Lil 6 (album)

  

Lil 6
Studio album by Lil 6
Released	26 January, 2018
Recorded	2015–3 May, 2017 (vocals) · September–December 2017 (mixing, production, guest vocals)
Genre	Trap
Length	57:25
Label	O.P. Entertainment · Mirage Music Group
Producer	Iron Keys (exec.) · Quitmydayjob · Streetside · Trevon Rage · LDX Rage · 2hotZero · Jonji · HerbO · Jimmy 6ix · Berlin on da track · Gun Gary · DCC · 17Idol · BigStacksBP · Kidnsec · Third Nephew · Formeh · SK99
Lil 6 chronology
Opium (2016) Lil 6 (2018) POV (Anniversary) (2020)
Singles from Lil 6
"IDC" Released: 20 October, 2017 "Not Much Left" Released: 17 November, 2017 "Like Me" Released: 19 January, 2018 "My Enemy" Released: 1 June, 2018

Lil 6 is the self-titled second studio album by Astorian rapper Lil 6. It was released posthumously by O.P. Entertainment and Mirage Music on 26 January, 2018. The album features appearances by Pluto, Adan, Blastoff, Kaison Dub, Jaynine, Trevon Rage, among others, while it's production was executively handled by frequent collaborator Iron Keys and the Southwest Corridor production collective Head Bangers.

Upon release, the album debuted at number four on the Astorian Sunset 100 with 49,000 album-equivalent units, while peaking in the top-twenty across various international markets.

Background

After garnering national popularity with 2015 mixtapes POV and Lifestyle, the latter being the rapper's first charting release, Lil 6 would sign a recording contract with O.P. Entertainment and Seattle-native label Mirage Music Group for three albums worth $1.2 million. He would join alongside Pluto on Trevon Rage's Far From Andromeda tour (2015–16) across North America and continental Europe.

Opium, the rapper's debut album, would be released on 20 October, 2016, debuting at number 31 in his native Astoria and shipping 26,000 album-equivalent units. From 27 October, 2016, to 11 March, 2017, Lil 6 would embark on his first headlining tour in promotion. Following the tour's conclusion, on 21 April, 2017, the deluxe edition to Opium would be released. On 19 May, 2017, he would die from an accidental drug overdose at his home at the age of 20. His funeral took place at Rose City Cemetery in his hometown of Portland on 26 May, with funeral attendants including collaborators and fellow rappers Pluto, Lil Tec and Greyy Mein.

Frequent collaborator Iron Keys (left) would serve as executive producer while rapper Pluto (right) would appear on four of the songs featured.

After his death, Lil 6's fanbase and popularity grew quickly, resulting in a significant increase in sales and streams of his music. Various rappers, including Jaynine, Adan, and Q-Lo would offer their condolences. At the time of his passing, Lil 6 had finished recording his material for a planned collaborative project with Pluto, though his management would deny a surplus of salvageable vocals but maintained "the contractual ability for [his] estate to release music posthumously". Pluto would later record vocals for three of the songs intended, as well as additional vocals for the Jaynine-assisted collaboration "Doing Damage", and would network with O.P. Entertainment in garnering additional guest features. Nearly eight months following the rapper's passing, final recordings and demos would be nominally deconstructed and remixed from their original state with new vocals from various North American rappers being garnered, though songs that were completed mixes would be unchanged, such as "Not Much Left", "IDC", "Perfect", "Used To Be Down" and "My Enemy". Certain songs are entirely new productions, with the demos being divided or sometimes combined into two new or a longer track, such as "In A Minute" and "Doing Damage" both originating from original song "Mad", "Way" featuring an unreleased verse from the previously-released "On The Road", or "No Rush (Outro)" being a splice of two unreleased songs, "Fuck Wit Me".

Singles

The lead single, "IDC", was released on 20 October, 2017, a day short of a year following the release of the rapper's debut album, Opium. Recorded during the same session as "They Know Who I Am", the song would be debut at number 55 on the Astorian Hot 100 singles and number three on the Sierran Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles.

On 17 November, 2017, the album's second single, "Not Much Left", featuring Antillean rapper Pluto, was released aside an official music video featuring archive live footage from Lil 6 while newly recorded footage of Pluto performing his vocals while on tour would be spliced together. The video would garner more than 40 million views by 2023. On 19 January, 2018, "Like Me" featuring Continental R&B singer Adan was released as the album's third single, while the track listing and release date would be revealed. The song would peak at number 49 on the Astorian Hot 100.

On 1 June, 2018, more than a year following the rapper's passing, the fourth single "My Enemy" would be issued to contemporary R&B and hip hop radios. A music video, recorded two weeks prior to his death on 5 May, 2017 and originally meant to be a lead single for the rapper's original second album, would be released to coincide with the single's issuing. The song would be notable for it's more upbeat production and "colorful" lyrics ("We be living so large, all they do is hate but I'm flying to Mars"), while in the video the rapper joyously flexes stacks of hundreds while riding out the rooftop of a Ferraro, with it being revealed by his management that they had been making moves towards Lil 6 entering rehabilitation prior to his untimely death due to the rapper drinking a mixed concoction of Baron Berry and codeine-promethazine throughout the video's production. The video would accumulate more than 20 million views by 2023.

