How A Rainbow headed rapper with 69 tattooed all over his body changed rap FOREVER

Tekashi 6ix9ine is without a doubt the most interesting rapper we have ever seen in history. Comparing Tekashi to any artist we have ever experienced in the past would be impossible, not only because of his success but also because of how mind-blowing his story truly is. From his look to his actions Tekashi’s persona was just as interesting as his image and kept the entire world engaged every step of the way. Today I want to discuss how a rainbow headed rapper with the numbers sixty-nine tattooed on his body (as he claims) over two hundred times, changed how we perceive rap forever.

I don’t want to take too much time talking about Tekashi’s backstory but to give a short glimpse, Tekashi 6ix9ine was born Daniel Hernandez in Bushwick New York. At a young age being raised by a poor mother, he witnessed his father’s death by getting shot in the middle of the street. After witnessing his father die he explains in a breakfast club interview that he would experience mental breakdowns, high anxiety, and depression. This negative spiral lead him down a path of selling hard drugs such as heroin and eventually getting thrown in jail. When he was released this is when he would start having social media antics such as tattooing sixty-nine on his face to go viral on the internet or doing provocative things with women online for attention. One night those social media antics got Tekashi in trouble when he posted a video of him doing sexually explicit content with an underage girl. He was then booked and charged, later pleading guilty to sexual misconduct with a minor.

After all this happened Tekashi decided to take the social media antics even further where he would start making music. Tekashi was a camera man first before experimenting with his own sound and this is where his life began to change. Tekashi had a friend who was offered to join the nine trey bloods of New York, Tekashi saw this as an opportunity to gain credibility within the rap industry. Tekashi went with his friend and proposed he would be able to give these gang members money and a platform on the internet in exchange to having them in the video. They agreed then proceeded to be in Tekashi 6ix9ines first viral rap video called “Gummo”.

Gummo was an absolutely insane video, accumulating around 28 million views on YouTube and 3 million streams on Spotify within a month! The video features the rainbow headed rapper surrounded by established blood members infamously known within New York. When you think about gangster rap or gang members usually the first thing that comes to mind wouldn’t be rainbow hair and sixty-nine tattoos, its absolutely laughable but that’s what I believe got people’s attention. After his first viral hit Tekashi continued to drop hit after hit with every song landing on the billboard hot one hundred charts. Shortly after having so much success over the internet Tekashi continued his social media antics because he believed it correlated with his success. Tekashi continued associating with gang members from the nine trey bloods after the video went viral claiming to be a member of the bloods the entire way.

With Tekashi starting to have mainstream success gaining cosigns from known hip hop artists such as Nicki Minaj, Kanye west, and 50 cent he started making enemies with other artists online such as Trippie Redd, YG, Chief Keef, Tadoe, casanova, and more. These controversies didn’t seem to slow him down but instead help his career. Every time Tekashi aggravated rappers online it seemed that his streams and YouTube views would continue to skyrocket. Tekashi started being banned from venues in America but went on tour in Europe and sold out every single show.

As these antics continued we started to see Tekashi receive legal trouble such as the assault of a fan, being under investigation for shootings in times square New York, and Tekashi himself being kidnaped and robbed. Tekashi took time to go onto the breakfast club and explain that he’s separating himself away from the nine-trey blood gang because they have been robbing him and were allegedly sleeping with his baby mother. A day after he gave this interview he was picked up by the federal government and takin into custody because nine trey gang members were planning to kill him. A day after being arrested Tekashi started cooperating with the federal government and during trial spoke against every single member he formally worked with, giving every single person over ten years in prison except him who would receive only two.

Currently Tekashi is still behind bars but is expected to return in July of 2020 where he plans to continue his music career. Tekashi 6ix9ine who knew how the internet works and developed a fake persona of a gang leader and unfortunately got lost in his false world. After watching his story this changed how we perceive rap forever because not only does it make us question the credibility of some artist but is also displays how dangerous seeking attention though the internet can be. Regardless of what you think about him his story is absolutely entertaining containing plot twists, violence, and colorful hit songs.

-Melly Mike