Dear East Atlanta...

Last Friday 6lack dropped his highly anticipated sophomore album, 'East Atlanta Love Letter,' a self proclaimed continuation of the story he started in 2016 with his first album 'Free 6lack'. 6lack effortlessly and successfully blurs the lines between Rap and R&B without sacrificing lyricism; something that so many artists are trying so hard to do comes naturally to 6lack. It's rare to see such consistency from an artist, especially a new artist.

While he chose to have no features on his first album (the rerelease does have bonus tracks featuring T-Pain and BANKS), 6lack decided to sprinkle a few familiar names in this time. Future, J. Cole, Offset, and Khalid provide fantastic features we didn't know we needed; but my favorite surprise guest has to be Gavin Degraw, who is credited as a composer AND lyricist on the opening track "Unfair."

This album is a great play through, it's one of those that you can throw on while you clean and not have to skip a track. But if you're reading this, I'd like to issue you a challenge. Try listening to the album starting on track 4 "Let Her Go," let it play through until it circles back, this would make "East Atlanta Love Letter" the final song to close out the album. In my opinion, the album sounds better this way.

One of my favorite parts about the album were the voiceovers from women speaking on topics like love, respect, and communication. It was refreshing to hear them be powerful, vulnerable, and ambitious all at once; I identified with these women. If you want to check them out I included them below:

Track 4 & 5: the last minute of "Let Her Go" transitioning into the first minute of "Sorry"

Track 7: the end of "Disconnect"

Track 10: the beginning of "Balenciaga Challenge"

Track 13: the last minute of "Seasons"

Overall, I have nothing bad to say about this album (although I do wish we got an actual Young Thug feature). It's cohesive, the beats are flawless, and 6lack did not slack on his lyricism, he's got bars! You can truly hear his growth not only as an artist, but as a man/father. It will definitely weather well as time goes on. This album is truly a love letter; to his daughter, his fans, his lovers, and even to himself; but most of all to Atlanta.

Below is my rundown, track-by-track: