The Atlanta trap scene is full of crooners, but there are very few as down to Earth as 6LACK. One of my favorite trap/R&B projects to come out in 2016, Free 6LACK is a moody, dark, journal of past relationships and hardships that 6LACK faced to get to where he is today: free, and signed to Interscope. It’s built mainly on slow jams, opposed to Future, Young Thug, or Travis $cott’s discographies, but it’s also more sentimental and honest. It might be more “turn down” and moody jams, but it’s as high caliber as everything else booming out of Atlanta these days.
Tinashe might just be diet Rihanna, but her record Nightride (released as a “sorry for the wait” while she finishes Joyride, a record she has been planning since January 2016), is a bit more underrated than it deserves.
Buried under all the hype of massive records and comebacks that came out at the end of 2016, Tinashe never really got her spotlight moment when Nightride debuted. It’s a chill, dark R&B project that, while a little long, has some decent moments built in, but it’s nothing that I’d fine myself singing along too. It’s a better background music album than say, VIEWS (of course), but Tinashe’s not a front-runner just yet. Nightride is a step in the right direction though, with hopes for when Joyride finally drops.