Six One Trïbe photographed in 2026
Walking into a content creation studio in Madison on a cloudy Saturday, I’m welcomed by local hip-hop trailblazer and founding member of the Six One Trïbe collective Gee Slab, who introduces himself before elaborately dapping up a friend. Upstairs, music is blasting and the entire Trïbe crew is having a photo shoot. The scene includes their “first lady,” the late Ronni Raxx. She died in May, but she is memorialized in giant portraits around the room.
The collective is prepping for their third annual 615 Day event, which this year has expanded to become 615 Week. The multiday cultural celebration started off small with a one-day show at The Basement East in 2024. Last year, it grew into a whole weekend, featuring local vendors, a field day and their traditional live shows. This year, the event has reached a whole new level, spanning six days and seven individual events. But the mission remains the same as it’s always been.
“Representation,” says Slab when asked what inspired him to kick-start the Trïbe’s highly organized version of 615 Day, something that’s been celebrated in various ways in Nashville for a long time. “Pride and love — what I feel shaped me as a person, as a man and as a human. And I know people felt that way about it as well, and maybe their voice wasn’t as loud … and I feel blessed to be in a position to not take no as an answer.”
615 Day was founded by and for creative professionals — a way for the local music community to celebrate their city. The event provides an outlet for local “left of the dial” artists in noncountry genres who are often overlooked in Nashville. It’s a gathering place for artists, entrepreneurs and community leaders working to build a more inclusive ecosystem for art and creativity.
Talking with the host about building up Black art and culture in Nashville
Local entertainment polymath Averianna the Personality has been with 615 Day since the beginning, emceeing the Basement East show back in 2024. This year, she’ll be back to host her 61Fitness event on June 20. The Cashville radio and TV host and event curator describes a time when she felt overlooked as a Black creative, a feeling that helped shape her approach to community building and self-advocacy.
“I didn’t have a voice, [and] I felt like I wasn’t celebrated,” says the Nashville native, born Averianna Patton. “I’ve been tackling this industry for a long time now, over a decade, so I know what it’s like to be embraced, and I know what it’s like to be shunned. … My hometown couldn’t fathom embracing the culture side. I was just like, ‘OK, if y’all don’t want to do it, I have my platform I’m already building, I’ll do it myself.’”
Music business entrepreneur, Belmont professor and first-time 615 Day panel moderator Eric Holt recounts the same sense of marginalization from a management standpoint. As co-founder of Lovenoise, an independent concert promoter focused on Black music, Holt recalls a time when most doors were still closed for Black artists in Nashville.
If Nashville wants a truly thriving ecosystem for Black art, there’s still major work to be done. But since 2003, Lovenoise — which started as…
“Twenty-five years ago, there were not welcoming rooms in Nashville for urban acts,” Holt explains. “[For] emerging artists in Nashville, for people of color, it’s always been a challenge. Even with what we do — and others — it’s still a challenge. It’s kind of shifted some, but it’s still difficult to do certain things in the city.”
Nashville’s collection of music scenes has undergone significant evolution, with varying degrees of interconnectedness between scenes and levels of activity within each. The folks most active right now are making this time in the city one of the most dynamic seasons yet for creative professionals. With the growth of opportunity comes an influx of curators, who help shape and shift the quality of creative experiences to choose from here.
D’Llisha Davis, another 615 Day veteran and a local marketing, management and event curation guru (and a sometime Scene contributor), acts as a sort of liaison for this creative influx. Through her brands 2 L’s on a Cloud and Kinesixx, she helps expand the footprint of local acts and facilitates important discussions.
“It’s almost like taking over that business sense of making sure that we are still creating conversations and having meaningful conversations in the city,” says Davis, “where I may be the person in the room who can speak up on somebody’s behalf.”
On top of making a collective space for local creatives, 615 Day opens doors for unexpected collaboration across music, fashion, wellness and small businesses. As the event expands, so does its role as a networking hub, helping artists establish relationships and access resources that can be difficult to find through traditional industry channels.
In line with his original vision that he explained to the Scene in 2024, Slab says this year’s concerts will celebrate multiple genres with an eclectic lineup, from rock to R&B to experimental artists. The 615 Week Kickoff Concert at the Aura Events Center — which includes performances from the Trïbe, R&B songsmith Kyleigh and more — begins the six-day suite of events on June 15, and the run ends June 20 with 61Fitness. In between, there are panels, a fashion show, a Juneteenth celebration, a high-end ramen dinner and a few surprises sprinkled in.
“With all the innovations coming to the city, we need something that represents what we were to where we are now and where we’re going,” Slab says. “It’s not just parties and fun, it’s education and a celebration of legacy.”
Update, June 15: The pool party originally scheduled for June 20 has been canceled.
