“Addie Pitino/ This that fuckin’ solo shit.” This is the assertion Baltimore rapper A$AP Ant shares on his 2019 musical debut with his newest mixtape Addie Pitino. After releasing a whopping four mixtapes over the span of last year and his recent departure from superstar hip hop conglomerate A$AP Mob, A$AP Ant’s grind continues with this 24 minute project. The mixtape’s title combines the name of A$AP Ant’s other alias, YG Addie, and basketball coach Rick Pitino and consists of the lyrical stylings of Ant himself in addition to various members of the Marino Gang collective, including Lulu P, Benji Blue, Baby 9eno, and lil 2dow.
A$AP Ant packs 11 songs into the short duration of the project. Each is under three minutes, with the exception of “Purge Button” near the end of the tape. Throughout the progression of the album, Ant delivers lyrics littered with cultural references to figures such as Michael Jackson, Hercules, Fidel Castro, and Scarface, each of these men known for their talent, success, strength, wealth, revolutionary spirit and independence. This is the energy A$AP Ant radiates for the duration of Addie Pitino. Bolstered with talk of fine women, making money moves, selling drugs, fighting his enemies, and shout outs to his city, A$AP Ant is here to make a name for himself outside of A$AP Mob and does so with an air of confidence that is wonderfully enticing.
A$AP Ant projects this confidence sonically with a mellow rap flow and trap production. Ant has a consistent rap pattern for the majority of the tracks on the tape and does not deviate much from it for special vocal inflections or ab libs. The beats are simplistic as well. Done by DJ Nick, another Marino member, many of the songs on Addie Pitino have a rhythm that is easy to bop your head to with bright electronic piano and guitar accents that give the tracks an auditory openness, allowing for A$AP Ant’s lyrics to be the main star on the project. The sound is somewhat reminiscent of Gucci Mane’s musical style, a comparison A$AP Ant wouldn’t mind as he references the rapper on the opening track, “No Clout Chasin” (“Swing my door like Gucci Mane”).
Despite the short length of Addie Pitino, the mixtape feels longer than it actually is. In this case, this is a disservice to the project. Although the lyrical and musical choices for the album are satisfying, as one progresses through the tape, the songs can begin to coalescence into each other and lack distinction. On my first listen, I found it difficult to latch onto any one song from the project. No single track is particularly bad, but no track is a stand out either.
A$AP Ant’s Addie Pitino is the rapper’s first attempt to solidify himself and his brand as wholly his own. With this goal in mind, it is safe to say that Ant is on his way to doing so. Despite some of the shortcomings of the project, it is clear that A$AP Ant has the potential to make his own name in the hip hop scene sans-A$AP Mob. With a nice flow, clever lyrics, and beats that don’t overpower the listener, A$AP Ant is doing something that is worth paying attention to. All A$AP Ant needs now is to focus on diversifying his tracks in order to create a project that is thematically consistent while also being auditorily varied. If A$AP Ant continues on this path, then, like Tony Montana, the world could really be his.
Best Songs
WCW Mayhem (Feat. Baby 9eno)
Purge Button (Feat. Lulu P)
Dijon Mustard (Feat. Benji Blue)
Rating: 7
Stream the entire project here:
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