This first single from Los Angeles’ Far East Movement features a pulsating fusion of musical styles—techno and rap, dance and pop. It’s also among the first stateside hits ever by an act whose members—Kev Nish (Kevin Nishimura) , Prohgress (James Roh), J-Splif (Jae Choung), and DJ Virman (Virman Coquia)—are all of Asian descent. “[This] hip-hop crew,” reports Marian Liu of the Seattle Times, “ties together different generations of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and Korean backgrounds.”
The resulting blend of cultural and musical influences has yielded an infectious hit that lingered near the top spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for weeks before climbing to No. 1.
Speaking about the group’s diverse influences, Prohgress told MTV, “We are influenced by where we live. Los Angeles is a cultural melting pot. You can go up one block and be around Latinos in South Central, then go to Little Ethiopia, and go up a little more and it’s historic Chinatown. Our music is everything we experience.”
Kev Nish added, “We’re such big fans of music and hip-hop, so we said let’s try doing something different, let’s take something we’re a fan of and create something new. That led us up to what we’re doing now. It’s us wilding out and feeling comfortable about ourselves in the studio.”
The band obviously hopes to contribute something “new and different” to the music scene. And the track’s success indicates that its catchy, hypnotic beat has accomplished exactly that. As for the song’s actual subject matter? Alas, it’s as predictable and one-dimensional as the band’s sound is fresh and energetic.
From start to finish, “Like a G6” toasts the evergreen hip-hop theme of cracking open a bottle or two … or three … or four. “Poppin’ bottles in the ice, like a blizzard,” sings guest contributor Dev, whose slightly slurred speech in the chorus could easily by mistaken for Ke$ha. “When we drink, we do it right, gettin’ slizzard.” Add a little cough syrup to the mix on the way to the club—”Sippin’ sizzurp in my ride”—and it’s a recipe for feeling like a clubbin’ king.
Rapped contributions from the band in the song’s verses add a gaggle of fawning females to the alcohol-saturated proceedings: “Gimme that Cristal/Ladies love my style/At my table gettin’ wild.” But it’s just another night at the club for these four party-lovin’ guys. “Sippin’ on sizz/Ima make it fizz/Girl, I keep it gansta/Poppin’ battles at the crib/This is how we live, every single night.”
Given the song’s subject matter, the corresponding video delivers exactly what you’d expect: Scantily clad ladies dance among admiring guys as they all tip glasses and shots and groove to the music—cruisin’ at the rarified party altitude only those who fly “like a G6,” apparently, know how to enjoy.
As for the meaning of that phrase,” Kev Nish told MTV, “A G6 is not a Gatorade flavor. It’s not a car, convertible, four-door. It’s not a watch. But [rapper] Drake, Drake talks about having [Gulfstream] G4 [jet] pilots on deck, so we said, ‘What’s flyer than a G4?’ Of course, it would be a G6.”
Right.
After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.
