“We’re not from the streets. We don’t have a compelling emotional story. But what we do have is the absolute disregard for a settled life. A machine.”
SIXK is a hip-hop group hailing from Mumbai, Maharashtra. Their music is a unique blend of neo-soul, funk and hip hop music. A variety of topics are talked about in their tracks, including soul searching, the dread of a 9 to 5 job and how to deal with sadness and depression. Their music has the ability to shapeshift quite often, so at one moment you’re grooving to fast beats while the other you’re pensively listening to the lull of the lyrics.
Their debut track is ‘Roll Numbers’ which is all about self-empowerment and never backing down. Emphasis is laid on taking chances and not giving up even in times of strife. Chasing one’s passion involves a lot of hardships and they must be overcome. The music video is filmed in the bylanes of Mumbai and incorporates slow-mo edits with colorful graffiti backgrounds.
The second track is titled ‘Conversation’ and as the name stands, it encourages people to talk about their problems and worries. The songwriters say that sometimes we just need someone to listen to us and pretend that our problems matter to them. It also addresses the suicidal thoughts that we have sometimes and encourages us to find ‘hope’ in life. The track begins with a fun retro sound and then transitions to the softer sound of a piano. The track finishes in a soothing manner.
The third track is the latest track by SIXK titled ‘Realisation’. It begins at an upbeat pace, and themes of freedom, conflict and consciousness are present in the track. But in some parts, it heavily borrows from western hip-hop. In terms of its music, it does not seem to be very catchy in the first go but makes up for it in lyrical depth.
Overall, the releases a good listen for those who are into the genre of hip-hop wholeheartedly. For others, it may turn out to be a mixed bag of reactions.
We reached out to the group and Nihal Shetty answered our questions on SIXK’s behalf
How did you guys come together?
Viraj, Hari and myself were from the same college (R.A.Podar College of Commerce and Economics) but we never really met then. It was only a couple of years ago when I got in touch with Viraj as I was looking for someone to produce me and a common friend had told me he’s into music. Viraj and Hari have been friends for a while though and were already working with another friend called Sharan Punjabi (Tansane) on his album. Viraj and me just ended up planning to meet at Sharan’s house in town, where these guys jammed and we ended up making an extremely rough track that night which gave us some hope and we’ve been jamming ever since. 4 months down the line, we decided to start “The Stu”. Gisho came on board in this phase as well. We met Kaustubh, Rae and Siddhant through a common friend at different points over the last 2 years after they came over to the ‘Stu.’
What was the inspiration behind your latest track “Realisation”?
“Realisation” was one of the first legit tracks we ever worked on. It was at a time when we’d just begun our journey. The idea for the song mainly came from the production which we worked on first. Yes, it started with a jam. The vibe that the track created was very introspective and intense. Slow moody beats with some tasteful sampling instantly created a zone we could sink into. Since it was early days and we had all left behind corporate jobs and a regular life to do music, it only seemed right to reflect on our personal journeys up until this point and why we chose to do this. We’re not from the streets. We don’t have a compelling emotional story. But what we do have is the absolute disregard for a settled life. A machine. Even though we’re from fairly privileged backgrounds and have not nearly seen as much of a struggle as alot of other people/artists, the mental struggle was immense and still is. It took a lot of courage from us to ignore the basic logic that was ingrained us while growing up, about a steady and settled life with a regular job. Hari is a CA. Viraj was halfway done with CFA and I was into market research. Our friends have been doing really well (financially) with their jobs and we always wonder about the path not chosen. The easier one. But we still choose to do this because we love music and are crazy enough to be hopeful dreamers to carve on our own way and that’s the inspiration behind the song. Those were the “Realisations” each of us came to, in this journey. They reflect our dreams, our doubts, our realities and our hopes.
What are your future plans? Do you wish to experiment with more genres?
We have tons of new music planned to be released this year. We’re in the process of working on our first album and are currently conceptualizing the themes and sounds. Apart from that, we really want to take our act live this year. We have been getting some great support and feedback from our fans and we just wanna tell them that 2020 is gonna be a blowout!
