As artists get more and more creative with their stage names, some monikers with unconventional spellings emerge that leave fans wondering how to even say it. A primary example is 6lack. He has stated a number of times that the name is pronounced like the color “black,” but there are still those who insist on saying “six lack.” That conversation again made the rounds this morning, as HotNewHipHop notes the rapper was trending on Twitter earlier today.
It began was a viral tweet from June 17, which has over 245,000 likes as of this post and reads, “6lack: it’s pronounced “black.” Me:….anyway six lack.” 6lack responded to it last night, “this tweet is anti-black.” He later added, “every year i blow one of these up to keep the convo goin.”
6lack: it’s pronounced “black”
Me:….anyway six lack.— peh- (@sharipettiii) June 17, 2020
this tweet is anti-black
— black (@6LACK) June 19, 2020
just making my rounds every year i blow one of these up to keep the convo goin
— black (@6LACK) June 19, 2020
From there, plenty of Twitter users weighed in, with a lot of them saying they still can’t get the “six lack” pronunciation out of their heads.
My brain literally can not process 6LACK being Black. So sorry. Six Lack. I really did try.
— BrieKnowsBest (@Brieyonce) June 19, 2020
my brain does not compute. it cant see “6lack” and not say six lack https://t.co/ET6a1U2DGf
— am-she-knee (@amshinee) June 19, 2020
When I read it I say 6lack, but when I say it out loud I say 6lack yfm
— Feo Mediano Chulo (@nayahpayah) June 19, 2020
This is a topic 6lack has addressed on multiple occasions. He even brought it up on the remix of Jessie Reyez’s “Imported,” beginning the song, “Hi, my name is 6lack / And sometimes people call me ‘Six Lack’ / I don’t mind because they stubborn / And my bank account is looking mighty fine.”
He also wrote in a Genius annotation of the lyric, “The thing is I don’t care. Doesn’t matter, checks cash the same, pronounce it right, pronounce it wrong, my name is still my name. It’s been my name since middle school. The more people talk about it, the more merch I’m going to sell, and it’s doing pretty good.”
It’s certainly good timing, and perhaps even a calculated move, for 6lack to revive this conversation, as he just announced a new EP that’s coming out soon.