6lack's "East Atlanta Love Letter" is All About Dropping Your Ego to Allow for Open & Honest Conversation
“She be the reason I’m righting my wrongs and shit. Love is the reason I’m writing these songs and shit.”
6lack’s second studio album, East Atlanta Love Letter, was released two weeks ago, and I honestly haven’t been able to take it off replay since! I think it’s a great follow-up to his debut album. We smoothly transitioned from learning about 6lack’s career struggles on Free 6lack, to diving deeper into his struggles with balancing his career and relationship on East Atlanta Love Letter.
After the first listen, I was a little taken aback and confused by the album title. To me, this album seemed to be more of a break-up letter than the proclaimed “love” letter. It took a couple of more listens for me to truly understand the message. East Atlanta Love Letter is in-fact a love letter, but not one we’re typically used to hearing. While there are traditional love tracks such as East Atlanta Love Letter, Pretty Little Fears, Seasons, and Stan spread throughout the album, the bulk of it features records about trying to work through the messy aspects of a relationship. 6lack’s love letters come in the form of him admitting when he’s done wrong, being open with his partner about his struggles with balancing his newly thriving career and their relationship, and knowing that sometimes the best thing to do when you love someone is to let them go.
I wish this album dropped when I started dating; I think it would have played a huge role in allowing me to be a better communicator, and demand stronger communication from my partners. My first relationship was filled with poor communication. Our issue was that we were never 100% honest with each other about how we actually felt. It was clear as day that he was emotionally unavailable, but for some reason I would pretend that it wasn’t an issue and that I was fine with waiting, when I truly wasn’t. On the contrary, he was completely aware that he couldn’t be what I needed in a partner, but continued to string me along. Our poor communication skills resulted in a toxic relationship that dragged on for entirely too long. If one of us would have spoken up and sparked an open conversation, we would have parted ways sooner, and still have been able to maintain a close friendship.
Poor communication or lack there of is one of the leading causes of broken relationships. Conflicts within any type of relationship are inevitable; they are going to happen, there’s no way around it. No two people are going to always agree on everything at all times. The real test is how you communicate through these disagreements. This is a test that most of us have failed at some point in our lives. In order to maintain your relationships, you need to communicate; that’s a requirement.
6lack’s East Atlanta Love Letter is all about dropping your ego to allow for open and honest conversation, which is why I think it’s such a powerful and influential album; especially for those who are struggling with maintaining platonic friendships and/or intimate relationships due to poor communication.
“If you ever fall, you know that I’ll be there. I know how to put my ego aside”
East Atlanta Love Letter opens up with Unfair, a slow-tempo record with a haunting beat; quickly setting the tone for the album. 6lack immediately shares that he’s made a few mistakes in his relationship that could result in it ending. He’s having trouble balancing his relationship and his career, but recognizes the importance of communicating with his girl and talking through these issues.
I found it super relatable that 6lack states that he doesn't "wanna fight a big war." While a seemingly simple line, it brings to light a huge reason why we tend to steer away from having tough conversations with our significant other, because these conversations can often result in conflict. I think we can all learn from the approach that 6lack takes in making this conversation easier; he does this by listening. In Unfair, 6lack understands that his career has caused some turmoil in his relationship, but he reassures his girlfriend by letting her know that he’ll always be there and is more than willing to put his ego aside to hear her out and have an open conversation.
Most people tend to think that being a strong communicator means being the most talkative, but if you’re always talking, how are you able to take the time out and listen? Conversations aren’t one-sided. A great communicator listens just as much as they talk; if not more. If both parties are engaged with one another and able to share their views, a compromise can take place. So, drop your ego, and learn to listen. Remember: it’s not all about you.
“You can’t let them win; all they really wanna do is distract me”
The topic of 6lack balancing his career and relationship is widespread throughout the album, and bleeds straight into the second track, Loaded Gun. We learn more about 6lack's life on tour, and the fact that he’s getting a lot more attention from women. On this track, 6lack states that he loves his girl and will not succumb to temptation, but the other side of this narrative continues in Let Her Go.
In Let Her Go, 6lack's tour life begins to negatively affect his relationship; resulting in an inevitable conflict between him and his girl. On this track, we get to hear his girl's take on things. When she approaches him about the constant attention he’s been getting from women, 6lack initially tries to avoid the conversation by telling her to simply ignore it. This is an obvious cop out, and unfortunately works in a lot of situations. While an argument can be avoided at the moment, the problem with this approach is that the issue is never truly solved; it's something that will likely resurface in the future.
