Original subtitles

[Tekashi] It's 5:00 a.m. We're at a red light.

And a car just smashes the whole back of the car.

[metal and glass crunch]

It's like a scene-- a opening little movie scene.

Straight outta that.

-[person] Stop, stop, stop. -[person] Wait, wait, wait.

[Tekashi] My whole heart just went to my stomach.

[Tekashi] Is this the place where I die?

[Tekashi] I'm just talking to God and I'm just like,

you know, do I really wanna lose my life right now?

Is jewelry, is money,

is all that shit more important

than seeing Saraiyah, my daughter,

graduate from kindergarten?

So I said, "I got some jewelry in the crib.

Don't hurt my daughter."

dramatic music

[Sara] My phone rings. I pick up.

He goes, "Sara, where's the baby?"

I found it odd.

Hold on.

And I'm like, "Yo, where are you, Danny?

What's going on?"

And he picks up the phone, and it was like,

"They're gonna kill me."

He has, like, a little gash on his eye.

He was bleeding and had a knot.

So I'm looking at it; I start crying.

I'm like, "Yo, what the fuck is going on?

Who's gonna kill you?"

And he goes, "Don't ask me no questions.

Please do everything I tell you."

I'm like, "What's going on?"

He goes, "I need you to go downstairs

and get my jewelry, it's on the table,

and wrap it the way I wrap it and put it in the baby's bag."

He goes, "I'm coming around the block right now."

A different car from the driver's car pulls up

and someone throws a hoodie on,

comes out the car,

and is standing in front of me.

And he goes, "Sara, give him the bag."

We gave the bag, the guy got in the car,

and the car burnt rubber.

[person] All right, get in the car.

Get in the car. We're gonna shoot you.

[person] You have a gun in the car?

[person] Get in the car.

[Tekashi] I just started talking to God.

I'm like, "You're the only one that can get me out of this."

By that time, there was a argument that happened.

I managed to throw myself out.

But there was incoming traffic.

Tonight, police are on the hunt for the two men responsible

for a robbery and kidnapping at gunpoint in Brooklyn.

Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine was kidnapped and attacked

in Bed-Stuy Sunday morning.

He was taken to Kings County Hospital

for observation.

I push people to be civilian in this world.

Civilian is a safe world.

Publicly, what could we say?

What happened? Are you all right?

You know, it was a inside job.

[DJ Pvnch] But if you sign up for this gang shit,

you signed up for certain type of replies

and certain type of behaviors.

If you a gang member and you get approached

on some gang time and some action,

you gotta swell up.

It's time to be the guy that you said you were.

dramatic music

[horn blares]

Boy. We outside.

Good, strong, healthy.

No matter how much fame I got, no matter how much...

...publicity is involved with my name,

everybody know me for being in the heart of Brooklyn,

staying in the heart of Brooklyn.

I'm like, is that more important than family?

Is that more important than life?

Is that more important than love, man?

And tomorrow. Just having another...

-Another chance. -Yeah.

The first time Tekashi felt like he was not invincible

was the day he got kidnapped.

That's the first time that he was like, "Oh, shit."

dramatic music

[Sara] Harv was the muscle.

And he felt like he wasn't being appreciated

for his loyalty and his work.

It's hard trying to protect someone

who makes all these problems.

[DJ Pvnch] Tekashi's word in the video kinda shows

that Harv wanted bread.

'Cause in that video, I see someone who's like,

"Yo, bro, why you ain't call me?

You know you owe me."

Tekashi was living out his raps

on a very specific environment,

surrounded by a lot of protection,

a lot of muscle.

...what I'm talking about. And that bitch-ass nigga.

[DJ Pvnch] That was Harv.

[Seqo] Yeah, he was there from the beginning.

He stood up for Danny

millions of times.

And now when it's time to pay for it or whatever,

nigga just started getting greedy.

[Billy] He was a really stingy person since I met him.

Harv, I'm pretty sure he didn't show it that much,

but he felt crushed.

You know, "You're not paying me for all this stuff."

The fighting at the airport.

He was the one at the Minnesota stuff.

[shouting]

[Ron] Harv really thought it was the time to strike

because of where Tekashi was at the time.

He was at top of his game financially.

