEGRO I’m attempting to inform the story of the Black human. Not simply the Black man. I wished to enter Black human tales of what the Black girl goes by way of and all that shit. NEGRO is simply completely different.”
His determination to inform this story by way of a punk lens made it one of many yr’s most charming listens. On 2022’s Gumbo’!, he cooked up Southern consolation within the type of crispy funk jams and Soulquarians-esque workout routines—songs that sound as savory because the album title suggests. Now, he’s recruited fellow Cinnanatian Turich Benjy for IT’S TOO QUIET..’!!, an album that ponders what, precisely, Pink Siifu may sound like sooner or later.
Siifu launched the venture with a riotous On The Radar freestyle with Benjy and nu-juke and ghettotech trio HiTech. They carried out “WYWD..’!?,” constructed round glowing home synths and delirious handclaps. The nice occasions preserve rolling all through the LP, which finds Siifu integrating among the electro-leaning dance beats that HiTech have been making good use of in their very own work. Like all of Siifu’s initiatives—each solo and in his duos—IT’S TOO QUIET—sounds and seems like a home celebration. Crews roll out and in, bringing their distinctive kinds and coalescing them with Siifu’s discerning style and aesthetics.
The album is bolstered by rising Cincinnati collective GKFAM, a gaggle of artists together with Peso Gordon, VonBeezy, Conquest Tony Burson, and Wealthy Park that first emerged on GUMBO’! and joined him on the “4ThaFolks” tour. The album contains a laughable quantity of wealthy collaborations, together with options from Nick Hakim, WifiGawd, Vayda, VCR, Lance Skiiwalker, Huge Rube, Nelson Bandela, Tyah, Kamilah Dende, and extra. On the manufacturing tip, Siifu flexes his rolodex, bringing alongside Tony Seltzer, Harry Fraud, Groove, Apollo Rome, DJ Harrison, Swarvy, and extra.
Regardless of this who’s-who of other rap royalty, Siifu regularly opts for substance over model. The album is texturally thrilling, that includes blown out bass, twinkling synths that sound yanked instantly from the cosmos, effervescent soul grooves, and scorched-Earth beats that sound like YoungBoy at his darkest.
IT’S TOO QUIET is a seize bag of deliriously joyful rap songs that span all types of standard subgenres. Siifu is each inventive director and star of the present, stepping up within the highlight at any time when he deems it needed and retreating to the shadows at any time when it’s time for his co-stars to shine. It’s without delay a show of his musical prowess and his ear, a declaration of his abilities on the mic and of his energy as an artist—simply have a look at all of the expertise that traces as much as work with him.
