Pink Siifu - BLACK!ANTIQUE (Album Initial Thoughts)

March 29th, 2025

I've been listening to min. 5 albums a week for a few weeks now (usually marathoning them all on Saturday), and tried to listen to this last week, but it would have been the last album of the day and I had somewhere to be in exact an hour, and this album is a bit over an hour, plus when I started listening to it, I could tell it was quite alternative, and needed more time and more energy than what I had at the time.

So I'm getting into it now. It's March 29th, but this post won't come out until late April. I put most of the albums I listen to to the "Random albums I listened to in..." posts that I've started doing, but if I have a lot to say about an album, then I make it into it's own post.

I'm listening to this, because critics loved it, it got 81/100 on Metacritic. Lets get into it.

BLACK'!ANTIQUE

A lot of droning, creating an anxiety-inducing atmosphere. 

I like the effect on his voice, and the mixing, but his flow is quite repetitive and simple. It adds to the atmosphere, though. Keeping the breathing sounds in there make him sound like he's out of breath.

ALIVE & DIRECT'!

I LOVE the noise... It's so different from regular music and makes me feel things. It creates images in my head.

This song sounds like a war is going on on a distant planet. Space ships shooting each other. People being afraid for their lives while fighting the unknown enemy, the hostile aliens. (Except it's not Earth, so we're the aliens, but that's semantics. Hostile is the wrong word, they're territorial.) The vocal fry sounds throughout the song are the aliens.

This could be in a scifi movie.

I'm glad he's not doing it for the money (like he says in the transition between the songs).

1:1[FKDUP.BEZEL]

Didn't expect the sing-songy rap flow! There's so many features on each song I'm not sure if that's Pink Siifu or one of the features... But I liked that and the flow after it. A cappella rap is so cool.

And how it evolves from there, how the production grows... Very nice.

V12'!HML'!

It's alright. Doesn't hit like the previous songs.

Sacrifice'!BonAppétit

I like hearing a female voice. From what I've heard and seen, there's been a lot of "bitches" and "hos" in the lyrics. It's always a good sign that a woman agreed to be on an album like that... You know that I mean? They can't be THAT bad if at least one woman thinks they're cool.

The calm moment before the intensity grew again :D I loved that. False sense of security. The metalhead in me loves that. (Btw, if anyone's reading this who doesn't know me - I was born in 1992, been listening to metal since 2003 and hiphop since 2023.)

SCREW4LIFE'!RIPJALEN'!

I like the beat, I like vocal samples. A calmer song is needed... Or half a song :D Then it grew into a banger... Too much of the N-word, otherwise it'd be The Vibe.

So far, the lyrics haven't hit me. It's partially the boring flows he mostly has, partially the bitches, hos and N-words... The repetition kills my braincells. Partially the mixing / my lack of experience with hiphop, I can't make out what he says all of the time.

But I like his mixing and production. It's very alternative and different.

4DOE[47]

I like the voice and the production/beat. This is more a vibe-y song, and a vibe-y album, than about the lyricism, I feel like. This melody is nice.

WHOUWITHHOE+

I like the sound. I put this (and the previous ones I've liked, which is most of the album) on my Rap & Hiphop playlist, but I might regret that decision... We'll see if this songs works without the context of the album.

TRANSLATION'!

👍

Girls Fall Out Tha Sky

I like the chill vibes from him as well, this song and the one before this one. They give my brain room to breathe. Which is both a good and a bad thing. It makes my mind wonder when I'm not focused, but it's less tiring than constant focus. This production, the space-y, surround-sound reverb... Love. 100% my thing. And the piano... This song is beautiful. Didn't expect it to be, a hiphop song with that headline...

PSA'!

He has several female rappers featuring. *green flag*

The Twin Peaks -esque beat is so good <3

I used the time it took to listen to this song to skim through his Wikipedia page. Doesn't tell me much about him as a person. He has a shit ton of music and some of his influences are female musicians. Seems like the "bitches and hos" are just words. He doesn't mean them the same as I understand them. 

FACECARD'!

We're picking up pace again.

I don't like her voice nor flow. He's alright. The beat's great, again. I love his production. I could listen to his instrumentals all day long.

LOCKED IN'!

And we chillin again. Sure.

U.ALREADY'!

Some people don't like "mumble rap" but I think it depends on the song. It suits this song.

I like the minimalism. He's so versatile as a producer... The songs in the beginning were full of every sound imaginable, this song feels like every song is thought through before it's put in there.

OUTSIDE'!

Not my favorite.

SleepAtTheWheel'!

Don't sleep at the wheel.

LAST ONE ALIVE'!

I don't like the chipmunk voices, I do like his flow and the rest of the beat.

8)

That whistle track! :D I don't remember where it's from, but I've heard it so many times in songs and movies!

BLACKWATER'!

It's weird. I love it.

_____________

My favorite songs were ALIVE AND DIRECT'! and Girls Fall Out Tha Sky.

He's different (from other music, in general), standing out. Yet he's also very versatile, but also has his own thing. The lyricism I don't get. But the production is perfect.

The rest of the tags: WiFiGawd, Prjr, Pearl De Luna, pearldeluna, monte booker, montebooker, v.c.r, regina, Big Rube, bigrube, jackdavey, Jack Davey, Aaliyah & Azul