And they really thought they could extort him

for a lot more than, you know, what really went down.

[reporter] The two suspects took the jewelry.

So far, no arrests have been made

and the investigation is ongoing.

Yo, I got a quick little message

for all my fans,

for people who are not my fans,

and for people out there.

I went from broke to being fucking rich as fuck

in the matter of a year.

And all of this money,

all of this money,

can't buy happiness.

[DJ Pvnch] After the kidnapping,

Tekashi wasn't feeling it.

But then Shotti was there

to pep talk him right back into it.

How do you look at everything?

You know, they wanna know your reaction,

like, with Six the other night.

How do you look at it?

[Billy] I regret not analyzing the situation better,

paying more attention to stuff, you know.

[cheering and shouting]

He was giving more stuff to Shotti.

To him, he wanted to find the biggest personal--

the heads of this stuff and give them bread.

They'll take care of everybody

so he ain't gotta deal with everybody,

and, I mean, that's, like, his mentality.

You going live?

[Ron] Shotti became the power.

He made himself the "manager."

But Shotti didn't really have to worry much

because he didn't really have to answer to many people

'cause he was on top of the food chain already.

[DJ Pvnch] Shotti basically made sure

that he was in the position that he needed to be.

Tekashi didn't trust anyone.

He wanted to cut everybody off.

So when the opportunity came,

it was just Shotti and Tekashi,

everything changed.

brash hip-hop

What we doing?

Motherfucking time. Made in America, niggas.

2018, all that's Treyway, right?

We run that world, right?

At that point, everybody was split.

6ix9ine started getting paranoid.

Then Shotti put every single piece

of that kid back together.

"Don't worry about that. That happens, bro.

That happens. Don't worry about nothing.

Don't worry about nothing. We good."

He felt like it was fourth quarter, man.

[Tekashi] Hey, Shotti, come here, Blood.

Come here, Blood.

Philly, this is fucking Treyway.

-Make some noise! -[cheers and applause]

Let's pop it.

Yo, Shotti.

I want you to give me that strong "Treyway."

You hear me? On the count of three.

One, two, three.

Treyway!

[Shotti] That's my word, get up in they face

Talk your shit, let your nuts drag, nigga

These niggas just running out they fucking mouth, man

Follow protocol, Blood

Get in they fucking chest, nigga

[Tekashi] Scum Gang!

[Shotti] Treyway!

These niggas bleed different

We don't bleed, nigga

We make niggas bleed, Blood

Treyway

[person] Dope shit.

[DJ Pvnch] The fuck I'm talking about!

[person] Dope shit.

We just broke Made in America in 90 motherfucking pieces.

Say that again?

We broke Made in America into 90 fucking pieces, man.

What the fuck he just said.

Fuck rolling with you niggas. We the M.O.B.!

[DJ Pvnch] After Jay-Z's festival, Made in America,

that's really where the arrogance was set in

really strong at that point.

Try to stop us.

I'm not fucking stopping.

My energy's too crazy, man. I break the rules.

You know what I'm saying? I break through all that shit.

Through pedophile comments, all that shit.

All that negativity. [scoffs]

My energy is too crazy.

[Shotti] Tell 'em who the fuck they're talking to.

[Tekashi] Treyway.

We just spent $50,000 in ten minutes

on the fucking walk in.

This is what the fuck it costs

to be at the fucking top of the fucking game, yo.

Show diamond. Oh.

[50 Cent] So don't come here

talking about your feelings.

The fucking queen herself.

-The only queen. -That's right.

Every single day,

something unbelievable was happening.

Someone humongous was retweeting him.

I love 6ix9ine.

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

-You like 6ix9ine? -Yeah. I love his energy.

King of New York is back in New York.

I see this face.

The fuck is up?

-[indistinct] -Fucking what?

The fucking M.O.B. is Treyway. You know the vibes, man.

This is the CEO of one of the hottest labels in the game.

Everywhere I go, I hear Treyway.

I'm listening to Nicki, I hear Treyway.

[DJ Pvnch] Shotti really understood

at a point, it was like, "Yo, if I get this right,

this immediately correlates with success and with money.

Before 6ix9ine, I never had a social media.

-Never? -Never.