As the song continued, I was happy to hear his girl not being accepting of his response; she urges him to take some responsibility. While I don't think getting a lot of attention from women is something 6lack can 100% control, I do agree with his girlfriend that he likely plays a part in egging them on...even if that part is relatively small. His girlfriend speaking up put things into perspective for 6lack, and made him realize that his behavior with other women is something he needs to work on because he doesn't want to lose his girl.
Let Her Go flows into Sorry, which is one of the heaviest tracks on this album. Before I dive into Sorry, I want to touch on Disconnect first. This is another heavy track on the album, and originally made me side-eye 6lack for declaring this album a "love letter." While both Sorry and Disconnect are breakup songs, they both have an abundant amount of love hidden in them.
In Disconnect, 6lack recognizes that his relationship is deteriorating, and sensibly decides to call it quits. 6lack loves his girlfriend, and has tried to save their relationship countless times, but her lack of trust and awareness has caused his feelings for her to plummet. 6lack admits to having struggles telling his girlfriend that he loves her. Falling out of love with someone is a very real thing, and it’s an awful feeling for both parties. Leading someone on and continuing a relationship as if everything is great is not healthy for you, is unfair to your significant other, and kind of makes you a jackass. Who wants to be with someone that doesn’t want to be with them? Not a soul. As someone who has had this happen to them, I can definitely say that it sucks a lot, and I would much rather you cut ties with me than string me along.
I applaud 6lack for making the tough decision to break up with his girlfriend. Although his girlfriend tries to turn the conversation into an argument, 6lack takes the mature route and remains composed. He is able to clearly list out the reasons behind his decision to break-up: her lack of trust, them being on two different pages, and her not being supportive of his career. Although it’s not required, I do think it was nice of 6lack to let his girlfriend know exactly why he didn’t want to be with her anymore. This information will help create closure, and can also serve as constructive criticism. She can now take this information and use it to improve in areas in which she’s lacking.
“Love is not looking over shoulders. Love is you should trust what I told you. Lately it’s like you been speaking fantasy and I’m speaking reality, ‘cause we got problems we ain’t getting over.”
Now, let’s dive into the emotional beast that is Sorry. I really wanted to tackle this recored last, because there are a lot of valuable lessons that can be taken from it.
Sorry is exactly what you would expect it to be, an apology record. 6lack's vulnerability in this record is inspiring, yet triggering. We’ve all been in situations in which we know we’ve done wrong, but the thought of apologizing for our wrongdoings feels daunting. In the opening lines of Sorry, 6lack brings to light one of the many reasons why apologizing can feel this way. He states that he doesn’t want to apologize because it isn’t going to take away the hurt that his girl already feels. This was an interesting take on apologizing; one I never really thought of. In his mind, the damage was already done, so why pour salt on a wound that was already in the midst of healing? At the end of the day, it doesn’t change what he did. If apologizing meant reversing the wrongdoing, I think more of us would be willing to do it.
Although actions can’t be reversed, a sincere apology ultimately shows that you care, and reassures the hurt party that it wasn’t their fault. This can help restore their self-worth; something they may have lost due to your actions. Being able to say “XYZ was my fault, I was in the wrong. I’m sorry” can be hard to do, but it shows great strength and humility. Despite his initial reservations, 6lack does garner up the strength to apologize. He knows this apology may result in his relationship ending, but that’s what makes it so raw and genuine; he wanted to do the right thing even if it meant losing someone he loved. 6lack tells his girl that although he loves her, he won’t pressure her into staying with him, because he respects her and wants to allow her the space and time to heal. 6lack also knows that this is an experience that he needs to learn and grow from, resulting in him embarking on a journey to better himself. He constructively does this through the only way he knows how: writing music.
There are a couple lessons we all can take from Sorry:
Own up to your wrongdoings. If you’ve made a mistake, show your humanity and apologize
Allow someone the space to heal. If you’ve done someone wrong, don’t try to pressure them into continuing the relationship right away. They aren’t required to accept your apology. Allow them space to heal and reflect
Be self-aware. If you’re the toxic party in your relationship, take the necessary steps to fix that
“Haven’t I already shown what it’s like to love someone so much you treat their heart like it was your own?”
6lack,
Thank you for this album, and thank you for using your music to teach us how to be stronger communicators. I’ve always enjoyed music with a message, but even more so music with an actual take away that I can implement in my own life to positively affect the lives of those around me. East Atlanta Love Letter will continued to be played every single day.
That’s all folks!
- Riss 💋
*Disclaimer: This blog post is 100% opinion-based. No, i did not have a chat with 6lack about the true meaning behind any of the records on East Atlanta Love Letter…although that would have been super dope.