24-year-old Atlanta singer 6LACK is quickly becoming one of the hottest R&B tickets in the country. In the past eight months, his confident tales of tempestuous relationships past and brooding greyscale Instagram portraits have captivated the internet. His debut album Free 6LACK, released in November, hit #5 on the Billboard rap charts. Last night he brought out surprise guest The Weeknd at his show at The Roxy in Los Angeles.
Born Ricardo Valentine, 6LACK spent the first five years of his life in Baltimore before moving to Atlanta with his family. He is the oldest of three. He laid down his first vocals at age four in his father's home studio. He's been making music ever since, but it wasn't until the second half of 2016 that he began to blow up.
Click through the image gallery to learn 6LACK's story.
He used to be a battle rapper
6LACK earned his rap moniker in middle school and was an active member on the high school lunchtime battle circuit. Here are a few videos that have survived from his battling days:
6LACK VS. J-MAKE (2008)
"I got the measles, I'm sick / I'm evil, I spit"
6LACK VS. CHRIS (2009)
"I'm lyrically taking lives at no price / Cock my arm back like a nigga 'bout to throw dice"
6BLACK VS. FLUENT (2009)
"This a jungle homie, this a tiger hood / you cheat me you get clubbed like Tiger Woods"
6BLACK VS. YOUNG THUG (YES, THAT YOUNG THUG)
"Homeboy who they stepping up to? I get hands ready to dance like 'Step It Up 2'"
throwback to the battle dayz lol #barter6 pic.twitter.com/LPle54O16Q
He continued to battle as a freshman at Georgia's Valdosta State University...
Its only two men I fear when it comes to a battle... God and my shadow... Everybody else gettn rattled, tangled, mangled, totally disabled..
Freestyle battle TODAY changed to 5pm in Bailey Science Center. Cash prize. #VSU!!! 3rd floor in auditorium. tell a friend to tell a friend!
Worst battle of my life. Mind was not in the right place. Smh. Not satisfied, but I won! Thanks for supporting.
... but by 2011 his style had already begun to take a melodic turn. "I was a battle rapper, so that’s what I stuck to and then I saw where all of them ended up so I was like, 'I might have to do something a little bit different to have some kind of longevity,'" he told Complex. "Just from listening to a lot of R&B, I would imitate, and then more and more I would tip-toe into holding a note a little bit longer than I did initially."
He signed a bad deal in 2011
In July 2011, 6LACK signed to an "independent record label owned by a popular artist at the time." He has not identified the "popular artist." He dropped out of Valdosta State and moved to Miami, where he access to a studio but not no money or home. In a document titled "Here's to being free" currently posted to his website, 6LACK recalls his misery under the draconian terms of the deal he had signed:
"They had me making hundreds of songs I hated to meet their criteria of what they viewed as “hit records”. All I ever heard in that place was hit record hit record hit record hit record. I watched so many people go in and out of that studio, they always used to tell me that I was special, that I was next up. All I felt was jailed. Instead of doing their whole two-step and dancing in the shackles they set out for me, I chose to sit in that cage and not release any of the music they forced me to make. They wanted me to just be a hit song and I wanted to show them I was more than that."
He was liberated from the contract in 2016.
Redemption: LVRN and "PRBLMS"
6LACK eventually met and signed with LVRN, a subsidiary of Interscope Records and creative agency that spawned Raury. In April 2016 he released "PRBLMS," a riveting account of a relationship that crashed and burned that has since been heard 48 million times across YouTube and all streaming platforms.
"I recorded ['PRBLMS'] in the kitchen," he told XXL. "I was recording in my kitchen for like a year. I made like 200 songs, 200 ideas at least. ‘PRBLMS’ was towards the latter end. After I got everything out, I finally started honing in on the sound and figuring out where I want the project to go. I pride myself with not dealing with crazy shit as far as relationships went. That was the first time I bit off more than I could chew."
FREE 6LACK
Free 6LACK is his "coming out party"
6LACK released his debut album and first-ever project Free 6LACK on November 18th. It was a low-budget album that leaned on his songwriting chops and sonic vision. Producers that contributed to the project included 6LACK's in-house man Trevor “Singawd” Slade, Syk Sense, Dot da Genius, and Childish Major -- and Southside, by way of a revision of Future's "Perky's Calling."
When asked what inspired the album title in an interview with Fader, 6LACK said this:
"Being free from my old deal and free from my old relationships, free from my old ways of thinking. It's just kind of a transition period for me. I was stuck in a deal for 4 or 5 years, and this is kind of like my coming out party.”