Released: 2023 • Features: Yailin la Mas Viral, Kodak Black
“SHAKA LAKA” is a hard-hitting collaboration between 6ix9ine, Yailin la Mas Viral, and Kodak Black, delivering a relentless commentary on street life, boasting about power and control, and confrontational taunts. The track uses urban lingo and real-life experiences to lace its gritty subject matter into a kind of lyrical recounting of surviving the gritty city streets.
In the song’s hook, 6ix9ine issues a threat using an imaginative play on the phrase “you want Red Rum?” which is “murder” spelled backward. The use of “Glocky,” refers to a glock, a popular firearm in the rap community. “It’s spittin’ venom” refers to firing bullets, suggesting dangerous confrontation. “Blicky out the Phantom” refers to shooting a gun out of a luxury Rolls Royce car, symbolizing status and power. The repeated phrase “Oh, you got hit up, nigga, don’t think that it’s random” underscores this narrative; it’s not a random act, but a consequence.
In the following verses, the lyric, “Boom, boom, shaka laka, meet this big choppa” uses the phrase “shaka laka” as a sound representation of gunfire, and a “big choppa” refers to an AK-47, a powerful assault rifle. The lines “Red dot, green dot, put it on a nigga top” depict precision gun violence, with the “red dot” and “green dot” referring to laser sights on firearms.
Moreover, the lyrics portray an unapologetically raw portrayal of the streets. Kodak Black’s verse discusses how one can survive even without a gang (“I’m a one-man army, I ain’t never need a clique”) and tells a tale of moving from dealing bricks of drugs (“came a long way from them bricks”) to making million-dollar deals (“plays”). Kodak’s verse ends with a harsh reality, even if one is making millions, the streets are always a part of the person (“I gotta eat, I’m missing business with the streets”).
Yailin la Mas Viral’s verse provides a bilingual touch, seamlessly bringing Spanish bars into the track. Her verse depicts a confrontational readiness, living life on the edge in a neighborhood where she’s had to fight (“en mi barrio ya he partío un par de dientes”). The lines, “Ando con los gánsters” shows her association with gangsters, reinforcing the track’s central theme of street life and credibility.
Her verse ends with “Te hacen “placa, placa, placa” alante de mí”, which introduces a Spanish sound representative of gunfire. This further amplifies 6ix9ine’s earlier phrase “Boom, boom, shaka laka” creating a bilingual narrative of gun violence, which strengthens the raw representation of street life in two different cultures.
In conclusion, “SHAKA LAKA” explores edgy subjects using both English and Spanish lyrics, creating a vivid depiction of life on the streets. The song is heavily loaded with symbolism and references to power, material wealth, crime, and violence, effectively reflecting the harsh realities of life amongst gangsters. It’s also indicative of a broader trend in contemporary hip-hop, where artists use their platform to chronicle their lived experiences in tough urban environments, presenting the stark realities of street life in a raw, unfiltered manner.