Never had a Myspace, a Facebook.

None of that shit, man.

You were in the streets for real.

When you ain't got social, you--

Literally, in February, my lawyer was like,

"Yo, if you really want this label shit,

if you really focus on this shit,

you gotta get on social media."

Damo Prende, motherfuckers

This is that Black Wall Street

That bad-ass motivation

That Nine Trey gangster shit, baby

This is Treyway

[interviewer] But as the CEO, like, a lot of times,

you have to be accountable for the things you say.

So when you see somebody like, you know--

We're not in that era.

We're not--there is nobody held accountable

for what they say any longer.

There's nobody held accountable

from our president, commander in chief,

to the smallest person on the streets.

There's nobody held accountable for what they say any longer.

-It's the internet, bro. -Right.

Like, you get what I'm saying?

-Yeah. -It's the internet.

Like, how seriously can you take it?

Cameraman, you on me?

[person] That's how you bumming, Shotti?

It's fucking Treyway, nigga.

What the fuck else I'm doing, nigga?

Agent Treyway.

It's Mr. Treyway out this bitch.

They gave me a fucking 2018

motherfucking Aventador out this bitch.

What the fuck y'all niggas think of this, man?

Y'all niggas know the fucking hit, man.

[engine revving]

dramatic music

[Ron] Real gangsters move in silence.

But that crew we're talking about

in the era we're talking about,

these individuals aren't afraid to not move in silence.

They're not afraid if you know who they are

'cause they feel they're untouchable.

Come on, all you niggas that's mad at Tekashi,

y'all can suck some dicks.

My man is selling. We winning.

Ain't nobody touching him. Y'all can suck some more dicks.

Y'all faggot-ass niggas.

It's fucking Treyway!

[Ron] You know, law enforcement's watching

social media every day.

And, you know, they're basically building cases

because of social media posts

that are going on with these gangs.

Fuck Chief Keef, fuck Lil Reese,

fuck all them niggas.

Fuck y'all niggas talking about, nigga?

-This fucking Treyway, nigga. -Treyway!

I bet y'all next pull up in New Jersey now, nigga.

Judge the name of my city,

but my brothers is there, you heard me?

You know what I'm saying? New York shit, man.

This is fucking Treyway, man.

[Ron] Got a kid running around with rainbow hair

doing these things,

so it's not like, you know, there's gonna be many questions

on who was it.

So these individuals don't care about that, you know?

They really don't care about if they know it's me.

"I hope they know it's me."

They're showing weapons.

They're showing things they're doing.

They're so built up on this clout,

they're so built up on, "Oh, look who I am,"

they really don't think about,

you know, the aftereffects of this incident.

What if?

You got millions of viewers, millions of followers,

you're getting the likes,

you're getting everything you want

that you think is instant gratification,

but unfortunately, it's the demise

of a lot of these groups, social media.

You know I won't ever let them take you from me again.

I let my guard down, I'm not gonna lie,

but I won't ever let them take you from me again.

[Giancarlo] Every supervillain has a moment of reflection.

A point where life fucks them up so badly

that they're faced with a decision.

A chance to walk away from it all.

But they never go that route.

Their ego simply won't let them.

When supervillains hit rock bottom,

they rebuild themselves

to be even bigger than before.

And when that ego takes over,

they start to lose their mind.

Paranoia and dark thoughts creep in.

And it all starts to come spiraling down.

[reporter] Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine's Brooklyn home

was raided by federal agents.

[engine revving]

The rapper's also said to be touring overseas

and wasn't home at the time.

A report says agents found a gun during that search.

[Tekashi] The feds raided the crib

and find that assault rifle.

It wasn't mine.

So, like, it was Shotti's pistol

that ended up in my apartment.

I sit down with Shotti

and say, "Yo, they were looking for you.

Where were you?"

Like, the whole time, I'm thinking,

"How did that pistol end up in that house?"

I'm thinking the kidnap situation too.

I'm thinking, "Somebody's trying to set me up."

He fooled me, you know what I'm saying?

Completely fooled me.

My trust been broken.

I went into a rage.

When I met Shotti, he was sleeping on the rug.

I said, "Hey, you wanna come with me to my girlfriend,

which we have a kid together, her house?

