Tekashi 6ix9ine, real name Daniel Hernandez shared it all during his first day of testimony in court.
The rapper, now a cooperating witness, took the stand in the late afternoon on Tuesday, September 17, to detail his career and how it connected to the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods. His testimony is to help make the government’s case against alleged gang members Anthony “Harv” Ellison and Aljermiah “Nuke” Mack.
According to Complex, the testimony was heard at Manhattan’s Thurgood Marshall Courthouse, 6ix9ine was questioned by attorney Michael Longyear, dressed in a blue prison jumpsuit, plain white shirt underneath and his now-dark hair in two long braids.
This first day of his testimony began with the rapper saying that he decided to cooperate with the government immediately after his arrest last year on racketeering charges. That arrest took place on November 18, and 6ix9ine said in court that he made up his mind to cooperate by November 19, “the day after we were taken down.”
The article states from there; he recounted the beginnings of his music career. In 2014, he said, he was working at the Stay Fresh Grill & Deli in Bushwick when he met Peter “Righteous P” Rodgers. Rodgers “asked me if I rap,” 6ix9ine recalled.” “He was like, ‘You got the image for it. You look cool.’”
He said the first Nine Trey member he met, at the end of summer of 2017, was the rapper, Seqo Billy. Seqo and 6ix9ine connected through Seqo’s close friend Chris Ehigiator, 6ix9ine’s then-manager. After writing “Gummo,” he asked Seqo to “get Nine Trey members to be a part of the video. I told Seqo that I would like for them all to wear red.”
At that video shoot, 6ix9ine said, he met Kifano “Shotti” Jordan, along with other Nine Trey members who he then named and identified in photographs (or, in the case of the defendants, in person), as well as in the “Gummo” video itself, which played in the courtroom, according to the report.
When asked about the history of “Gummo,” he said the song was aimed at Trippie Redd, who he identified as a member of the Five Nine Brims set of the Bloods.
“Me and Trippie Redd were signed to the same label,” he explained. “There was a lot of jealousy involved.”
After the release of the song which happened to be an instant hit, the rapper realized he was building something.
“I knew I had a formula,” he explained. “I knew the formula was to repeat the gang image, promote it. That’s what people like.”
Continuing, he recalled the making of the “Kooda” song and video and explained that he had learned the gang terms that are used in the track’s lyrics from Seqo and Shotti.
He said that after the success of “Kooda,” he “officially became a Nine Trey member,” though he never had to go through an initiation.
He continued to explain what was required of him to remain a member of the gang, which was to make hits and essentially make money for the gang. When asked by Longyear what he got from Nine Trey in return, he stated, “I would say, my career. Street credibility. Protection. All of it.”
Longyear also asked for detail surrounding the meaning of “Treyway,” which 6ix9ine often-shouted. “Treyway was more of a sophisticated way to name the gang, something that we could market,” the rapper said.
Breaking down several more details before court ended for the day, he also shared how the Nine Trey handshake and hand signs are made; how the “prison lineup” (Nine Trey members behind bars) and “street lineup” (members who are not incarcerated) of the gang are organized and who the leaders of each were; his relationships with the defendants; and more according to Complex.
Reports say he will get into details of his alleged robbery and kidnapping in July 2018, which Ellison is accused of. However, Ellison’s defense team has said numerous times that the incident was a publicity stunt.
The testimony will continue on Wednesday.
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