King of New York Back From Jail

On April 2, 2020, a well-known rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine walked out of jail due to the widespread of the COVID-19 virus. The health advocates feared that jails can be a place with a high rate of infection. His sentence continued in a form of house arrest.

Daniel Hernandez, professionally known as Tekashi 6ix9ine, is a famous rapper born in New York. His name started to become more relevant and gaining more attention after he dropped his single, Gummo. The song sold over 2 million copies and peaked a top of rank 12 on the Billboard music chart. After he was convicted, the music video was taken off Youtube. Yet, the music video was re-uploaded again and gained more than 368 million views.

On January 24, 2020, Tekashi 6ix9ine pled guilty to nine charges, sentencing to a possible 47 years in prison. He was charged for gang robberies, shootings, and being associated with the gang Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods.

During his trial in court, a video recorded him giving out information to other members that was associated with the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods. Rappers such as Jim Jones and Cardi B were mentioned to be members of the Bloods by Tekashi 6ix9nine.

This action of snitching other members outgained a lot of attention on social media. This was also when Tekashi started gaining a lot of hate and dislike from his fans. Many fans and rappers were dissing at Tekashi for snitching, making songs and memes about him. While many thought that his career was over, it was a different story after he returned back home after two years in federal prison.

Not long after coming back home, 6ix9ine started an Instagram live video that broke the world record for the most views ever. His live video had over two million viewers online watching him talking about the reason that he snitched, dissing the haters, and about his new song. He shattered the previous Instagram live record of 310,000 views by Drake and Tory Lanez.

Raymond W., an junior student in AISG, shared his thoughts on the return of Tekashi 6ix9ine. “I think that even though a lot of people including myself think that Tekashi’s career was over after he came back, it was not the case seen from his recent attention gained from social media.” Raymond also mentioned that based on recent events, he thinks that 6ix9ine will be even more successful after he comes out of jail.

No matter if they are rappers or ordinary people, mistakes are made on a daily bases. Some mistakes are more serious, and some are less. But what really matters is how the person comes back from these mistakes and gets back on track. Tekashi 6ix9ine is a great example of a person coming back from a mistake he made and redeeming himself back to society. This can be a lesson for not just rappers, but everyone.