Joe Guzman
Arts and Entertainment Editor
Takashi 6ix9ine, also known as Daniel Hernandez, is no stranger to controversy and his last trial reinforces this statement more than ever. From beginning his career with aggressively shouting racial slurs and throwing gang signs on his breakout track “Gummo” to getting arrested right before his debut album “Dummy Boy,” when his career reached its highest highs, Hernandez managed to still trickle in some mainstream relevancy. He achieved this through social media antics that would fuel his brand and music career in the hardcore hip-hop community mainly from jail and the impact he made on 2017.
Instagram Live beefs, dropping the N-word— Hernandez is exclusively Latino—and pleading guilty to being a registered sex offender were just some of the questionable activities that Hernandez indulged in. The ironic thing was while he was releasing music when he was popping nobody made heavy strides to cancel him because they didn’t take him seriously. When Hernandez first faced sex offender allegations he was let off easy by the judge, only warranting four years probation and 1,000 hours of community service. He was also required to stop mentioning his gang, the Nine Trey Gangsters. By November 18, Henandez was captured and charged with federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), firearms charges and conspiracy to murder.
He later admitted to the conspiracy to murder charge, saying he put out a hit on his Chicago rival Chief Keef. This confession would be the first of many things Henandez revealed to the authorities after he was arrested. One of the biggest things that was recently revealed was that Henandez divulged a huge list of affiliates of the Nine Trey Gangsters. Some of these people included were: his manager Kifano “Shotti” Jordan, who Hernandez said was a prominent figure in the gang; Ohio rapper and former rival Trippie Redd, accused of belonging to a different Blood set); and Cardi B, who Hernandez accused of being a Blood as well. Hernandez also admitted to everything he has been convicted of to get off earlier, rather than being sentenced for life.
The kicker is that Hernandez reputedly didn’t even grow up living a gangster lifestyle; he just really enjoyed putting on that persona for people. According to leaked audio, Hernandez started rapping in September 2014 while working at a supermarket deli. A man, allegedly named Peter Rodgers, came in one day and asked him if he rapped which then led Rodgers to start complimenting Hernandez and asking “why not?” This is when Hernandez started making rock and roll-rap music with Rodgers out of the deli. He toured a bit, mostly in western Europe, saying he did it for experience and only usually made $2,000 profit. He admitted to changing his music style nearly three years later in August of 2017 when making his break out hit “GUMMO.”
The issue with this is that his whole career circled around his persona of being a legitimate gangster. Hernandez was even featured in some songs saying, “Whole squad full of f******* killers, I’m a killer too, Sending shots, shots, shots” and “Police pull up on me, I don’t know what happened, Police pull up on you, you gon’ get to yappin’.” After making all these songs claiming he likes confrontation and then being so quick to give up such secretive information makes his career and reliability no longer reputable in any sense.
Yet because of his telling spree on these rap music juggernauts and admitting everything himself, he could be getting out of jail in 2020. Sources such as TMZ are even claiming that Henandez landed himself a record deal worth more than $10 million from his former label when he gets let out of prison in exchange for two albums, one in English and one in Spanish. In all honesty, if Takashi 6ix9ine refuses witness protection, as he is apparently trying to do, I have no doubt in my mind that he will be killed for telling on the people that he did.
Joe Guzman can be contacted
at jguzman@kscequinox.com
