I owe it all to 9 Trey But that doesn’t stop Tekashi from testifying vs. gang buds
Brooklyn rapper Tekashi69 sang like a canary Tuesday, detailing the inner workings of the gang that gave him a successful but short-lived career.
The rapper with tattoos on his face took the stand in Manhattan Federal Court sporting jail blues. He grimaced, squinted and shifted in the witness stand, appearing extremely nervous. His signature rainbow hair was gone — instead he had two tight braids of dark hair.
“What did you get from Nine Trey?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Longyear asked.
“I would say my career. Credibility. My videos, music, their protection,” Tekashi, 23, replied.
Tekashi, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, testified under a cooperation agreement with the government against his former friends Anthony “Harv” Ellison and Aljermiah “Nuke” Mack. In a surreal scene, prosecutors played portions of the Bushwick rapper’s hit music videos for “GUMMO” and “KOODA” in the courtroom. At one point, Tekashi bobbed his head to the beat.
Tekashi made the fateful decision in Sept. 2017 to ask members of the Bloods to appear on camera for “GUMMO,” which was his first smash hit.
“It’s what a Blood member would wear … I want them to wear red,” he recalled. The rowdy video features Nine Trey Bloods flashing gang signs. One even points a gun at a cell phone as he takes a selfie.
Tekashi explained the meaning of the lyrics to the jury. “‘Blicky’ is another word for a gun. ‘Billy’ is Nine Trey. ‘Hoover’ is it’s own set [of the gang],” he said. “I thought it was cool at the time.”
Another word for Nine Trey is “Treyway,” which Tekashi called “a more sophisticated way to name the gang. Something we could market.” He even had to explain that “Henny” is Hennessy liquor.
“GUMMO” gave him the key to success. “The gang image. Promote it. That’s what people like. It was a formula, a blueprint, I found that worked,” Tekashi said.
He followed that song with another hit, “KOODA.” Tekashi said he became a full member of the gang around December 2017. Under Nine Trey’s hierarchy, the “street lineup” of gangsters answered to the “prison lineup” behind bars.
Kifano “Shotti” Jordan, a high-ranking Blood who worked as Tekashi’s manager, often spoke about “taking care of the people behind the wall,” the rapper testified.
That meant Tekashi’s money earned through music fueled the gang that burnished his outof-control image. The gang committed “a lot of violent crimes,” Tekashi said. “Shootings, robberies, assaults, drugs.”
Tekashi will continue testifying Wednesday. Ellison is accused of kidnapping and robbing Tekashi at gunpoint last year amid power struggles within the gang. Mack is charged with dealing drugs.
Tekashi said Mack taught him how to properly flash the Nine Trey gang sign after he did it wrong in the parking lot of a Brooklyn strip club.
“I think I was just getting the hang of it,” Tekashi said, viewing a photo of the lazy sign meant to depict the numbers nine and three.
“If I’m gonna be a Nine Trey member, I have to do the sign right.”