6ix9ine Returns With New Song and Defiant Livestream: ‘I Ratted’

The music is basic 6ix9ine: spitfire verses full of boasts about himself and taunts to his detractors. Within the music video, the tattooed Brooklyn rapper — who had a meteoric rise presenting himself as a hardened prison — appeared in candy-colored braids, surrounded by scantily clad dancers who have been doused in paint as they twerked. A shrewd self-marketer, he instantly instructed his followers on Twitter how to buy the clothes he wore.

However the true efficiency was on Instagram Dwell.

Shortly after the music was launched, 6ix9ine fired up his Instagram account for a livestreamed rant that lasted about 13 minutes and was seen by as many as two million folks. 6ix9ine (often known as Tekashi69) has been watched intently by the rap world since he averted an extended sentence — he had confronted as much as 37 years — by cooperating with prosecutors in opposition to his former gang mates within the 9 Trey Gangsta Bloods.

As an alternative, the rapper, whose actual identify is Daniel Hernandez, was sentenced to only two years, and was launched early after his lawyer argued that the rapper’s bronchial asthma made him susceptible to coronavirus whereas in jail.

The lyrics to “Gooba” — which was launched on the rapper’s 24th birthday — have been mildly defiant. However in his reside video he addressed with astonishing candor accusations that he was a “rat” for cooperating with authorities. He spoke of makes an attempt on his life and theft of his cash, and stated that individuals had tried to kidnap his mom, answering barbs that he’d betrayed his loyalty to the gang by arguing they hadn’t been loyal to him.

The rapper stood in what gave the impression to be a small bed room, with a ceiling fan and a neatly made mattress seen behind him. In the beginning of the livestream, two girls with pastel-colored hair danced subsequent to him and helped him take away heavy jewellery. (He boasted of a diamond-encrusted shark pendant costing “half 1,000,000.”)

He added: “I need to say thanks to the choose for permitting me to come back residence to my household.”

However 6ix9ine got here most alive in teasing different rappers, positioning his flip to change into a cooperating witness as a part of a comeback narrative.

“We are able to’t beef; there’s no beef — I’m the king, y’all know this,” he stated, addressing his competitors.

“You recognize why folks so mad?” he added. “As a result of they thought it was over for me. They counted me out. ‘Oh, you ratted, it’s over for you.’ Y’all might by no means cooperate with the federal government and are available again. Y’all might by no means do this. I’m a dwelling legend on the age of 24.”

The situation of 6ix9ine’s confinement is just not public, and none was listed for the “Gooba” music video, although like several other pandemic-era music videos, it was clearly an expert manufacturing. Representatives of the federal Bureau of Prisons didn’t instantly reply to a query on Friday about whether or not the making of the video — which featured as many as six dancers — had violated the phrases of his confinement order. 6ix9ine had asked the judge for permission to shoot a video in his yard.

There was by no means any critical doubt that, even in jail, Tekashi69 would proceed his rap profession. Late final yr, shortly earlier than he was sentenced, he signed a brand new recording deal price a reported $10 million. His lawyer stated he had no intention of coming into witness safety. The larger query was whether or not his cooperation with regulation enforcement would undermine his tough-guy persona.

In 6ix9ine’s view, it had not.

“I’m nonetheless the King of New York,” he tweeted shortly after the stream was over, with a picture of the Instagram feed displaying his variety of viewers: “2M.”