Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Larry Mizell Jr., host of The Afternoon Show on KEXP, is "Big Ole" by Pink Siifu, from the 2021 album GUMBO'! on Dynamite Hill.
Pink Siifu is just one of the musical pseudonyms that Livingston Matthews has taken on over the years. The 29-year-old Birmingham-bred rapper/singer/producer has been making a massive splash the past couple of years, most notably with 2020’s NEGRO, which was an experimental exercise in catharsis, taking the years of pain and discrimination and turning it into a battle cry of recordings.
In August, Matthews quickly followed NEGRO up with GUMBO, which departs massively from the free jazz experimentation and caustic howls for an incredibly smooth and bouncy Southern rap record. Our Song of the Day and GUMBO highlight, “Big Ole,” features bass-heavy, blown-out production from Conquest Tony Phillips and an effortless verse from Chatanooga rapper BbyMutha. The song comes with a bright and distorted video, directed by 30onme.