Release

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	55/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
WhatMyMusic?
The Huntington Beach Post
Newstar
Sierra Media	5.4/10
Music Box Magazine	4.2/10

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number four on the Astorian Sunset 100 with 49,000 album-equivalent units, of which 9,000 were pure album sales in its first week. This became Lil 6's first top-five debut on the chart in his native Astoria, and his second to peak within the top-twenty, following the deluxe edition of Opium. The album also accumulated a total of 58.8 million on-demand streams from the album's songs that week. The album reached the top-twenty in numerous other countries, namely Sierra, Skandinavia and Poland. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 10 December, 2021.

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 55, based on 7 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Aftermath

With Lil 6's self-titled album, the proliferation of posthumous albums has become a notable phenomenon in recent years, particularly within the wider hip-hop community, as the album marked a significant shift in how record labels, estates, and fans interact with an artist's legacy after death, due in part to the last posthumous hip hop album having released more than ten years prior, being King Rakeem's Still Thuggin, Vol. 2 (2006).

Due to the charting success from the record, record labels bolstering an artist's popularity despite the individual meeting untimely deaths has led to a wave of posthumous releases by artists such as Q-Lo, Xnyx, Kaison Dub, Lil Coast and Blaxkface Killer. Critics often raise concerns about the ethics of releasing music that the artist might not have intended to share and the distrinction between an individual and the artist, due to the albums blurring the line between honoring an artist's legacy and capitalizing on it, especially when estates and labels continue to release projects long after the artist's death and many fans expressed concern about oversaturation and dilution of the rapper's legacy.

Tracklist

Standard edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Lost (intro)"	Jim Eastwood · Blake Duval	Iron Keys	1:24
2.	"Losing Focus"	Duval · Dean Howard · Quinn Camacho · Marcus Damons	Iron Keys · LDX Rage · 2hotZero	3:27
3.	"Not Much Left" (featuring Pluto)	Duval · Hendrix Rivera · Cole Savage	Quitmydayjob	2:51
4.	"IDC"	Duval · Jonathan Saunders · Howard	Jonji · Iron Keys	3:04
5.	"In A Minute" (featuring Blastoff and Yung Local)	Duval · Keyateh Zackery · Ken Terrell · Tyrone Davenport · Howard · Samuel McIntyre	Streetside · Iron Keys · HerbO	4:25
6.	"Doing Damage" (featuring Jaynine and Pluto)	Duval · Jay Nolan · Rivera · Savage · Jonathon Gordon · Saunders · Erwin Röthke	Quitmydayjob · Jimmy 6ix · Jonji · Berlin on da track	3:36
7.	"New Music (interlude)"	Eastwood · Duval	Iron Keys	1:26
8.	"Like Me" (featuring Adan)	Duval · Jimmy Ives · Howard · Gerald Damons · Dolan Calder · Saunders	Iron Keys · Gun Gary · DCC · Jonji	2:58
9.	"Frostbite" (featuring Trevon Rage)	Duval · Trevon Rage · Charles Harrison · Dominick Santos · Denzel Peters	17Idol · BigStacksBP · Rage · Kidnsec · Third Nephew	3:21
10.	"Slide"	Duval · Cody Gardenir	Formeh	2:38
11.	"Counting Days" (featuring Kaison Dub)	Duval · Kailani Kahawaipela · Savage · Howard · M. Damons	Quitmydayjob · Iron Keys · 2hotZero	3:01
12.	"Can't Stop" (featuring Pluto)	Duval · Rivera · Howard	Iron Keys	2:40
13.	"Shooting Stars (interlude)"	Eastwood · Duval	Iron Keys	1:23
14.	"My Enemy"	Duval · Korbin Sunn	SK99	2:56
15.	"Switching Up"	Duval · Saunders · Howard	Jonji · Iron Keys	3:11
16.	"Hit List" (featuring Pluto)	Duval · Rivera · Leon Clark · Howard · G. Damons	Sw!tch · Iron Keys · Gun Gary	4:17
17.	"Perfect"	Duval · Saunders · Howard	Jonji · Iron Keys	2:22
18.	"Used To Be Down"	Duval · Howard	Iron Keys	3:49
19.	"All The Time"	Duval · Howard · Sonny Olsen · Saunders	Iron Keys · BigStacksBP · Jonji	3:04
20.	"Elevated"	Duval · Camacho · Howard · Saunders	LDX Rage · Iron Keys · Jonji	2:01
21.	"No Rush (outro)"	Duval · Eastwood · Howard	Iron Keys	2:22
Total length:				57:25

Notes

• "Lost (intro)", "New Music (interlude)", "Shooting Stars (interlude)" and "No Rush (outro)" feature various samples from an interview featuring 0X 102.5 host Jim Eastwood interview with Lil 6, recorded while on the Opium tour on 17 November, 2016. The backing tracks are produced by Iron Keys.