The Rise and Fall of Tekashi 6ix9ine

THE story started simply: as an attempt to explain the enormous popularity of Daniel Hernandez, a.k.a. Tekashi 6ix9ine, the face-tatted Brooklyn MC who had become the face of SoundCloud rap despite being a toxic figure with a criminal past.

Not long after reporting began, the story got much darker — Hernandez was arrested, imprisoned, charged with a dizzying array of crimes, from armed robbery to attempted murder, and faces a potential life sentence. Reporter Stephen Witt spent four months on the story, trying to sketch out the saga of a Brooklyn kid who wanted nothing more than to be famous. Witt’s reporting takes us from Hernandez’s childhood in Bushwick to his exploits as hiphop’s greatest troll, as well as deep inside his criminal activities. “I’d been obsessed with Tekashi since his face first appeared on my feed,” says Witt. “He’s a rainbow-haired internet troll that no one could explain.”