6LACK has played it cool since 2018’s emphatic full length project ‘East Atlanta Love Letter’. A full world tour followed, but studio work has been thin on the ground, excepting last year’s Normani collaboration, or sparring with Selena Gomez on ‘Crowded Room’.
News of an incoming EP, then, sent fans into meltdown. Out now – alongside 6LACK’s own brand of hot sauce – ‘6PC Hot’ is a suggestive, highly creative return, one that suggests fresh possibilities while further reinforcing the songwriter’s future-charged brand of arena level R&B.
The nimble, skeletal ‘ATL Freestyle’ opens the project, those sluiced acoustic notes wrapped around a heart-stopping vocal. ‘Long Nights’ feels more realised, but retains the taut atmosphere of the opener, while affording space for a superb guest turn from Ari Lennox.
Lead single ‘Float’ is already a smash, with 6LACK infusing his stellar vocal with a neat Usher reference on one of this summer’s most vital R&B jams. Even from its title down ‘Know My Rights’ feels incredibly timely, with Lil Baby on hand to contrast the personal with the political on a track that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Migos project.
Super-slick ‘Elephant In The Room’ wrangles with self-doubt and heartbreak, 6LACK working alongside a resurgent Timbaland on the digitally framed production. A succinct six tracks, ‘6PC Hot’ closes with the pensive ‘Outside’, its locked-down love story framed by trapped feelings and unforeseen consequence.
Bubbling with digital trickery while retaining that soulful flair that makes 6LACK so vital, ‘6PC Hot’ is an apt reminder of just how potent his songwriting can be. Largely restricting himself to touring and features across the past 18 months, the EP smoulders with the kind of feelings only this Atlanta artist can truly provide. We can’t wait to hear where he goes next.
7/10
Words: Robin Murray
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