GUMBO’!: ALBUM REVIEW
The longer I sit with the album Gumbo’!, the more I begin to appreciate its genius. Pink Siifu’s newest project is by far the most varied album of the year and acts as an amalgamation of all the disparate aspects of Siifu’s work. The project perfectly bridges between the poppy and the experimental, but luckily it comes together into a wonderful blend of the most interesting aspects of Siifu’s work.
Pink Siifu is one of the greatest artists of this new generation. At every angle, Pink Siifu changes direction. He can make absolute window-shattering hip-hop bangers, then turn around and release one of the best punk albums of 2020. The one thing pink Siifu isn’t good at is staying quiet. In 2021 he’s been doing shows with his partner in crime Fly Anakin, releasing deluxe versions of last year’s projects, and popping up at every cool event on the East Coast. He’s becoming an omnipresent force on the East Coast hip-hop scene, but until this year he hasn’t had an album that showed all his strengths.
Gumbo’! is the album that could push Siifu over the top, and you can hear its power from the very first track. The track, “Gumbo 4 Tha Folks” features a suite of the bests artists in the industry and borrows from Soulquarians era D’Angelo to create a symphonic tribute to another era. The track serves as a perfect thesis statement to the project, introducing us to some of his frequent collaborators while laying out Siifu’s psychedelic universe. The strength of this album is how it brings us through multiple different types of psychedelia. We get the haze through R&B, hip-hop and even some pop as Siifu shows us his range.
Pink Siifu uses features extremely strategically, only adding guests when they bring something special to the track. That may seem like an odd statement considering there are well over 30 credited featured artists, but it never feels like he is throwing artists on because he needs to fill space. Even on the track “Scurrrrd,” which hosts six individual featured artists, he uses them all sparingly. Artists drift in and out, each adding their part to a trippy sonic landscape that envelops the listener.
Many tracks on Gumbo’! go beyond traditional song structures and introduce the listener to Siifu’s screwed-up world. The track “Roscoe’!” is a perfect example of this as Siifu brings the most alarm-heavy, exciting beat that I have heard this year. The entire song feels like gliding through space, crashing into asteroids, and not caring about the results. As Siifu spits, “Pigs love to stay around tha projects,” the entire world seems to fall apart around him. He creates this beautiful energy that puts the listener at the center of his mind.
The entire project feels like a tribute to what Siifu brings to rap. He’s the most eclectic voice we have had in a long time, and his fearlessness makes him a young legend in the scene. Lately, it seems like everything he touches turns to gold, and Gumbo’! is no exception. The album lives up to its title and helps mix up the best parts of our culture.