In general, Tekashi 6ix9ine’s music is pretty terrible.
The Bushwick emcee’s biggest singles– from the nasally autotune grumbles of “Fefe” to “TROLLZ’s” relentless “ye, ye, ye, ye, ye, ye”– have often bordered on unlistenable and generally tasteless. “What’s the difference between me and Tupac Shakur? I never caught a rape charge – ever,” 6ix9ine (born Daniel Hernandez) told The New York Times in a recent interview. Joe Coscarelli rebutted that Shakur was also an artist who translated his pain into his music, and he spoke on Shakur’s versatility, while 6ix9ine only has “one kind of record.” “I got to feed the masses,” 6ix9ine replied. “There’s no difference between me and Tupac Shakur.”
6ix9ine’s prosperous second act since getting released from prison back in April feels like a fever dream. His music has somehow dissolved into a sound that’s more generic than anything on 2018’s insanely panned effort, DUMMY BOY, but it somehow has thrived more aggressively than anything that came before it. As he gears up to release his sophomore album, TattleTales, on September 4, 6ix9ine’s surprisingly vast discography prompts the question: If his biggest songs sound like liquid farts, then what does his other stuff sound like? We took a listen, so you didn’t have to. Here are 6ix9ine’s worst songs.
93
The beat on Day 69: Graduation Day’s “93” sounds like producer Flamm is merely smashing a sledgehammer on a drum kit, and 6ix9ine’s gruff and grotesque bellows make the track’s vibe sound just plain torturous. The lyrics are equally as harsh and unforgiving, with 6ix9ine recycling bravado bars about how his opps are in his crosshairs and how he got “rainbow lasers.” The track’s ultimate journey is nightmarish.
MOOKY
Cacophonous and droll, “MOOKY” sounds like it was recorded during a mental breakdown. The track’s backing disorient screams sound like asylum inmates having fits, while the production’s harsh bass practically gives the listener vertigo. All the while, 6ix9ine is just repeating himself, not so much rapping as just making vague proclamations meant to be intimidating. “Don’t start no sh*t, won’t be no sh*t,” he says 8 times. The ordeal is just disorienting and unnecessary.
Inferno
One of 6ix9ine’s earliest contributions, “Inferno” is a kaleidoscopic mess. Poor production quality aside, the video is nauseating in its deviated color palette. Braggadocious screams, and 6ix9ine’s autotuned-soaked rhymes about how he’s “riding around with them thangs out” make the song completely undigestable. Not to mention the random interjections of anime that pollute an already crowded video with more dizzying colors, “Inferno” is just a mess.
WONDO
One of the only featureless tracks on 2018’s Dummy Boy, “WONDO” is meant to be a twerking anthem, but it isn’t as suave as just 6ix9ine screaming strippers. “Shorty, don’t clap-back on the d*ck,” 6ix9ine bellows. “Don’t clap back on the d*ck!” Alright, Daniel, relax. They heard you the first time; please stop screaming, you’re scaring everyone.
BUBA
Another Day 69 deep cut, “Buba” is 6ix9ine’s most unintelligible track. He drowns in his own gluttony, unable to enunciate even the slightest vowel because of his own hype. He simply sounds like a rabid rottweiler dismembering another rabid rottweiler. “Get hit in the cap, with a motherf*ckin’ baseball bat, dooby rat, four, five, six, That’s a head cracked, that’s a fact, that’s a fact,” he says as if he’s bashing his rival’s brains in real time. “Buba” is the sound of 6ix9ine truly losing his mind.
Scum Life
While it’s one of his earliest and worst songs, “Scum Life” seems to encapsulate everything 6ix9ine represents. With a disorienting mesh of anime, a boot-leg Joker voice-over, twerking, gun-waving, and general misogynistic ignorance, “Scum Life” equates to a bad acid trip. 6ix9ine barks about throwing up gang signs, while a brash air horn pierces through a carnage of high hat drums and floor-trembling bass.
In short, the song is a mess and serves as more of a theatrical set piece for 6ix9ine’s cartoonish braggadocio than anything else. While he may have refined his music’s formula slightly to appease “the masses,” “Scum Life” is 6ix9ine at his most unhinged. Loud, ignorant, and signifies a devilish and villainous presence in Hip-Hop that only offers reprieve when we’re able to escape from the basement he’s keeping us in.
