black what's up how you doing good to see you you too Apple music up next man you are the artist that is kicking this whole beautiful objective off for us to be able to connect with new music thank you so much I appreciate it and I think that was just the goal with it you know to create some kind of you know summary of who I was what I sound like and what
I've been through so when did music first start to take that shape for you like it's more than just a flat of fancy or something I'm interested in like I want to study this um I would say like after I made the transition from like battle rapping like I started to get more into making songs and more than anything just like after listening to my favorite people and watching my favorite
people it's just like you know it's not just you know clean cut like I make music and people listen to it you talked about battle rapping before which is actually really encouraging to know you went out there and really sharpened your skills in that light a lot of people want to go straight into the art being an artist and painting the picture and doing the photos and getting you know do
all that stuff it felt like you had a hunger to go out there and actually you know do it in a very traditional and Hip-Hop way yeah and I kind of feel like battle rap gave me all the tools I needed to to be able to write songs today like in battle rap is about you know how much you can say and it's about putting so you know so many different words and expressions together to to
make something you know to get a point across and with songwriting it's like okay well how can I get that same point across but by saying less you know so where' the name come from man because it's such a striking name the way you spell it's great but even if you didn't spell it that way it's a striking name yeah um I had the name since like middle school so it's been a long time like
I've had the same name forever ever and I've been black to like people's parents to you know grandmothers to cousins like I'm I've always been black and it was just from growing up on that side of town like that was zone six and zone six is is a part of you know what shaped me you know from seeing the number so much like in my life and I'm big on just like
just processing paying attention to stuff so I would see the number all the time and I look at the clock at 6 o00 and I was born in a six month and if you're from Atlanta you understand my name off the bat other places you might have to you know like take a little minute to ease into it and why is there a six and how's a six look like a be and you know like I have the debate all the
time but it's a great talking point who are your favorite people um at the time it was a lot going on and I was listening to pretty much everything that was coming out of Atlanta so Atlanta had a wave of you know from Outcast and Goodie Mob to you know yeah and then it got passed to the TI and the gz's and lris and then it got P to like the whole dense snap like Revolution that we had
down there and I think constantly like Atlanta's always had something going on that inspired me so I was always just kind of like studying the scene and seeing okay like I like this guy but he didn't last that long or you know like I I like this sound but this sound might not you know like get me to where I need to be and just kind of like taking everything and pulling it all together
to make you know something that I felt like was mine Atlanta's just been such an incredible hot bit of creative talent and and you know really futuristic creativity you know was that really all you were looking at is that what you and your friends really referred to when you growing up we don't need to look beyond our own borders Atlanta's kind of giving
us everything we need no Atlanta kind of just like gave me the core of what I needed and it gave me like the extra bit of flavor that you can't get from anywhere else like why is that what is that flavor and it's like right now is super you know trap influenced and you know I don't make trap music but I make music that can compete and be in the same you know realm or club or playlist
as you know trap music just because of the drums and the kicks but like things like that give Atlanta like its own like you know little signature and its own identity and I'm just feel like that played a part into me making this project because I didn't want to abandon you know Atlanta and I didn't want to do anything that people at home wouldn't want to listen to but I also you know
wanted to to make it a thing where obviously people elsewhere felt something you know in regards to it to so let's talk about how you know you got to the point of making this album this incredible album um that is out now inside Apple music and and how you put the team together and how you developed your sound because like I said at the very beginning of our talk it has such a
a complete sound to it already um when did that start to take shape you know how did you build of build that whole vibe I came to LA and I'm trying to figure out if it was August might have been like August yeah I came August of last year 2016 and I had came out here like with what I thought was the majority of the project and then I just got engulfed in like being away from all the stuff that you
know kind of hinders on you at home and being away from all the same comos and like actually being able to step back and look at every situation and have a a different view on it and like being out here kind of just gave me a I don't know just like a different stride and I started basically from scratch again like the only old songs that made it were like part of um ea6 that was the
older song getting old was a little bit older but for the most part like everything was done from August to November so I would just be in the studio every single day and you know I have my producer sing out in there and we would just kind of sit there literally for at least 12 hours a day and just whether we're making something or just staring at each other so was