We're having Thanksgiving dinner with the family."

I brought him into the household.

And everything destructed.

-What y'all on? -They on my shit.

What y'all on?

What y'all on?

[Tekashi] It's funny, right?

So I was seeing on Instagram a lot,

like, "Yo, they're sleeping together.

Fucking. They're sleeping together."

Something in my heart just told me,

"Go through his phone."

[Shotti] Yo, it's Treyway.

He lowkey wanna be lit like me. That's what it is.

[Tekashi] I seen all the messages.

"Are you with Danny? Call me after your jog.

Call me. Why you hung up on me?"

At that point, it's solidified.

It's guaranteed.

At the end of the day, that's the mother to my child.

[shutter clicking]

So I brought this stupid bitch to Dubai.

[Sara] He was being tormented in his own mind.

He had the craziest look in his eyes.

He looked like he was possessed.

I don't know what to call it at this point

'cause this is like--

I never seen anybody act this way.

We were in the hotel room.

I thought he was sleeping.

He turned over real quick, awake, and was like,

"Let me see your phone."

I'm like, "Why?"

He was like, "All right, I wanna ask you a question.

Why are you so close to Shotti?"

He was like, "You like him?" I'm like, "No.

What would make you think that?

Like, why would you even ask that?"

And he just went and he started punching me.

He was like, "Don't lie to me.

I feel it. I know you like him."

I'm like...

type of insecure shit is going on right now?

[shutter clicks]

This is not the first time

that he started putting his hands on me.

Has monster ways.

And I was scared to tell him, like,

"I'm close to him 'cause he's the only one that stops

you from beating my ass,

and when he's around, you don't beat my ass."

And he went ahead and he punched me.

I had just gotten my hair done the day before that,

so I had these tracks, and they had, like--

they're micro links, so they had,

like these little pieces of metal that hold the hair.

So when he punched me in my head,

it stabbed, like, into my--

like, my head, my scalp, and my scalp was leaking.

I was leaking a lot of blood.

He kept on hitting me.

He threw a chair on me.

He punched me in my face.

He kicked me in my face, kicked me in my back.

He put the pillows over my face so I wouldn't scream.

He stood doing that for, like, two hours.

And I thought I was gonna die in that hotel room.

The next morning, when I went into the bathroom

and finally saw my face, I felt so empty.

I felt so disgusted.

With him. With myself.

I was embarrassed.

And he walked in the bathroom and he said,

"Fix your face."

Looking at my eye.

I used the hotel phone to call the security

'cause he was literally staying,

like, two rooms next to us.

And he looked at me, and I just fell into his arms

and I started crying.

I said, "I don't care how you do it.

I gotta leave."

solemn music

As I'm leaving at this airport,

I told the security "thank you" or whatever.

He looked at me. Looked like he wanted to cry.

He gave me a hug and told me to love myself.

And gave me a big bear hug, rubbed my back,

and he was like, "Love yourself more."

And he walked out.

I spent so many years...

...being after him

and loving him the way I did,

I forgot what it was to love myself.

I forgot how to do that.

So it hurt hearing someone else point that out.

tense music

[Ron] The feds have been building this case for years.

They've had social media posts;

they have guns they found in his apartment.

You know, they were getting closer.

And by the way, you know, the car they used?

That car was bugged.

And that's how they got that kidnapping footage,

which was a big part of it.

They hear the drug transactions.

They hear the conversations about homicides.

Be it that violent act

that happened at the W in Manhattan

to what happened at the Barclay

to what happened when he went

to the West Coast at the airport,

they start piecing all this stuff together,

and once they piece all this stuff together

and they know that they have charges that are gonna stick,

and folks, the feds--

99.9% of the time, the feds win.

You know, you don't beat a federal charge.

[distant siren wailing]

[DJ Pvnch] When we was in Dubai, I had left.

I left early 'cause I just wasn't liking

how everybody was moving,

and straight up and down,

I'm confused at why it's going so crazy,

why this went so left.

It just feel, like, mad spooky.

If you've been in the street long enough,

you like, "Yo, this shit feel off balance?"

What's up, everybody?

So I'm letting everybody know that I canceled my whole tour.

