Daniel Hernandez, aka Tekashi69, aka 6ix9ine, used to be my favorite bad rapper. There was no exaggeration when I would say I hated him, and then bumped ‘BILLY’ or ‘GUMMO’ from his first mixtape, Day69: Graduation Day. If you heard him back in those days I am absolutely certain there is no way anyone couldn’t have straight up jammed after hearing “These n----- bleed different, we don’t bleed n----, we make n----- bleed, Blood! TR3YWAY!” That was one of the hardest beat drops of 2018 and if you haven’t heard it yet, Day69 really isn’t that bad of a mixtape.
His second project, DUMMY BOY, was not a big hit with critics, not even breaking over a 40 with Metacritic. I thought it was pretty good, the main issue being that Tekashi barely made an appearance on the album. One of my favorite things on the first mixtape was his in your face, just screaming delivery, and on DUMMY BOY, not only is it barely present, but when he is featured he’s doing a crooning Lil Uzi Vert impression. The best song on DUMMY BOY was it’s lead single ‘Fefe’ featuring Nicki Minaj. Nicki’s verse is far superior to anything 6ix9ine put out on the song. That album and this new one, TattleTales, have something in common: Nicki Minaj’s verse is the best thing on the whole project.
This new album seems to be a celebration of seemingly getting off all of the racketeering charges, leading to lines like, “Got me thinkin' 'bout the things that I did, Got me thinkin' like, "Why the fuck I did that?", Got me wishin' that I could take it all back”, and then later celebrating his crimes with lyrics like, “Now we catch him at the chicken spot, up a couple chops, Pop that n---- with a hundred shots, ra-ta-ta-ta-ta”. Tekashi can’t seem to make up his mind and that’s probably the best assessment of this album: It just can’t make up its mind.
‘LOCKED UP PT. 2’ is the weirdest way you can begin an album, especially a 6ix9ine album. You may be thinking, “Hm, ‘LOCKED UP PT. 1’ must be a song on one of his other albums” but no, ‘LOCKED UP’ is a song by Akon. From 2004. 16 years before this album was released. Given, Akon is featured on this new song by 6ix9ine, but it is far from good. The beat sounds like it’s from an late 2000s Tech N9ne song, with it’s boring piano and high hat melody. I’ve the song this, the autotune sounds oddly pleasant on Tekashi’s voice, but as soon as the chorus comes on and Akon begins his part, I can’t help but wonder why he’s even on this song. When was the last time anyone thought about Akon? If I’m being honest, have I ever thought about Akon? Probably not. Anyways, his autotune does not suit him the same as it suits 6ix9ine.
Truly the defining moment of 2020 was when 6ix9ine said, “If it’s fuck me, then it’s fuck you, yeah, it’s middle finger, fuck you” on the song ‘TUTU’. This just sounds like he was trying his hardest to make a TikTok song, and he succeeded. I guess. I’ll have to consult with my local TikTok expert, Maya Stewart. According to her, “[‘TUTU’ has ] a lot of uses for a sound but I’ve never heard it before, also none of the videos are really popular.. [sic] they’re all just like fan edits and stuff with the song in the background.” Thank you Maya for your wonderful contribution and now I know this song was an utter failure. The lyrics mean nothing, the beat is nothing, onto the next track.
‘GOOBA’ is the best song ever made. This was the first inkling of 6ix9ine heat that we received, recorded while he was still on house arrest and it brings all of the nonsense lyrics and generic beats of his previous albums to a point where it was almost nostalgic. How could you not like a song with the lyrics, “Are you dumb, stupid or dumb, huh? Play me like a dummy, like bitch are you dumb?” or even the classic, “You’re mad. I’m back. Big mad. He’s mad, she’s mad. Big sad haha. Don’t care, stay mad. Ahaha haha.” The song really doesn’t say anything much except have some laughably bad one-liners, the gist is that 6ix9ine is back, and he “Came home to a big bag,” as the last lines of the song say.
‘WAIT’ has grown on me since I first heard it, but I still can’t say it’s a good song. The beat is, once again, boring and repetitive, something you could find on YouTube for free and put through a .mp3 converter. I liked one line in this song, “shout out my lawyer, Lance” this line just comes out of nowhere and absolutely kills. Don’t listen to this song, unless you want to hear 6ix9ine lose any of the personality he gained on his first two albums.
