Controversial rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine rose to fame through social media. Now, he’s getting a different kind of close-up.
“Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine,” a three-part docuseries that premieres Sunday on Showtime at 10 p.m., goes inside the life of the 24-year-old rapper. Featuring archival footage with Tekashi as well as interviews with others in his circle, the docuseries traces his rise from his days growing up in Bushwick to his infamous 2019 trial, when he snitched on his former fellow gang members in order to reduce his sentence after being arrested on racketeering, drug trafficking and weapons charges.
The father of two was released early from prison last April, due to the coronavirus pandemic. But he hasn’t exactly flown under the radar since then — the “Gummo” MC just got caught feuding with Meek Mill outside an Atlanta club.
Director Karam Gill called “a toxic individual” as well as “a horrible human being.”
Tekashi’s attorney, Lance Lazzaro, fired back when reached for comment: “It’s the furthest thing from the truth. Danny’s talent speaks for itself, and Danny is a good human being.”
Lazzaro added, “Daniel Hernandez never was interviewed for [the docuseries], and never participated. It is interesting and almost unbelievable without ever having met the person… how [the director] characterized him. It’s hard to fathom. No one can comment about his talent… and how he characterized him when he never met the person.”
Here are some of the biggest revelations about the rainbow-haired artist, born Daniel Hernandez.
He likens himself to the ultimate “supervillain,” the Joker
“You wanna hate him, but you love him, you know what I’m saying?” says Tekashi in the first episode about Batman’s wild-eyed antagonist. “Because he’s the bad guy, but you just end up falling in love with him.”
His biological father was a heroin addict
Daniel Hernandez Sr. was kicked out of the home by Tekashi’s mother, losing contact with his son. Years later, the rapper would depict heroin use in some of his early videos, showing people actually shooting up.
His stepfather was murdered when he was just 13
After Tekashi decided not to go with his stepfather to the supermarket one day, Luis Nazario was shot and killed in broad daylight just a block away from home. “When they took him away from me, I felt naked,” he says.
He got the name Tekashi from a local tattoo artist
The first half of his stage name — originally his social-media handle — comes from a neighborhood tattoo artist, who was also a heroin addict. “He did heroin to create,” Tekashi says of the man who inspired his moniker. “He did it to get himself in his little world. He did it to be himself.”
The 6ix9ine — his way of styling 69 — is him reflecting “life in two different perspectives” to his fans: “I’ma show them if I can do it, they can do it.” And then he proceeded to get 69 “69” tattoos.
His colorful style came from feeling “invisible”
Tekashi’s rainbow hair and matching rainbow grill weren’t just for shock value. “One day I woke up and I said, ‘Yo, I want my look to be loud,’ ” he says. “I felt invisible. I just had to make a loud presence.”
He was charged with sexual misconduct
After posting a video on Snapchat that he filmed of a 13-year-old girl performing sex acts on another guy, he was charged with sexual misconduct in 2015. He took a plea deal at the time.
He allegedly assaulted his former girlfriend
Sara Molina — his first and longtime girlfriend, who is the mother of his 5-year-old daughter Saraiyah — claims that she finally left him after one vicious beating. “This was not the first time that he started putting his hands on me,” she says of “his monster ways.”
He thought joining the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods made him “untouchable”
He became a gang member for credibility, but that lifestyle became all too real when he was kidnapped by one of his former gang associates in 2018. His would-be abductor Anthony “Harv” Ellison got caught and was sentenced to 24 years behind bars.
He wanted to be a gangster, but didn’t follow gangster code
“He signed up for it voluntarily,” says his former DJ, Pvnch. “And he turned as dishonorable as you can get, now where he might be the most famous cooperator and snitch to ever walk the face of this earth.”