Tekashi69

Who is Tekashi69?
Tekashi69, also known as 6ix9ine (which is pronounced “six nine.” Yup, we know it’s confusing but there’s a certain creativity to it, no?) is a rapper known for just a few songs (only having risen to “fame” in 2017). Mostly he’s known for his face tattoos and being involved in a lot of controversial situations, especially as of late.

July 2018 Arrest at JFK
The rapper was picked up on a warrant stemming from a January 2018 assault in Houston. NYPD extradited him to Texas. NYC has a great interest in the comings and goings of the young rapper as he is on three years of probation resulting from a plea deal in a sexual abuse case. More on that below.

January 2018 Houston Mall Assault
On January 6th, 2018, Tekashi69, whose real name is David Hernandez, allegedly choked a 16-year-old teenager at a Houston mall. According to the teen, he was filming Hernandez, who is 22 years old, when the rapper turned around and yelled at him to erase the video from his phone. This is when Hernandez allegedly grabbed the teen by the neck while his bodyguards surrounded him. The teen told the body guards that he deleted the video because he was afraid of being hurt. In 2018 that assertion certainly doesn’t mean the footage of what went down isn’t available. In fact, someone else captured the altercation and, naturally, the video quickly made it to social media. It’s also likely that mall security cameras captured the incident (we feel as if Tekashi should have known that and at least should have tried to control his temper given the fact that he’s on probation). And, also a bummer for Tekashi is that it isn’t unfathomable that the scared teen would never have reported the incident. So, if the mall didn’t have video or didn’t take action and the onlooker didn’t memorialize it on his phone then Tekashi would not have been arrested that day at JFK.

Call me by Name
What’s very interesting to us is that Carl Moore, the rapper’s attorney in the Houston matter has asked the court to refer to his client either by his real name or “the accused” or “defendant” but NOT as Tekashi69. “We want the jurors to look at him as a citizen and not some larger-than-life celebrity,” Moore said about the request. Hmmm. We’re not so sure that’s the main reason behind the request. First, Tekashi is not a well known celebrity. Second, more likely the request was made because the rapper’s stage name is not only hard to pronounce and hard to spell but also doesn’t conjure up the most positive, innocent images.  And, last, though we agree that the move was a smart one by counsel because it does, at some small level, make the rapper seem more “every day” the real issue is going to be the rapper’s appearance, all the face tattoos, is so extreme that the benefit of calling him Mr. Hernandez will likely be very slight.

What the heck does Tekashi69 or 6ix9ine even mean?
Well, no need to wonder or assume the rapper’s name relates to something sexual because the rapper himself recently explained it in an Instagram post. Here’s what he said:

“I never lost sense of where I came from. That’s what makes me 69. The true meaning of 69 is just because you’re right doesn’t mean I’m wrong YOU JUST HAVENT SEEN LIFE FROM MY PERSPECTIVE. Turn the 6 upside down it’s 9 but remains the same in a different perspective. Open your mind and heart ❤️.”

Past Legal Troubles: Using a Child in a Sexual Performance
As noted above, this isn’t the 22-year-old rapper’s first run-in with the law. Not in the least. Back in 2015, startling allegations were brought against Hernandez, who pled guilty to one felony count of use of a child in a sexual performance after he was charged with three counts of the offense stemming from an incident in February 2015. The incident in question involved the rapper having sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl. He was 18 at the time. He also distributed videos of the incident online. Descriptions of the video are graphic and disturbing so we will not go into detail here, but Hernandez claimed that he had “no sexual contact” with the girl and insisted that he did not know she was a minor. He also claimed that he was 17 at the time of the incident–though court documents have him listed as 18.

Hernandez got off pretty easily given the circumstances. As part of his plea deal he was ordered to obtain his GED, refrain from posting sexually explicit and violent images of women or children (yes, that was a condition!), and not commit a crime for two years. If he followed those conditions, his sentence would be 3 years of probation and he would not have to register as a sex offender. Failure to abide by them means he could face up to three years in prison. If he isn’t stepped back to prison it wouldn’t be Hernandez’s first time behind bars.  As a minor, he served time for assault and drug distribution (selling heroin).

Alas, in January of 2018, it was revealed that the rapper had not earned his GED. The formal hearing on the matter was rescheduled to April 2018. On that date, he was again unable to provide the court with a copy of his GED diploma and the hearing was once again postponed.

So now we have no GED and involvement with the criminal justice system–both occurrences that violate the conditions of probation. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office announced that the young rapper could face up to three years in prison and be required to register as a sex offender stemming from the 2015 plea deal. The next court date is October 2018.

Laying Low? Nah . . .
And Tekashi69 has not been laying low. He has been involved in beefs with other rappers, he was even investigated for the June 2018 shooting of Chief Keef in New York City (Chief Keef was not hurt) though, good for Tekashi, he was in Los Angeles at the time of the shooting. Then there was his July 22, 2018 robbery during which he was kidnapped, beaten, and robbed by three unknown assailants. The robbers allegedly took over $750,000 in custom jewelry and nearly $35,000 in cash. Tekashi escaped from the assailant’s vehicle and was able to call for help and reportedly taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. Then, on August 17th, 2018, the rapper was on set with 50 Cent when production on their music video was shut down because of a shooting. Thankfully, no one was injured but, none of these incidents bode well for the young rapper. Is it a matter of where there’s smoke there’s fire? It’s in his best interest to stay as far away as possible from any trouble. Right now, the yanking of that plea deal is a very real consequence.

PROOF will be following this story and keeping you updated. Secretly, though, we do hope he gets that darn GED!!!