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Akademiks struck up a friendship with 6ix9ine long before he was rap's most infamous snitch, but it wasn't exactly intentional.

The Real Story Behind Akademiks & 6ix9ine's Friendship Published on:Jun 7, 2022, 11:27 AM by 1 Exclusive Akademiksstruck up a friendship with 6ix9ine long before he was raps most infamous snitch, but it wasnt exactly intentional. It was 2017 and 6ix9ine had just dropped his breakout single GUMMO. With his rainbow-colored hair and tough guy aesthetic, 6ix9ine was racking up the YouTube views and Akademikswas paying attention. That relationship started when I was listening to his music, Akademiks tells HipHopDX in a recent phone interview. Never met him yet, but Im bumping to the song GUMMO. Im like, Oh, this is fire. I was just a general fan. And I put up on my story and said something like, Yo, this is going to be one of the biggest songs since Bobby Shmurdas Hot N-gga. I got reached out to by some random person. It was a guy with a penguin as a logo. I kid you not. A penguin was the only picture on his page, but he was verified. I said, What the heck is this? It was like the illuminati reaching out. He was like, Yo, Im glad you like 6ix9ine. Hes signed to us. We should talk at one point.' Akademiks was co-hosting Everyday Struggle at the time and had flown out to Long Beach for work. The same man reached out again and wanted to meet in-person at Delilahs in Los Angeles. Somewhat skeptical, Akademiks decided to take the meeting anyway. People think because they hear my name a lot that Im always doing industry stuff, but I really live a very regular life, he says. I dont hang out with industry people because I never really got an opportunity to be helped by them to get into this place where Im at. So Im not the person whos like, Now, Im in this place. Let me only hang out at yalls parties and party with yall. I dont really want to be around you. I like to live very isolated. Walking into the restaurant with his entourage, Akademiks saw producer Steve Stoute, Hot 97 radio host Ebro Darden, several industry executives and, of course, the man he was supposed to meet. The guy was like, Yo, Ill buy you and your team a bunch of drinks,' he explains. Now you got our attention. And he was like, Im glad you like the 6ix9ine record. Im like, Why isnt this popping off already? So he tells me a bunch of problems with it. He says, Yo, I want you to help me. I want you to give me advice on how to deal with this on a PR side. And I said, Well, theres a couple problems with him. And at the time, 6ix9ine, there was a heavy cloud about like his child sexual misconduct, that case. I remember saying to the guy, Well, Im going to just be honest. I dont know why this song isnt out officially. Thats one problem. But number two, you cant really post him on social media. I posted him one time because he looks funky and shit like that. I posted him and Instagram deleted it and it was deleted because of mass reporting. People hate him.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by @6ix9ine Unsure of what to do next, Akademikssuggested he should schedule an interview for 6ix9ine in an effort to humanize him. He also told him to fix the issues with the song. Two weeks later, Akademiks was back in New York when he got a phone call from the man who tells him, Yo, we took your advice. Yo, youre amazing. The only problem was they couldt find anyone willing to interview 6ix9ine, so Akademiks ended up doing it himself despite his reservations about it. Meeting 6ix9ine for the first time, Akademiks was surprised by his humble demeanor and wound up doing multiple interviews that day. Really, why the friendship even started was because we did three interviews that day, he says. And we did the first one because I had to say, Yo, just speak. Just tell your side and tell your truth. And he spoke. His manager ran on afterwards and said, I dont like that. They wanted him to be a little more scripted. They just wanted pretty much something that was just not authentic. Akademiks then did a second interview with 6ix9ine and his team still wasnt happy. He left with three full interviews and only one Akademiks felt would work. The last one that I did with them is bullshit, he admits. No one would believe that. Theyd see through that and be like, Yo, this guys a piece of shit whos reading from a paper. I told them you want him to seem as authentic as he could be, and he was authentic in the first interview. Two days later, Akademiks got a call from 6ix9ine whod asked for his number. He wanted him to choose which interview he should publish. He says, I want you to be honest with me which interview should we go with?' he continues. And I said, dont want to get between what you and your manager probably have decided, but the first one was authentic and you should go with that. Right then he said, Thats what I want. I dont want that other staged shit. And it told me a lot about him, because I realized he was down to be imperfect, even though he already was imperfect, but he was down to give it raw and authentic. A lot of music is really carefully put to Read more