The American dates is not happening.

It's not going down.

I fired everybody in my team.

I got no manager, I got no booking agent,

no PR, no publicist-- I don't got nobody on my team.

It's just me. I fired everybody.

I don't give a fuck who you used to see me with.

They no longer around. It's a fucking dub.

November 23rd, the album drop.

"Everybody fired. I'm cutting off everybody."

Firing everybody. I'm calling him.

He not answering his phone. Calling him all day.

Finally answers at the end of the night.

"Yo, what's up?"

"Like, what you mean, 'what's up?'

What's all this fire shit you talking about?"

"Oh, not you, big bro."

I'm like, "What?" He be like, "Don't worry.

We're gonna go to Breakfast Club next week.

We're gonna clear everything up."

I'm like, "Yo, bro, you gotta clear all of this shit up.

Shit's fucked up."

[DJ Envy] Morning, everybody.

It's DJ Envy, Angela Yee, Charlamagne Tha God.

We got a special guest in the building!

-[Charlamagne] He's back. -[DJ Envy] He's back.

-Tekashi 6ix9ine. -[Charlamagne] He's back.

King of New York. You know that.

[DJ Pvnch] I wake up the next day.

My boy hits me and goes,

"Why you not up at the radio station?"

I go, "We gon' be up there next week.

I'ma be up there. I just spoke to him yesterday."

He said, "He's coming back again?"

I said, "Wait, what are you talking about?"

He said, "Takashi's at Breakfast Club right now."

[Charlamagne] Why did you fire everybody, 6ix9ine?

[DJ Envy] Yeah, we seen the video yesterday.

Yeah.

[Angela] And you canceled your whole tour?

Yeah, I canceled everything.

Like, there's so much money out here to be stealing.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

So people were stealing from you.

[DJ Envy] We figured people was stealing.

That that was the reason.

Yeah, like, a lot of people think I'm on cocaine.

Like, people think, like, I'm on cocaine now,

bugging, and, like, they like, "Yo, you just paranoid."

Like...

but I know, like, you know what I'm saying?

[DJ Pvnch] Went on Breakfast Club,

he did a lot of the victim positioning.

I'm listening to the interview like a stranger, I feel like.

Like, "Yo, they stole from me. They took $2 million."

I'm like, "Yo, Shotti can't steal $2 million from him."

Every Blood is not your blood.

Let's just put that like that, right?

[Charlamagne] Correct.

There's a difference between being a gang member...

...and just being a dirty nigga.

-[laughs] -[DJ Envy] Mm-hmm.

-You feel me? -[DJ Envy] Mm-hmm.

[Tekashi] And 80% of this industry

is dirty niggas.

90.

I never had a manager.

[DJ Envy] People used to think

that all the guys that were around you stole--

-[Charlamagne] Treyway, Trey. -And taking money from you.

People thought that.

I feel like when you try to help somebody,

there's so much you can help

before they just bite your hand.

[DJ Envy] But now how do you move?

Because they know everything about you.

They were around you so long...

[Charlamagne] You said the people that can get to you

are the people that were close to you.

So nobody next to me.

But you got rid of all of them, but they know

how to get to you though.

Yeah, like, my mom don't even got my phone number.

[DJ Pvnch] It's like he really wanted

to kinda claim back his normality

and really shy away from the gang.

He wasn't talking aggressive.

He was openly with the glasses and pushing it up,

doing all of these, "I'm human, I'm nerdy,

I'm a regular kid."

He created this new narrative, and I looked at it and go,

"Why did he do that?"

I never understood.

Treyway is nothing without me.

I don't wanna jack Treyway no more.

Did you fire Trey too?

Everybody is gone.

Get out of my life. Get outta here.

-[Angela] Everybody? -Everybody.

But he left that interview being like,

"Yo, this kid's a victim

and everyone's taking advantage of him."

And I remember getting a call jokingly from one of my friends

going, "Yo, bro, why y'all doing that to that kid, man?

What's up?" And I'm like--

and it hit me.

He wanted to switch the narrative.

I got federal agents sitting in front of my house.

One, two, three, four, five, six cars.

It's beyond us.

[DJ Pvnch] And in that interview,

we learned very fa--you know,

that that's when he got approached by the feds.

