Sex offender Tekashi 6ix9ine claims he's 'compared to Trump every day', doesn't regret exposing Nine Trey gang
In the two-odd years since his arrest, Tekashi 6ix9nine's notoriety has increased, if anything else, a remarkable feat for a man who had already reached a sort of infamy considering he was a convicted sex criminal who beefed with anybody and everybody on social media. And to hear him say it, "he regrets none of it". In his first interview since his release from prison, where he spent time pleading guilty to firearms and racketeering charges stemming from his role in the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods, the rapper shared how he gets compared to President Donald Trump, is addicted to attention, and had no qualms about testifying against his former gang.
The rapper also addressed comparisons between himself and Trump and the perception that they "trolled" their way to the top. "I don’t think Trump trolls. I think Trump is genuinely Trump. I get compared to Trump every day. But I love Mexican people. I don’t think we’re the same," he said, before adding that he "would vote for Trump."
Speaking to the New York Times, 6ix9ine, born Daniel Hernandez, explained that he had been driven to speak out against the gang – a move that probably saved him from spending decades behind bars – after he claimed they broke the very tenets they claimed to uphold. "When I was kidnapped, was I a victim? Did I cooperate? No. When they were stealing money from shows, did I cooperate? No. Did I have many chances to tell the police what I saw? Yes. I was following a street code that was upheld by me and that I thought was real. Before I broke the street code, how many times was it broken to me? 'It’s all about honor, loyalty.' Well, let’s talk about if sleeping with somebody’s girl is an honor, kidnapping somebody is an honor, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from them is an honor, trying to kill them is an honor. 'Snitching’s not street!' But the street is taking advantage of one of your homies?" he said.
He also claimed that he did not have any worry about testifying. "This probably sounds sick, but I didn’t have a worry, because I wanted to testify. That’s sick, right? But I wanted to tell my truth," he said.
However, the 24-year-old admitted that his testimony against the gang will mean he "will have to pay for that for the rest of my life, looking over my shoulder," but that he has never considered quietly retiring because he loves the spotlight too much and was "addicted" to attention. "Oh, of course. I love it," he said. "I grew up being a nobody. Genuinely, as a kid, I felt like I was just walking invisibly. I never want to feel that way. My goal is to feed me and mine."
In 2015, 6ix9ine pleaded guilty to the use of a child in a sexual performance after he was seen in videos miming graphic acts and touching a 13-year-old while she performed sex acts on other men. He claimed he had atoned for that sin and that "no celebrity gives back as much as Daniel Hernandez." "I’m a true inspiration to the kids, not only with money but showing — I used to clean tables, dish wash, deliver food 12 hours a day for like three years," he said. "I’m you, but I made myself into something. Going back to the 13-year-old girl — I was 18 at the time. Am I this 40-year-old Jeffrey Epstein-type?"
"I fell in love with the life," he added. "I fell in love with the fact that I inspire people. When kids see me, they go crazy."