Just a few short years ago in 2009, Ricardo Valdez Valentine, known by his stage name 6LACK was just beginning to develop as an artist and was discovering his soon to be sound. Raised in Atlanta, it has become a much harder task to stand out as an artist, even if you have talent. It has become a lot more than talent, but a personal connection to the fans, which 6LACK has been able to do in the most recent year.
6LACK differs from all the generality of music lately because he makes his lyrical content very personal, taking all of the hardships he’s had to deal with in life and putting them into songs. He digs down past the surface level that is all that’s heard on the radio lately and takes more personal measures to really connect with his fans.
When creating his first album, “FREE 6LACK,” which dropped in November of 2016, his only intentions for the album were resolved around one single word: relatable. He wanted it to be an album that people could come up to him and tell him how much they could relate to his songs and how they understand his struggles because they went through them too.
Although still relatively a new face to the music industry, he has already gained a huge fan base and has attracted the eye of many major players in the music business, such as The Weeknd, where he was the Canadian singer’s opening act for his North American Tour.
His first and so far only album, “FREE 6LACK” peaked at number 34 on the Billboard 200 chart, and the album’s single “Prblms” peaked at number 73 on the Billboard Hot 100.
His music has been described by Billboard as “moody hip-hop” that “spotlights vulnerability and honesty in a way the emoji generation can understand.”