Music At some point you have probably been perplexed as to how you pronounce his name, but that is just the beginning of all the engaging qualities the Rnb singer/songwriter has to offer. He is due to become a household name in the music industry and an example of versatility and creativity. 6lack, pronounced “Black”, is an Atlanta Georgia native who relocated to the popular city in 1997 from his birthplace of Baltimore, Maryland, at the age of 5, an age where he discovered his love for music through spending time at his father’s recording studio. 6lack, real name Ricardo Valdez Valentine, formulated is alias in reverence to the Zone in which he lived in the city of Atlanta, Zone 6/ and his love for the colour black, which has come to be part of his image. He combined the two, therefore developing the Moniker. The name came to him at a low period in his life, he had just come out of a bad relationship and suffered a car crash. During this period, he took time to re-evaluate and refocus, therefore he began to read horoscopes and write. Through this journey he came across number paths and immediately gravitated to the number 6 without doing the calculation, as it has been in his life from a young age. Aftermore research he concluded that it described him a great deal. He later did the calculation and it came to the number 6. Tthe clour black also correlates to his music, providing a dark and mysterious texture to his records, supplemented by his nonchalant tone. His music speaks to his listeners in an accessible and charismatic way that engages the listener, speaking to his beginnings in the industry and Relationship based topics. This is evident in his break out single “PBLM” which debuted in June of 2016. 6lack comes from a city with heavy ties to the music industry as Zone 6 is also the home of artists such as Future, Childish Gambino and of course Gucci Mane.
Due to the rap talent that has emerged from Atlanta, it is no surprise that 6lack began as a rapper, battling others in cyphers around the city and sharpening his skills. His avid interest for battle rap came from artists such as Cassidy, who was his favourite battle rapper, and his friends at school who would throw him into lyrical competitions when he least expected. 6lack recalls these moments saying, “I’d be in the middle of eating lunch and somebody would be like, “Yo, somebody want to battle you.” And I’d put my tray down and go outside and that would be that.” He remembers getting into a fight with the one person he remembers losing to, this shows how passionate he was about the craft.