Roberto Escamilla and Kel MacDowell
Staff Writers
To some, this has been a long-awaited return. To others, this was a time they hoped would never come. Daniel Hernandez, more commonly known as 6ix9ine, was allowed to serve the rest of his sentence at home by Judge Paul Engelmayer. He was officially released on April 2, he was let out due to concerns that he would contract COVID-19 and is more at risk since he has asthma. It wasn’t an easy process being able to get him out as Judge Engelmayer requested that the Bureau of Prisons approve the request.
6ix9ine, however, has wasted no time when it comes to making headlines. Almost immediately following his release he was drawing attention as he started making abnormally large purchases. He purchased multiple luxury vehicles including a Lamborghini Aventador, McLaren, Rolls-Royce, Mercedes Benz G-Wagon and a new Range Rover. His shopping spree didn’t end there, he was also reported buying a Richard Mille watch and a personalized, diamond-encrusted chain and pendant modeled after the shark, Bruce, from Finding Nemo. The piece is as ridiculous as 6ix9ine’s story, the chain and pendant are comprised of 3 kilos of gold and around 135 carats in diamonds. Jeweler, Jimmy Phan, hails it as some of his best work.
Tekashi also decided to alert the public that on May 8, he was going to be hosting an Instagram Live right after debuting his brand-new song, “GOOBA.” The Instagram Live marked his first ever public appearance since being released from prison. The song was so highly anticipated that it crashed the YouTube site. His Instagram Live was also record breaking. The previous record for most viewers at once was held by fellow rapper, Tory Lanez. Lanez had the record set at a little over 300,000 viewers with Drake featuring. When 6ix9ine started his own Live, he wasn’t even on the screen yet and had already broken the record within seconds. He ended his Live with a whopping two million people watching at one time.
As successful as he’s been, he doesn’t do it without his fair share of controversy. He’s had issues with Snoop Dogg, Billboard, and surprisingly his neighbor in a way. The issues with Snoop Dogg started when 6ix9ine posted saying Snoop had allegedly cooperated with the police about Suge Knight. Snoop responded with insults. The insults have been flying back and forth, 6ix9ine has even accused Snoop of infidelity.
Billboard is another fight Tekashi has had. After the release of “GOOBA,” he has been fighting for the #1 spot on the Billboard song charts. He was in the running against some of the world’s biggest singers, Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber. He claims that Billboard has cheated him out of millions of streams. On top of that, he says somebody in the organization has, against the rules, bought streams and manipulated the charts. 60,000 streams came out of nowhere and boosted Ariana Grande from the #5 spot all the way up to #1.
One of the less covered stories has to do with his relationship with his neighbors. A teenage girl noticed her neighbor, 6ix9ine, posing for photos with a stack of money and the new shark chain. The girl posted it immediately to Tik Tok and it went viral. Fans stormed the house and 6ix9ine had to relocate.
It’s safe to say that Tekashi’s reign of terror upon the internet is certainly not over. Despite some people saying his career would not be able to resume after his reputation as a “snitch.” The number of views for his music video as of May 19, 11 days after initial release, is just under 200 million views. Tekashi is here to stay.
