A Brief History of 6ix9ine’s Legal Issues

By: Chermo Toure 

Tekashi69 in court. (Photo Credit: Hollywood Unlocked)

The quick rise of rapper Daniel Hernandez, also known as Tekashi69 or 6ix9ine, and the sudden and presumable fall of him is fascinating. 6ix9ine, who has worked with Nicki Minaj and Kanye West, is now in jail facing racketeering charges and firearm charges.

Hernandez or 6ix9ine (pronounce six-nine), started his rap career in 2014. Over the next three years, he released tracks such as “Scumlife” and “Yokai,” which garnered some internet attention.

However, his rainbow-dyed hair and rainbow-plated grillz look got 6ix9ine more attention on the internet, because people could easily make memes out of his look.

6ix9ine finally got one of his big breaks in music in a collaboration song with fellow rapper Michael Lamar White IV, also known as Trippie Redd, called “Poles 1469.” His other big break came in November when he released his song “Gummo,” which pushed his music career to become mainstream.

It was around this time that 6ix9ine, allegedly, first encountered members of the “9 Trey Gangster” or Treyway, which is a subset of the United Blood Nation. The latter of which is a set of the Blood street gang.

It was also around this time that 6ix9ine, allegedly, first encountered Kifano Jordan, better known as Shotti. Shotti is also a co-defendant of 6ix9ine in their racketeering case.

6ix9ine’s most notable legal controversies started in 2015 when he plead guilty to a felony count of use of a child in a sexual performance, as part of him pleading guilty, 6ix9ine was granted a plea deal by the prosecutor in his case in late 2017.

As part of his plea deal, 6ix9ine agreed to acquire his GED, refrain from posting sexually explicit content of women or children on social media, and would not commit another crime for two years. If these requirements were met, he would not go to jail and have to register as a sex offender.

However, this was short lived. In early 2018, it was revealed that 6ix9ine had failed his GED test. Moreover, in the summer of 2018 6ix9ine was arrested for an outstanding warrant related to an incident that happened in Houston, where he allegedly choked a sixteen years old boy. All charges were later dropped.

Exactly ten after 6ix9ine’s arrest, he was kidnapped, beaten, and robbed by three armed assailants. The kidnappers made off with about $750,000 worth of jewelry and over $35,000 in cash. Later, it was revealed that one of the kidnappers was a former associate of 6ix9ine.

With all of Hernandez’s legal troubles continuing and him not meeting the requirements of his plea deal, the Manhattan district attorney’s office announced that 6ix9ine could face jail time for his child sex case.

However, in court, 6ix9ine got lucky when he was sentenced to four years probation and 1,000 hour of community service, and could not say “Treway” in his songs.

The very same day of his sentencing, two members of 6ix9ine’s entourage got into an altercation with two retired cops where they were shot. The two members were charged with gang assault.

On November 10th, while in California, two men were caught on surveillance footage shooting at the music video set that 6ix9ine was in attendance. 6ix9ine was the alleged target of the shooting.

On November 15th, 6ix9ine had fired his entire entourage, which included members of the 9 Trey Gangsters. Then on November 16th, 6ix9ine did an interview with the popular hip hop morning radio show, The Breakfast Club, where he stated that he feared the FBI arresting him.

Early in the morning of November 18th, 6ix9ine’s worst fear became a reality. He and three others of his former entourage were indicted by FBI, ATF, and Department of Homeland Security on numerous counts, including drug trafficking, robbery, and racketeering.

While in jail, 6ix9ine did catch a break with the legal system when the judge in his child sex case granted him time-served.

However, 6ix9ine and his co-defendants are currently awaiting trial and are facing a minimum of thirty-two years in prison to life in prison. All current defendants in this case have plead not guilty to all the charges.