One thing I fear in life. No, two things.

I'm not gonna--I fear God and I fear the FBI.

-[Charlamagne] The feds. -[laughter]

Only two things I'm scared of in life.

Mm-hmm?

God first and the FBI.

dramatic music

If her shit go to 50-- if this shit go to 50...

[DJ Pvnch] Then he goes on Live with some random girl

and then goes, "Yo, fuck Treyway."

Treyway. It's like, fuck Treyway.

Treyway can suck my dick.

And I go...

"Why would you say that?

Like, I would've rather you say, 'Fuck Shotti.'

When you say, 'Fuck Treyway,' you just dissed 1,000 people."

Yo, we got fucking big Bloods in this bitch, what?

The Zombies' "Time of the Season" playing

This motherfucker, man. It's Treyway.

[Ron] You know, the Nine Trey gangsters,

it's the same concept as the mafia,

even from the mafia days.

The hierarchy was very, very big.

If you were the godfather of a sect,

whatever's being made on the streets,

you're getting a piece of that.

And underneath the godfathers, think of the military concept.

I mean, you had generals.

You know, underneath the generals, you had captains.

Underneath the captains, you had your soldiers.

From the generals on down to the captains

down to the soldiers.

It's the time of the season

For loving

[Ron] The feds, they'll always get the street soldiers,

but back in the day, they never really could get

to the people above the street soldiers

'cause they were well insulated.

For the feds, the only way to dismantle these groups

is through the Federal RICO Act.

Well, RICO breaks down to

Racketeer and Influenced Corrupt Organizations.

Because what they did was,

they looked at these criminal organizations

and found out they were exactly that, organizations.

[reporter] The jailhouse gates rumble down

as a prison van carries John Gotti

to a future behind bars.

Teflon is gone.

The don is covered with Velcro,

and every charge in the indictment stuck.

[Ron] Once the New York City Police Department got educated

on how the RICO law could be used,

they took this back to the streets

and started applying this to every organization

they thought was a criminal enterprise.

This is a great day for law enforcement,

but this is a bad day, probably the worst,

for the mafia.

[Ron] With Tekashi, just by hanging out

with a Blood member,

calling yourself a Blood member,

if you are under a RICO investigation,

they're not only looking at you.

They connected you to this group,

they're here to dismantle this group,

and you're going down with this group.

[Shotti] Blood, he's a--

Blood, the nigga gotta be on drugs, homey.

Nigga said, "Fuck Treyway."

He said, "Fuck Treyway, bum-ass niggas,

dirty-ass niggas."

This kid is crazy, homey.

dramatic music

[agent] In the last 24 hours,

Danny Hernandez has been taken into custody,

as well as a number of other individuals.

We are working closely with the southern district,

our partners in Homeland Security, and the ATF,

and we'll have more to say in the days to come.

[reporter] 6ix9ine was one of five people arrested

by the feds on Sunday night on RICO and firearms charges.

[reporter] Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine was denied bail.

The judge ruled the Brooklyn native was

a likely danger to the community.

[reporter] According to the federal indictment,

6ix9ine and crew conspired to commit a slew of crimes,

including drug deals, armed robberies,

and shootings as part of the Nine Trey Bloods.

[reporter] These reportedly show

a gunpoint robbery he allegedly set up.

[reporter] Now, at least two of the charges he's facing

could face up to a maximum penalty of life in prison.

I'm a former state and federal prosecutor.

I worked in the Manhattan district attorney's office

and the United State's attorney's office

for the eastern district of New York in Brooklyn,

where I was in the organized crime and gang unit.

It's hard for me to speak

to what an individual is thinking

when they continue to commit crimes on tape.

[gunfire]

Standing alone, a shooting at Barclays may mean nothing,

but when you look back in context,

if there's a pattern of criminal activity

and a group that was committing those crimes,

that's where the racketeering statute may come in.

That permits mandatory minimum sentences

and prosecution of individuals together in a group

who are committing crimes together.

[DJ Pvnch] I remember getting that call,

"Yo, they just arrested Crippy."

"Oh, shit, they just got Shotti."

"Oh, they just took Tekashi," and I was, like,

looking out my window.

