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6ix9ine

Instantly recognisable by his distinctive face tattoos, bright, rainbow-coloured hairstyle and matching teeth grills, Daniel Hernandez, aka 6ix9ine announced himself as one of hip-hop's young stars with breakthrough single 'Gummo' in 2017, but has always been followed by controversy and numerous run-ins with the law. His mother came to the US from Mexico in 1993. Moving to Brooklyn, New York the family struggled for even basic things such as food and clothes, and when 6ix9ine was 13, the man he believed to be his father was shot dead just a block away from their small apartment. He suffered with depression and PTSD after the incident and soon dropped out of school to work a string of odd jobs with his older brother, before getting involved with selling drugs. Although his first love was heavy rock music he began rapping for fun around 2014 and was part of the SoundCloud rap scene which saw young rappers creating a woozy, lo-fi sound with mumbly, stoner rhymes and mechanical, auto-tuned vocals. The reason for his rap name was always a mystery, but he later had the number 69 tattooed in over 200 places on his body and with his striking, colourful image and unique style, he soon started attracting followers online and released early tracks through a label in Slovakia. Mixing aggressive, screaming rhymes and gruff, whispered delivery, he also drew from angsty punk rock and rappers including DMX and Danny Brown and, as part of hip-hop collective S.C.U.M. Gang, he built a notorious persona that was part obnoxious Internet troll and part thuggish, street gangsta. He was forced to spend a few months in Rikers Island prison in 2015 when felony charges were brought against him, but he moved on with his career and made his first mainstream breakthrough when he featured on Trippie Redd's gold-selling track 'Poles1469' in 2017. A deal with independent Los Angeles label Ten Thousand Projects followed, and his single 'Gummo' became a huge success reaching number 12 in the US charts and notching up millions of views on YouTube. There were other infamous feuds with former friend Redd, ZillaKami, Chief Keef, Casanova and The Game, but his charisma and incredible self-promotional skills helped make him one of his generation's leading young rap stars, his mixtape 'Day69' bringing him massive acclaim. His collaboration track 'Fefe' with Nicki Minaj took him to number three in the US charts in 2018 and 'Bebe' with Anuel AA and 'Stoopid' with Bobby Schmurda were other popular fiery, electro-trap bangers that soon landed. Several violent altercations and other gang related incidents soon caught up with him though, and he was arrested along with controversial manager Shotti and four other associates. His debut album 'Dummy Boy' was released only five days after his arrest, and with features from Kanye West, Gunna, Lil Baby and Tory Lanez it reached number two on the Billboard charts, but 6ix9ine was denied bail and remained jailed. He later pleaded guilty to nine charges in February 2019, with sentencing due the following year.