6 Figures - Meekz (2019)

The masked Manchester rapper burst out of his city with brutal lyricism and eye-catching videos. Here, he glides over a stripped-back drill beat that channels Bone Thugs and D Double E

When they are constructed respectfully — subtly paying homage to historic art, rather than recycling and therefore exploiting it — rap, grime or drill songs whose beats are the result of a multi-generational sampling inheritance are rare and should be cherished, like a hand-me-down family heirloom.

Meekz released 6 Figures in 2019, having spent the year carving out his own lane for UK rap from the North of England. When it dropped, I found myself suddenly transfixed on his every word.

There were a lot of things to say about the single. I’ll pick three of them.

The first was its striking video: a one-take performance shot by industry heavyweight KC Locke in which a characteristically masked Meekz arrives at the opulent Grand Pacific restaurant in central Manchester, accompanied by an elderly woman — presumably a family member — who he helps to walk up its grand stairs to join a community of people sat around the bar. Then he climbs on top of it to mime his way to the end of the track’s triumphs, aches and pains.

The second was its production. On hearing the female vocals at the start, whose melody weaves throughout the rest of the song, harmonising with shimmering synth cords, my mind cast back to the 2004 grime classic Serious Thugs by JME and D Double E, which itself samples the 1994 single Thuggish Ruggish Bone by legendary Cleveland hiphop group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

Of course, here, producer GottiOnEm — the man behind other era-defining anthems like 67’s Let’s Lurk (and therefore Big Shaq’s Man’s Not Hot) — adds a swinging bass line and tinny hi-hats to bring a contemporary sound, showcasing how, by 2019, UK drill’s commercial potential was exploding with less aggressive, more delicate and stripped-back attempts to catch listeners’ saturated attention.

The third thing was how Meekz delivers his own melancholic, brutal breed of bleak poetry with such lyrical prowess. His verse unfolds like a diary entry written without a filter, rapped like his life depends on it. He refuses to celebrate musical popularity whilst mourning deceased friends. He reconciles with the drug economy losses, brotherhood and treachery that haunt someone trying to succeed in, and escape from, the trappings of a criminal lifestyle. And he articulates the tensions of juggling infamy with pending fame.

Meekz’s words are not for the fainthearted. But to delve into a line-reading of 6 Figures is to mine cathartic gold:

I'd be surprised if they don't hate,
Flipping hell, I wish ‘em well, I hope it goes great.
I'm on my own dropping flows at my bro’s grave,
Freestylin’ and wilin' until my throat aches.

Over the last five years since he first started making this sort of noise, Meekz has soared to stardom. 6 Figures sits on a wider collection of songs named Can’t Stop Won’t Stop (after its epic title track and video, in which its creator can be seen riding through a muddy field in a tank), whose contents have collectively racked up nearly 100 million streams on Spotify alone. His debut album, Respect The Come Up, reached number 12 in the Official UK Albums Chart in 2022, with only two features: Dave and Central Cee.

But 6 Figures still remains my favourite.

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