There are few names currently more notorious within the rap and hip hop communities than the name of Tekashi 6ix9ine. While many artists have dealt with their share of run-ins with the criminal justice system in this country, few other than maybe R. Kelly have had such a stigma associated with them. His legal issues stretch back several years, and his music career has suffered as a result. In this article, we will delve into his career, his legal issues, and get to the pinnacle of the issue which is why he decided to testify for the prosecution in his case.
Who Even is Tekashi 6ix9ine?
Born Daniel Hernandez in May of 1996, he is a Hispanic artist who was born to a mother who immigrated to the United States in 1990 to seek a better life for herself and her children. Hernandez had a rather normal childhood playing baseball and soccer for several years, and he was even assigned to a major league soccer team system at the age of only thirteen, but his mother forbade him from doing that because she did not trust a stranger taking her son at such a young age. He and his family regularly attended church growing up as well.
He attended elementary and middle school all the way through, but dropped out of high school in the tenth grade. He did not have a regular relationship with his father, and did not even know he was alive until he was about nine years old. In all, he had a rather troubled childhood and the difficulties he experienced during his formative years most likely had a rather strong impact on his difficulties later in life. His father was a heroin addict, his stepfather was shot just feet from their family home when Tekashi was only 14 years old, and his mother was unable to support the family.
In all, his early years were extremely difficult, and he has come a long way from there.
He is currently best known as a rapper and songwriter, but he is also known for his very distinct public persona, his colored hair, his tattoos, and his several legal issues going all the way back to 2015.
The Beginning of His Legal Troubles
In 2015, Tekashi pled guilty to a felony count of use of a child in a sexual performance and was sentenced to a four-year period of probation and several hundred hours of community service. He had attended a party in Harlem that involved extremely questionable and illegal activity involving minors that was recorded. He was arrested around two weeks later and ended up pleading guilty. However, he attempted to downplay the incident and lied about his age, her age, and claims that he apologized to the family of his own volition when in fact the apology he wrote was ordered by a judge as a term of his plea agreement.
His next legal issue stemmed from a January 2018 incident where he was filmed accosting a fan, grabbing him by the neck, and scratching him. This caused an investigation and a police report, but never really went anywhere. The rapper and his team pressured the fan and demanded that he deleted the video evidence. He was officially charged with misdemeanor assault but never served any time.
In June of 2018, he ordered a hit on Chief Keef due to some internal beef. Keef was unharmed, but Tekashi later testified that he did in fact order the hit himself.
On July 22, 2018, he was beaten, kidnapped, and robbed in Brooklyn of over $750,000 in jewelry and several thousand dollars in cash as well.
Finally, in November 2018, Daniel Hernandez was arrested along with five others in an investigation into federal racketeering and firearms charges. An indictment was unsealed which identified him as a member of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods, and he was held without bail until a September 4 trial date in 2019. However, on January 23, 2019, he pled guilty to nine counts of racketeering, firearms offenses, and drug trafficking. It was at this time and during the legal process for these charges that he began to cooperate with the prosecution and began to rat out his co-defendants.
Tekashi Snitches
In September of 2019, his trial officially began to determine what his sentence would be. In an attempt to get a better deal and to receive less prison time, he just began to testify to and for the prosecution in federal court, admitting that several of his acquaintances were also gang members and listing several of the acts that they all committed. His cooperation did in fact severely lessen the length of his sentence, which was most likely the sole reason he chose to snitch on so many other people. He was facing several decades behind bars, but ended up only receiving a sentence of two years and is now on house arrest because he was released early due to having asthma during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to an article here on RapTV, he is full steam ahead on his music career, continuing to jumpstart his fame and trying to capitalize on his release. He purchased a Times Square Billboard to promote his new single GOOBA, and the single had over twenty million views less than 24 hours after it was published on Youtube. Honestly, people just watch his videos and listen to his music because of his level of notoriety at this point.
Tekashi’s Future After Snitching
After his release, Tekashi has actually been simultaneously apologizing to his fans for being a snitch while at the same time questioning the street code by saying that the people he snitched on were not loyal and therefore did not deserve his loyalty either. He has also already been back in court due to a case involving the mother of his child, disputing her decision to let him see his baby due to safety concerns.
The future of his music career seems to be up in the air as well due to the fact that even despite his situation and stigma, he has not only completed collaborations with Nicki Minaj like the single “Trollz” which debuted at number one, he just signed a multi-million dollar deal with 10K Projects.
In Summary
Tekashi’s snitching may have put him back in the spotlight and started beef with several other industry names such as Snoop Dogg and Meek Mill, but it also seemingly saved him from several decades in prison, which is quite possibly the sole reason he snitched. Even though he has faced a large amount of backlash, he seems somewhat proud of himself and his accomplishments regardless. He will probably end up facing beef for years to come as a result, but he also refused to enter the Federal Witness Protection Program. Hopefully he is successful at turning his life around and producing successful music for many years to come.
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6ix9ine
- https://www.thefader.com/2019/09/28/a-complete-timeline-of-6ix9ines-legal-issues
- https://pitchfork.com/news/untangling-tekashi-6ix9ines-legal-cases-which-could-soon-land-him-in-prison/
- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/nyregion/tekashi-69-pleads-guilty.html
- https://raptv.com/uncategorized/tekashi-6ix9ine-fresh-out-full-steam-ahead/
- https://raptv.com/news/why-is-tekashi-6ix-9ine-in-court/
- https://raptv.com/rap-lists/the-latest-10-rappers-that-just-signed-deals/
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