ANTI is the eighth studio album from the nipply Barbadian superstar RIHANNA.
It brings her best work for some time … it is not purely commercial (although there is plenty to satisfy the money-men) — the numbers here include lots of artistic expression, style and atmosphere.
ANTI is about being uprooted (literally) from ones birthplace and heritage, perhaps because old notions and home-spun values become jaded, more likely, though, because they have been replaced by fresh demands and exciting new-thinking.
So the album cover image is (most probably) a depiction of RIHANNA on her first day of term (in the parish of Saint Michael, Barbados) — that was years before going off to find fame, fortune and the American way.
Mind you, she had to be strong and cunning to mix-it-up in the gangsta world. So, for example, if a man didn’t yield up her earnings — she took what was hers … with penalty, if needed.
RIHANNA learnt to be bad ass in the New World… check the “Needed Me” vid [below] to see how to she might handle double-play from infidelitous rat-brothers who betrayed her ass.
The opening track “Consideration” [feat the singer-songwriter SZA] jigs with Bajan-faced jangles as the rhythm from SZA’s vocals (hers are as clear as purity and remind us of Ms. Dynamite) bounce along so successfully with the oddly attractive sub-cutting salty drawl of the Fenty-girl.
You have probably already seen the hot video for “Kiss It Better” and no doubt you have bumped along — like we have — to the super-addictive “Work” (feat. Drake.). These are already big hits and — although dark and mysterious — they are super-easy to assimilate.
Strictly, ANTI is defined as “opposite to or a the rival of...” and keep this in mind when things get graphic or RIHANNA is trapped within the sneaky, sweaty embraces of the swarms.
Thus “Desperado” is brindled with dusky blemishes and cello-like eyebrows of synth sound. There are tinkles below the surface, but the cracks in these often get clogged-up by the breathless beats and that coal-tar creosote voice.
Yes, Rihanna seems isolated. But success is, of course, a lonely place “There is nothing here for me…” She says.
She could be a renegade … but she is not a traitor …
God willing, faith will make her continuously forge ahead … To discover new worlds of sound (like these) and create more everlasting passions for you and I to enjoy.
P.S. There is no #BBHMM on the album
ANTI (Deluxe) – Rihanna is out now.
Words: @neilmach 2016 ©
FiggaD iT 
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