Daniel Hernandez

6ix9ine broke through to the mainstream as a figurehead of the online rap scene but soon became more renowned for his increasingly troubling run-ins with the law. Born Daniel Hernandez in Bushwick, NY in 1996, 6ix9ine suffered tragedy at the age of 13 when his Puerto Rican father was fatally shot outside the family home. After being expelled from school, 6ix9ine started dealing heroin and cannabis on the streets of Brooklyn, an act which eventually resulted in the first of many prison sentences. 6ix9ine first started rapping in 2014 and quickly attracted attention for his rainbow-colored hair and grills, use of anime and internet memes and hyper-aggressive rhymes. He then became one of the first online rap stars to achieve a US Top 20 single when "Gummo" reached No. 12 in 2017 and shortly after he peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with the mixtape Day69. 6ix9ine went on to score a dozen further US Hot 100 hits in 2018, with Nicki Minaj collaboration "Fefe" making the top three, while his first full-length studio effort, Dummy Boy, continued his golden streak, entering at No.2 at the end of the same year. However, by this point 6ix9ine's career achievements had become overshadowed by his high profile feuds with the likes of Trippie Redd, Chief Keef and various Chicago drill artists as well as his disturbing rap sheet. In 2018 he was sentenced to four years' probation after failing to meet the plea bargain conditions from a case three years earlier in which he pleaded guilty to using a 13-year-old girl in a sexual performance. He also faced the possibility of two prison life sentences after being indicted on six federal RICO and firearms counts, including armed robbery and conspiracy to commit murder, as a member of the notoriously violent New York gang known as Nine Trey.