Pink Siifu has a great range of talent. There is the mellowness of his previous solo album, Ensley, and then there is Negro. The two projects are extraordinarily different, but an analysis of his discography reveals relevant precedent. The artist embraced abrasive hardcore punk in 2018 on Fuck Demo, a four-track EP that contains tracks featured here. On Negro, Siifu leaves the smooth hip-hop pastures of Ensley for radical noise. The album is a fierce evolution in sound and structure. Siifu's voice is filled with furious energy - and the indignation is justified. Negro is a record that rages against the violence of systemic racism.
The album starts - and generally is - absolutely wild. "BLACKisGod, A ghetto-sci-fi tribute(_G)" assaults the listener with static drenched screeching horns. This is a fitting introduction to Negro, as heavy static and obscurity are the norms throughout the album. While occasionally the album could benefit from the vocals being slightly clearer in the mix, its roughness is clearly intentional and mostly works in its favor. Negro is consistently bursting with intensity. The punk nature and strong guitar riffs of the second track, "SMD", is another effective primer for what is to come.
"SMD" is immediately followed by "FK", which somehow manages to take the frantic rock energy up a couple of notches. The song unexpectedly switches up completely mid-way, morphing into impressive warped hip-hop as Siifu raps in an altered deep voice. Directly after, the haunting atmosphere of "we need mo color" is another adventurous left-turn in sound. Siifu's ghastly croon fits the song's dark mood perfectly.
At times it may be hard to decipher word by word, but the overall message of Negro is never in doubt. Police brutality plays a significant role here, with tracks like "ameriKKKa, try no pork." carrying an obvious message in the title alone. The song is a succinct two-minute collage of news of police violence. There is a particularly unsettling clip in which a woman recounts a loved one's last moments right before death - the police just keep on shooting despite the presence of a pregnant woman in the house. "ameriKKa, try no pork." gives real-life examples of the fruits of white supremacy - the all too frequent murders that have driven Siifu to the furor and resentment present in the captivating chaos of songs like "DEADMEAT" and "homicide/genocide/ill die." The former has insanely dense production topped off with police sirens and the latter features Siifu asking the listener if they can see the war on black lives over an aggressive guitar riff ("Genocide, you can't see!?").
When Negro gives the listener respite from its mostly high-octane environment, the results are beautiful. "myheadHURT" is under a minute of a gorgeously slowed down soul sample. A few tracks later, "Nation Tyme" has a surprisingly downtrodden jazzy soundscape. The pick of the musical outliers here is the closing track, "Black Be Tha God, NEGRO.(wisdom.cipher)", a high-quality soulful song that ends the album on an uncharacteristically traditional note.
Negro is harrowing and unapologetically experimental music. It's not for everyone, but it's also something that could only be made by an artist that does not fear risk. A creative mind that is not bound by any particular structure or tradition. Negro is a reaction to the collective Black American trauma that manifests itself as powerful art - a brilliant expression of righteous black anger.
NEGRO is available on Bandcamp.
