6lack is a dope artist! Not going to lie, I came across this guy late but even being late to the party, I really feel like I missed nothing. Sometimes you come across artists who are unafraid to lay it all out there. It won't be direct always with blatant lyrics but through the music, through the feel, through metaphors and poetry you will get it all, if you are willing to pay attention.
East Atlanta Love Letter is just that, a chance for 6lack to tell a great story through music. Something that a lot of young black males are unwilling to tell. Their complications with relationships stemming from the fact that they never learned how to love. Some even never saw it first hand at all. Making it nearly impossible to have a functional and healthy relationship. Only being able to live in chaos because one can not acknowledge they truly have no idea what they are doing. Allowing pride to cloud their need to say teach me how to do this thing.
Obviously, trying to love takes a level of vulnerability, that 6lack displayed all through this project. It was never any ego displayed, just an attempt to rectify something broken with the understanding that he can't rectify it alone because he wouldn't know where to start. A love letter to his lover to say show me the way. Amongst that tackling the issues that come with being a male celebrity. Realizing that his bravado and issues lead him to drowning in woman after woman only to accept the fact that it brings more problems than pleasure. Leading him back to the one that brought him something greater than himself, his child.
This album showcases a struggle that young black men who come from certain environments struggle with on an every day basis. Crossing over from the mindset that love can get you killed, to love giving you life. It's an intense swing of the pendulum in mindset and emotions and you have to be honest with yourself and those you have impacted to make that change. But 6lack poetically, effortlessly, and musically made it happen and gave it to the world to see. It's a beautiful thing that he is able to infuse his influence from Future and Atlanta to cultivate his R&B sound. And to be honest, my first thoughts when I saw this cover art was that he was just going to be an Atlanta version of Bryson Tiller, but 6lack is definitely his own, which makes it even more illuminating.
I enjoyed this from beginning to end and I believe in time people will see this what classic projects have. Timeless messages and feels that can shift life and not just capture one moment.
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