Mixtape: Booka600 – Six Summers

The Chicago Rapper and Lil Durk Protégé Shares a Harrowing, Melodic, and Emotional New Album

9.21.2018

The Mixtape:

With his supernatural sense of melody, his harrowing realism, and his aspirational mentality, it isn’t hard to see what Lil Durk sees in Booka600. Opening up a portal into his life on the Chicago streets, Booka600 shares Six Summers, his debut mixtape. Chronicling his come-up from “Chiraq to ChicaGlow,” Six Summers is an eye-opening showcase for the Only The Family rapper, crafting an alluring strain of drill rap that dwells more on positivity and self-improvement than the bleak violence typical of the sub-genre. Featuring an appearance from Lil Durk, Booka’s mentor and label boss, who shows up on mixtape highlight “Studio,” and featuring production from Young Chop and other Chicago heavy-hitters, Six Summers follows two high profile collaborations between Booka and Durk, including “7:30,” which has over 621k plays on YouTube, and “Play Yo Role,” which appears on Lil Durk Presents: Only The Family Involved Vol. 1. Featuring the Young Chop-produced “City of Hec,” which has over 110k views on YouTube, Six Summers arrives via Only The Family and EMPIRE.

Leveling up from a rap star into a rap mogul, Lil Durk introduced his OTF all-stars on Lil Durk Presents: Only The Family Involved Vol. 1, unleashing a crew of fellow melodists and emotional realists. Featuring several brand new songs by Lil Durk, including the Complex-premiered“Remembrance,” the mixtape finds the Chicago native sharing the limelight with his most talented OTF signees, including eccentric trap melodist Yung Tory, heavy-hitter Booka600, warble-voiced drill emcee OTF Ikey, and the aggressive Doodie Lo. An impressively hooky project that conveys the realities of street life with expert songcraft, Lil Durk Presents: Only The Family Involved Vol. 1 finds the labelmates feeding off each others’ styles, relentlessly stacking infectious melodies into verses, hooks, and ad-libs.