Back in May of 2022, The Nashville Scene ran a cover story by Lance Conzett taking a Deep Dive into Nashville’s Rap Scene. Many solo artists and collective groups were showcased – including Six One Tribe; a group of emcee’s so large it’d be absurd to list everyone involved. Talent like Namir Blade, Gee Slab and Negro Justice may pop out to you but names like Evan Grey, 30 $ales, Intylect, AndréWolfe, Tripgod F’RF’R and so many more are involved.
As the collective, they’ve released The Soul in the Ville EP and the previous single “10,000 Hours.” Today they released “WHOLOTTA,” a track that teases a full-length album coming November 4th. The single, and video, feature a large number of the emcee’s that are part of the collective but, as far as I can tell, it’s really only a fraction of the whole. What’s truly fascinating about the track is the divergence in style from the previous releases. “WHOLOTTA” is not like what we’ve heard from the collective before and certainly subverted my expectations. It’s catchy as hell but it seems to be making a statement that Six One Tribe has plenty of surprises in store for all of us.
I’d be remiss not to mention there’s a great deal of firearms being showcased throughout, along with the stereotypical raining cash and women-as-sexual props. However, the video comes with a warning at the top that “the things you are about to see are all lit but they are props… none of this is real.” Is this simply a safety net for the guns? Or a larger statement that the tropes being used in the video are intentional… “none of this is real.” Maybe I’m reaching but it could be a larger statement about the trappings of hip-hop culture.
Only time will tell but “WHOLOTTA” certainly locks in my interest levels. There’s no telling what the next single will sound like and predicting what the full-length album has in store would be a fools errand. We all just to keep listening to find out.