B.U.G. Antman is ready to separate himself from the pack of the young and hungry Atlanta artists. 

“Coming from ATL, you gotta be more than hard. You gotta be undeniable.”

Raised 30 minutes outside of the city, the young rapper, producer, and overall creative has a sonic output that fits within the lineage of his city, specifically the alien lineage. Antman, born Anthony Mccrary, is 25, and he started rapping for a simple reason: someone dissed him. “People were just hating. I had to respond, and the whole school was fucking with it.”

He hasn’t put down the mic since. His influences are practically a timeline tracking the most creative hip-hop auteurs in the South — Lil Wayne as a kid, Young Thug at the end of middle school, Playboi Carti in highschool, and then Sahbabi, Duwap Kaine, and more later. Funnily enough, Ant thought Lil Wayne was the only rapper before he truly got into hip-hop, a testament to Weezy’s ubiquity in the late aughts.

Antman was always his nickname. In a rap world full of Wu-Tang name generators and complicated acronyms, though, he wanted to expand on it for his rap name. So, looking for an acronym that was more positive than the boastful names some rappers take on, what did Ant choose?

“Bringing Up Greatness.”

Thus, we get the creepy-crawly collab of B.U.G. Antman’s glorious persona. I ask Ant about another talented young man, Anthony Edwards, who also goes by Antman. The artist responds that at first he was a little bummed out, but having B.U.G. in front of his name separates himself from the player, also from Georgia, who he happens to be a big fan of. Fair enough.

Seeing that Atlanta is practically bursting at the seams with talented rappers, I asked Antman how he wants to stand out. He replied confidently, saying, “What I want to really distinguish me is just the creativity. My visuals, my ad-libs. I take pride in boundary pushing shit.” Antman clearly knows his strengths. His videos are crafted with psychedelic energy imbued into them, with colors popping off the screen. His ad libs are jittery, sometimes croaked, other times yelped. They are crucial to his atmosphere building, echoing throughout the track hypnotically. Take his hazy banger “Make Sense.” From what I could hear, his ad-libs on the track were “WHOOSH”, “WOAH”, “RACKS”, “GO”, “FAH”, and “PSHH”. 

“My favorite thing about Atlanta is the competition”

If I would draw a comparison between B.U.G. and his contemporaries in hip-hop, Chow Lee, Young Thug, Playboi Carti would be first on the list. This doesn’t mean Ant is derivative. Far from it. Sonically, he makes motivational smoker anthems, more focused on flexing ambition than money or crime. As far as his worldbuilding, he seems to draw from artists like Travis Scott and Teezo Touchdown. Motifs are a big thing for him; for his latest project, the thing he’s fixated on is wearing a brown paper bag on his head. “It’s [the EP] called Y’all Ugly. I know the name sounds alarming. I’m calling everyone ugly. It’s more like, you got to look at yourself on the inside. A lot of people are ugly on the inside. Ugly means accepting that you’ve got to love yourself. I think it’s an important message.”

The brown paper bag motif is one oddity that separates himself from his peers, but happens to bring him closer to ATL’s founding fathers When discussing some Atlanta rap deities, Antman comes across reverential, paying his respects. I asked him about a generational divide, specifically referencing an interview T.I. had with Young Thug wherein Thug came across as unsure about how connected Andre 3000 is with current hip-hop culture, Ant pointed something out to me: “I don’t see a divide. Thug sitting down with TI and having a conversation is 2 eras connecting. I don’t think Thug was ever doubting the influence Andre and Big Boi have had in Atlanta. If we’re telling the truth, they really put us on the map.”

“YSL on me, I feel like Jeff” – B.U.G. Antman, “Sentimental”

His praise for Thug continues: “With Thug, I always felt like he was for Atlanta, like he was Andre 2.0. When Andre came on the scene, I feel like he was the first in Atlanta just not give a f*** — wear this, wear that, and the sound was so alien. I feel like Young Thug is really another alien from Atlanta, with his appearance and the way he wanted to be perceived I feel like the next one right now is Carti. Here comes another alien. Dresses like this, looks like this, sounds like this.”

This tracks with how positive Ant speaks about people. He loves his collaborators, as he’s a key observer and quick learner. He produces too, and has been watching his friends cook. Taking notes is important when you find yourself in as many rooms as he does. Wondagurl was a producer Antman wanted to work with, and late last year that happened. When it comes to other people he wants to get in the studio with, he has some heavy hitters in mind. Pierre Bourne, Metro, Cardogotwings. Until then, he has frequent collaborator Frank Stacey to give him hits. Stacey produced the majority of the “Y’all Ugly” EP, laying down synth heavy beats like the ethereal “U again”, or the Super-Mario reminiscent “Over Knees.”

“Last month I made 120 songs. There’s some stuff I ain’t even heard”

The work is paying off. Terrence “Snake” Hawkins (Veeze, Gucci Mane, Coi Leray) connected Ant with Warner, who signed him. No doubt they see potential in both the music and the overall creative vision. Ant recently performed an “On The Radar” freestyle, a rap christening for all up-and-coming MC’s, and his flows and ad-libs did not disappoint. “Y’all Ugly” is a great early statement from the young artist, featuring a quirky skit that showcases his humor, subdued bangers (Tortoise & G19 My Buddy), and a grinding industrial trap-pop song (sentimental).

Anthony wants it. He relishes working with filmmakers and directors. He’s interested in architecture, and likes to play basketball, but success in hip-hop is clearly his primary goal in life at the moment. He might have stuck with one producer for the recent EP, but many others will line up to work with him. The next step is for him to shed his chrysalis and fly even higher.

Written by Tal Kamara