I have no idea who SMILEZ is, I looked him up and still didn’t know who he was, but he still came through with a better performance than Tekashi on the song ‘CHARLIE’. The funniest thing about this song is the Ray Charles line, and that’s mostly the shock of it when I heard the song for the first time. SMILEZ has a good flow and a few good lines, and 6ix9ine is back to screaming his vocals, but it just doesn’t have the same power it used to. Maybe if the beat was a bit darker I would consider this a good song, but for now it’s a lighthearted SMILEZ song with a Tekashi 6ix9ine feature.
There is a similarity of this album and 6ix9ine’s previous outing, Nicki Minaj’s verse is the best thing. Of course she has some cringy lines like “Always on my page, never double tap like me,” or “My flow’s still sick, I ain’t talkin’ a pandemic,” very topical Nicki, thank you for reminding us. But still, these are nowhere near as bad as 6ix9ine’s own verse, where he says “Vroom vroom, G5, vroom vroom, we high,” The beat is the best on the album and the hook (performed by CanonF8) is pretty catchy. The song is called ‘TROLLZ’ but that really doesn’t matter.
‘NINI’ has Tekashi attempt Latin Dancehall. I’m not going to pretend to be an expert in the genre, but either he horribly failed, or this is a bad genre that no one should ever attempt. This is what 6ix9ine does to people, he completely turns them away from styles of music just because he mutilated it once, it’s the same reason people don’t like ‘BEBE’ or ‘MALA’ from DUMMY BOY, he tried out a new genre and messed it up. This track shouldn’t have made the album.
As much as I hate the chorus of ‘PUNANI’, I can’t pretend I don’t like the song. The chorus is horrible and boring and nothing, but the beat, the verses, the energy that 6ix9ine brings to the rest of this song is amazing. Going into it, the song is about him wanting to have sex with women, very simple, but halfway through he starts going off about how strong he is and how he stops kids from getting bullied, and then, of course, how stupid he is. It’s fun, and the only song I can really recommend from this album.
Tú 'tá dura, manina, nini, yaya Dame tequila, no quiero vaina' Baila, le subo la mini, yaya Tráeme bebida, no quiero agua Quiero manina, nini, yaya (Yaya, yaya) Dame tequila, no quiero vaina' (Yaya, yaya) Baila, le subo la mini, yaya Tráeme bebida, no quiero agua. Tekashi once again attempts Latin pop, making this his third Spanish-speaking track in his discography. Will I be translating the lyrics? No. This song does not sound good, and I can only imagine that it’s worse if you know what he’s saying.
Akon makes another wonderful appearance on this nearly perfect record, saying how he wants a girl (most likely ‘LEAH’, as the song’s title suggests) when he “pours patrón in his cup” and how she looks “better with her clothes off”. Akon once again does a lackluster job, but when 6ix9ine pops in with a whiny singing voice talking about ecstasy and sex, you only wish Akon will come back and save the song. The next verses are just alternations of the chorus, because we’re so glad that 6ix9ine decided to mix henny with the ecstasy, riveting songwriting. I wish I could say this was the worst track, but that’s coming up.
‘GATA’ brings back the Ray Charles the reference. Two Ray Charles references in one 31-minute album, shows how good 6ix9ine is at writing his music. Speaking of reusing old bars, 6ix9ine says the line, “Oh my god, she can’t pay her rent, on the ‘Gram she a fraud,” with the same exact flow as the line “Oh my god, she Instagram famous but she can’t keep a job,” sung by Kanye West on the song ‘MAMA’, from 6ix9ine’s previous album DUMMY BOY. I can’t pretend I don’t like the song though, because he does have the line, “Are you dumb? Are you really fuckin’ stupid? The J-Train is right over there,” of course referencing one of my many nicknames, J-Train. Lil AK is also on this song and he says something about throwing semen. Forgettable track.
Here’s the worst track: ‘GTL’. 6ix9ine seems to have either recorded this track while in prison, actually using vocals recorded over a collect call to his producer and rapping about how he was stabbed in the back by his fellow gang members of the Nine Trey Gangsters. The main problems with this song come with how it is recorded, his once again whiny singing voice, and his repetitive lyrics. The best parts of this track are that his voice does sound genuine with emotion, which is new for Tekashi, and the fact that it ends in the middle of the chorus because he ran out of time on the call.
‘AVA’ is the final track and I’m so happy it’s over. If you heard ‘FEFE’ from DUMMY BOY, you heard the better version of this song. It is unlikable and bland and boring and interesting and perfectly encapsulates the majority of this album.
While under normal circumstances, I would give this album a 3/10, but I have to do my civic duty and make my final assessment of this album the correct way. This album cannot be a 3/10, which is why I must, I have to, it is my obligation to give this, TattleTales by Tekashi 6ix9ine, a 6/9.
