6ix9ine performs on the Rocky Stage during the 2018 Made In America Festival – Day 1 at Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Sept. 1, 2018 in Philadelphia.
6ix9ine is currently behind bars in federal prison awaiting a court hearing next week prior to his trial starting up in September. Rolling Stone published a feature Wednesday (Jan. 16) profiling the rise and fall of “hip-hop’s supervillain.” RS spoke with numerous business partners and collaborators of the Brooklyn rapper to contribute to the story, and 10K Projects CEO Elliot Grainge insisted that he tried to convince Tekashi to move out of NYC.
The label head’s efforts to have his artist flee to California and live in a private upscale neighborhood like Calabasas were unsuccessful, as Hernandez turned down Grainge’s repeated requests to join Kanye West and Drake on the West Coast. “I don’t think he can be safe in New York City,” Grainge told the publication following 6ix9ine’s alleged kidnapping incident. “Not in Bushwick.”
The 24-year-old son of Universal Music CEO Lucian Grainge went on to compare his client to the U.S. president. “He is the Donald Trump of the music industry,” he claimed. “We look at the data — 80 percent of the comments are hate. But if we showed you the analytics on who writes the hate comments, they’re the ones who go to the shows and buy the T-shirts!”
6ix9ine was arrested on various racketeering and firearm charges in November. He faces a minimum of 32 years if convicted. Read the in-depth feature in full over at Rolling Stone.
