Songs Rhino loves, #75: 6 Shot - “Itz Ya Dog” (prod. KLC)
I truly adore this very obscure rap song!
Jermaine “6 Shot” Tucker is from New Orleans, Louisiana, and as far as I know this was his only hit, although I believe he has collaborated with a handful of other notable artists, including at least one, the great and underrated Juvenile, who will appear in this column eventually. The rap critic Andrew Nosnitsky, whom I’ve mentioned before because his taste and worldview are significant influences upon mine, ranked this as the 97th-best rap song of the year 2001 (out of 100), but it would probably be in my top five – in fact, I love it so much that it’s on the list of my top 50 rap songs of all time!
I’ve showed it to a few people who have been perplexed by my enthusiasm for it, but I can’t contain or exaggerate how much I love it – 6 Shot’s rapping is clever and funny and charming, his flow is easy and conversational and bouncy, his delivery and on-mic charisma are dynamite, and this beat, which is by the legendary New Orleans rap producer KLC (he sometimes goes by “KLC The Drum Major”, and he’s been a pleasure to interact with a handful of times on Instagram), knocks so fucking hard that it sounds to me like an ogre trying to beat down a dungeon door or something. I absolutely adore it.
No one seems to know or care who 6 Shot is anymore (if ever they did), not even in Louisiana. But I don’t care – as soon as I have the money (if I have a good fortune to be able to raise it in the first place), I will be paying the guy to make a featured guest appearance on one of my songs. (We’ve discussed it! His rate is reasonable!)
I wish I were able to track down The Actual Meaning, his only full-length LP. If he’s ever made even two or three songs even close to this good, I need them in my earholes immediately. I know the gaping chasm between how much I love this song and how little anyone else cares about it even slightly is ridiculous and comical, and I’m deliberately, intentionally playing that up a little bit, but I also mean what I’m saying 100%! This song fucking rules!
If this song were on Spotify instead of only YouTube, I would probably listen to it every single day, and even under the present circumstances I seldom get through a month without needing to hear it at least once. It’s just so much fun!