that what what was the situation with problems I want to know how you felt when you first like I mean let's just try and be I want a fanboy out about that record in particular because that beat alone is something so special so when you first got the essence of what that was even before you laid the vocal track down and it what what did it make you feel um problems was like one of the
weirdest songs like when it actually came to cutting it because first my producer uh linked me to the beat but it wasn't a beat that he produced it was something that he just kind of stumbled on so I get the beat and um I just remember that night everybody was getting ready to go out and I had like literally just got a text on my phone I was like I hate you I hate you I hate
you I hate you I hate you and I was just looking at him like showing everybody like yo it's crazy like look at my phon I'm like I'm not even texting back but there's a constant stream of just like crazy messages coming through and they like yeah you need to put that in the song so um I started like with the first couple of lines and once I got the first couple of lines then I was just like
this might be something so the album is out and this is one of the cool and really unique things about kicking off this whole Apple Music Up Next program with you is that it's not like you know there isn't a ton of Music people to go and immerse themselves in I mean there'll be artists in this program that will be one two three songs deep into their career uh for you it's a beautiful
thing it feels like anyone who's connecting with you on a personal level now will have an actual body of work to go and listen to so I mean that that requires a lot of faith and a lot of work and a lot of touring and a lot of support is that really what the focus is to continue to breathe life into that album yeah like I don't I don't feel like I'm at a point where you know it's
time to to move on or to do anything else like Grand or crazy like as far as a project goes like obviously like on a whole another sidebar like my job is to make sure I always have something on tuck like regardless because you never know if you wake up and the internet is you know hungry yeah like if they're a hungry like I'm always ready to press a button so like that's so this this
song's in the cannon always always always collaborations in the cannon always always things that will surprise people in the cannon definitely so yeah like with with that is just like you know free black was released to some people early and people would be like you know why are you dropping a a project now or an album now when you should be like doing this or doing that
and for me it was it was perfect yes like you know why wait I have the material I have the the story I want to talk about and more than anything when people hear problems or when people hear X calling they're going to say all right you know I want to hear some more and then they'll search and they'll stumble on the whole project and I think that's just great for people to kind of be able
to reference back to like even if you're just finding out about me like there's there's something for you to go and listen to you know with success comes pressure and expectation and how you finding that right now because it's starting to connect to me it's just like every time something exciting happens like my brain is just like all right like you know like how can you up your
game or how can you better you know what you know what's to come like I'm always in my head I'm always just trying to like figure out how I can sound different or deliver something different so I enjoy it you know like and if I was any other way I kind of feel like I would just be too I don't know I would just be too stagnant you know you know you've done
some collaborations recently and I I always think that's an interesting transition point for an artist who's made some noise off their own back um then the phone starts ringing you have to pick careful yeah and you've done some really tasteful ones I thought your work with Sid was amazing I love Sid so much I mean it was incredible she told me how she know she heard your music and
was just like that guy yeah do you know what I mean how it was always like that for me but this is like cuz s was on the radar you know for a while before I kind of came onto the scene and when she reached out it was already automatic for me I'm just like I already know I love you music already like I love ego death and I just kind of love everything that's it touches so when she reached
out she got the Verge back like within a week if if that like I was just like yeah of course I'll do it for the weekend to have influenced you like that and then to find yourself on stage with him in that environment there must have been a moment when you were like all right that works like when you meet people and the vibe is right and the connection is right like there's no
questions so is there a future for you in the weekend to collaborate on music I mean that's what the fans that's what we all want to hear now I mean you've done it on stage and and I do think there's a real aesthetic similarity between you two yeah no I mean I mean yeah definitely of course of course I mean what's the next dream I mean who else who would you ideally love to be able to
connect with or in fact perhaps maybe even at this early stage would leak that you have in fact connected with and amongst all of these surprises that you um you know just on some who I like really uh like I I want a thug feature like I like young that you must have already had that no I like young thug that's in the cannon there's like a video of us battling like that's in a
really yeah it's like floating around on Twitter but this was years like before he was who he is before I was who I was this is just like Wow have you connected since that moment no no not yet not yet so I'm excited about that it's really nice to meet you thank you for for joining you know me in this in this situation and and sort of breaking silence and being a fan am a fan stay a fan