#003: 6ix9ine Is One of the Most Brilliant Music Marketers of this Era
“The scumbag persona is just for shock value”
Born Daniel Hernandez, New York City-based hip hop artist Tekashi 6ix9ine aka 6ix9ine is one of the most brilliant music marketers of this era. The self-described “Super Villain” is one of the most talked and written about recording artists in the world, stacking up against any of the leading chart-toppers in Hip Hop today. But 6ix9ine achieves this with only having one Billboard Top 10 song and no major record label support behind him.
The stories around 6ix9ine are simply unbelievable and sound like scenes out of a movie. In December 2017, he faked his own death by posting a photo of him on a hospital stretcher with a sheet over him and "Rest in peace my man 6ix9ine. Rest in peace 6ix9ine, you a legend” as the caption (1). This was just the first of a series of events in which 6ix9ine created, manipulated or leveraged a moment to build buzz around his name and drive his music streaming traction forward. In July 2018, he was kidnapped, beaten, and robbed by three armed assailants in Brooklyn, who took over $750,000 in custom jewelry and approximately $35,000 in cash. Just one month before that incident, 6ix9ine was connected to the attempted murder of rival rapper Chief Keef after a shooting at the W Hotel in New York City and leaked a video of him talking about it soon after. This was after he posted taunting photos on Chief Keef’s block in Chicago and thereafter, posted videos to Instagram having sexual relations with the mother of one of Chief Keef’s children. His street fight in broad daylight at Los Angeles’s LAX airport went viral and he tattooed “69” on his body more than 200 times. And we aren’t even getting to the uncountable number of shows that have been cancelled due to threats, ridiculous comments made to instigate responses from other public figures or his public beefs with Trippie Redd, Meek Mill, 50 Cent, YG, Future, Snoop Dogg & more. 6ix9ine isn’t always the most calculated marketer in the music industry, but his ability to start numerous public firestorms - just to see which ones catch the media and publics interest - is something that we’ve never seen in this way or with this volume.
The most recent controversy stirred up by 6ix9ine came just last week, when he accused singers Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber of cheating and buying their way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, after their song “Stuck With U” debuted at #1, while his comeback single “Gooba” hit the charts at #3. 6ix9ine stated, “I want the world to know Billboard is a lie. You can buy #1’s on Billboard. Last Thursday [someone working in the interests of] Stuck With U submitted 60,000 units last second [to Billboard]. With the investigation we found this: They purchased half of those [sales] with six credit cards” (2). This story was the lead headline on most music blogs and might just be a sign of a new and more calculated approach. In the past, 6ix9ine had always targeted rappers, but this latest move went after two of the top pop artists in the world, the world's #1 music manager (Scooter Braun) & a leading music publication (Billboard) in one fell swoop. Billboard has received criticism from many others in recent years — most notably DJ Khaled in 2019 after Billboard didn’t count his album sales that were bundled with a new energy drink — but as always, 6ix9ine took it to the next level and has since caused the industry to look closer at political manipulation in the music charts. It might be a personal antidote, but this story generated the highest number of people texting me to ask me my thoughts on a story in the last 2 years+.
While 6ix9ine’s antics have generated headlines all around the world, the darkness that looms over him must be addressed. In 2015, 6ix9ine pled guilty to a felony count of publicly posting a video of child pornography, receiving a four-year probation period and a 1,000-hour community service order. In 2018, he was arrested on racketeering, weapons, and drugs charges. He pled guilty to nine charges, including conspiracy to murder and armed robbery, and in February 2019 was given a two-year prison sentence after testifying for the prosecution (later released in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). He is also a wanted man on the streets of many cities across America due to beefs with local artists, the presumption that he snitched to get reduced prison time and his gang affiliations. Being a brilliant marketer and knowing how to generate buzz in today’s culture seems to always run parallel to the predatory nature and destruction - of people’s lives and modern culture - that is Tekashi 6ix9ine.
6ix9ine hasn’t simply gotten lucky with the number of viral videos, articles written, streams and views produced and money made in the music industry. This was made clear when he stated, “The scumbag persona is just for shock value”. But how long can this last? Hip hop radio legend Charlamagne tha God said, “You can’t come into the rap game and then turn around and decide you want to be a gangster. You get to a certain point, and you’ve either got to evolve or die” (3). It will only take one of these many foes from his past to come back around to put a final scene on the 6ix9ine movie. But until then, and for better or worse, he remains one of the most brilliant music marketers of the era.
(1) Saponara, M. (2018, February 23). A Timeline of 6ix9ine's Controversial Beefs, Behavior & Canceled Shows. Retrieved May 25, 2020, from https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/8214817/6ix9ine-controversy-timeline
(2) Ingham, T. (2020, May 19). 'You can buy No.1s on Billboard': Tekashi 6ix9ine claims 30,000 Ariana Grande single sales were purchased using 6 credit cards. Retrieved May 25, 2020, from https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/you-can-buy-no-1s-on-billboard-tekashi-6ix9ine-claims-30000-ariana-grande-single-sales-were-purchased-using-6-credit-cards/
(3) Watkins, A., & Coscarelli, J. (2018, November 29). The Rapid Rise and Sudden Fall of Tekashi 6ix9ine. Retrieved May 25, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/nyregion/tekashi6ix9ine-jail-treyway.html
