The Tekashi 6ix9ine trial is finally underway at Manhattan’s Thurgood Marshall Courthouse.
According to Complex, the trial is expected to last roughly two weeks. On Tuesday (September 17), the polarizing rapper took the stand as the government’s star witness in the case against alleged Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods members Anthony “Harv” Ellison and Aljermiah “Nuke” Mack.
Dressed in a blue prison jumpsuit and a white t-shirt, his signature rainbow-colored hair was gone and his now-dark hair was in two long braids.
During his testimony, 6ix9ine admitted he decided to cooperate with the government only a day after his November 2018 arrest, or as he said, “the day after we was taken down.”
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6ix9ine said in the summer of 2017 he met Nine Trey member Seqo Billy who was a friend of Chris Ehigiator, his then-manager. He was the first Nine Trey gang member he’d ever met.
After writing “GUMMO,” 6ix9ine asked Seqo to “get Nine Trey members to be a part of the video.” He said he wanted them to “wear red.”
6ix9ine then met Kifano “Shotti” Jordan (now ex-manager) at the video shoot, along with other Nine Trey members who 6ix9ine named then named and identified either in photographs or in person and in the video itself. He also admitted the song was aimed at Trippie Redd and named Redd and fellow rapper Casanova as Bloods.
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“Me and Trippie Redd were signed to the same label,” he explained. “There was a lot of jealousy involved. He was signed first. I later on signed, a couple months after. We had a song together, it was successful. Then jealously, we got into online disputes.
“He was with another set of Bloods … So was Casanova.”
Day 2 of Tekashi 6ix9ine’s witness hearing:
• His crew surveillanced and attacked Trippie Redd
• Names Casanova and asks to “run” him down over diss track
• Gave Frank White’s wife 2k
• How Nine Trey used Tekashi’s money to “equip” themselves(via @innercitypress) pic.twitter.com/H3eG5xfcgQ
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) September 18, 2019
6ix9ine also explained he’d landed on a recipe for his music.
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“I knew I had a formula,” he said. “I knew the formula was to repeat the gang image, promote it. That’s what people like.”
Following “GUMMO,” 6ix9ine put out his next video “Kooda.” He incorporated gang terms he’d learned from Jordan and Seqo into the song.
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After the success of the video (it currently has almost 250 million views on YouTube), they decided to make him an official Nine Trey member. Although he wasn’t officially initiated, he was tasked with making money for the gang.
In return, he said the gang gave him “my career. Street credibility. Protection. All of it.”
He also revealed, “Treyway was more of a sophisticated way to name the gang — something that we could market.”
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Before the testimony ended, 6ix9ine explained “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.”
6ix9ine will continue testifying on Wednesday (September 18). He’s expected to detail the alleged robbery and kidnapping that took place in July 2018. Ellison is accused of masterminding the whole thing. Ellison’s defense team said it was all a publicity stunt.
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Jordan was sentenced to 15 years in prison earlier this month.