'Cause no one still knew why anybody was arrested.

[siren wailing]

[Ron] There were dozens of crimes involved

in this case.

Without the RICO statute,

each defendant would only have to answer

for those exact crimes that he himself committed.

That's why they use these cases,

as many defendants can be found guilty.

As long as they assisted or order something,

put you right under the same umbrella.

So instead of arresting three individuals

for the shooting in Brooklyn,

now they're connecting all the dots.

Those soldiers shot those guns on the demand of the higher-up

who gave them the order to conduct this business.

[Adam 22] When the indictments come down and you actually see

all the stuff that they were charging him with,

it's like, "Wait, so you really did order somebody

to shoot at Chief Keef, and there's evidence of it?"

When the last time you shot?

What was the last person you shot?

I know you, Blood.

It's bad enough to do it on the phone.

You did it on camera.

And then put the video on the internet.

I mean, there's an extent to which I just never thought

that anybody could be that stupid.

I told him, like, "You can't do that."

I've been through this before in jail.

It's different if you in a gun-carrying state.

If you showing that and you're in New York,

I ain't that silly.

I ain't silly like that, you know what I'm saying?

I didn't think about having too much fun with this.

I was all business.

Is it that serious?

Oh, it's more than that serious.

I mean, this is lights out.

He's facing life in prison.

The federal prosecutors, the FBI,

the U.S. attorney's office,

especially the southern district of New York,

I mean, they don't play around.

You know, this is not NYPD. This is Department of Justice.

When they come after you, it's a major problem.

It's a major case.

[metal detector beeps]

[Brendan] It wasn't until his court date

that you realized, like, what actually happened

over and over again.

Innocent people were in danger

because of Tekashi and his crew.

The years that he was facing, I believe it was 47 to life.

-[horns honking] -[person] This is crazy.

[gunshot]

[Brendan] A lot of the shootings and robberies

that end up coming into that case,

even I was unaware of.

As I'm filing reports from the courthouse,

statements came out that made it very clear

that by the time of his arrest and for months preceding that,

things were, like, truly out of control.

[DJ Pvnch] We didn't know how far that he would go.

We didn't really know.

You're just sitting there just hoping.

Watching him like it's television.

Every single gangster movie you saw,

every gangster goes, "Yo, just don't say nothing."

Never give up your friends, Dave.

You think I'm a fucking rat?

And always keep your mouth shut.

You're a gangster, right?

That's what a gangster would do.

I've been in that predicament before.

I know how to handle it.

So what you gonna do now? You gonna stand tall for it?

Or you gonna fall for it?

We learned very fa-- you know, in the case,

that he agreed to cooperate from 24 hours inside jail.

[attorney] He signed a cooperation agreement.

His cooperation agreement allows the judge

to sentence him to much below

his standard federal sentencing guidelines.

[DJ Pvnch] I think it goes down really clearly why he did.

To get Shotti.

And all I will say to all of this is,

money changes people to ways

that some of us will never understand.

Attention makes people

into very, very ugly variations of who they can be.

And clout is turning into the devil.

And once you mix any of these three up

to someone who's not prepared to deal with it,

betrayal is amongst your future.

[indistinct chatter]

Ay, ay, ay.

Treyway.

Yo, let's go to the plane. Hey, let's go check it out.

This is what... [indistinct]

[jet engine roaring]

[DJ Pvnch] Shotti used to bring his boys with us

on show dates.

[indistinct chatter]

'Cause he was so excited to show them the world,

'cause Shotti was like, "Yo, when I grew up, I saw nothing."

Shotti's going to jail for 15 years.

His sons are young teenagers.

When Shotti come out of jail, if he does the 15 years,

his sons are 30.

You lose your life from this shit.

I don't think that people really understand sometimes

what jail and how much time they get

and how much it's affected and the echoes

of what a jail sentence can do to a family or to someone.

If you hate Shotti and Shotti stole money

and fucked your girl

and that's the narrative that he wants to run with,

then hang Shotti.

I would actually understand that more.

If he had enough pride not to snitch on anybody else

and went at Shotti, then I'd go,

"We was in his emotions

and wanted to fuck that guy over

that allegedly fucked him over."

But he put everyone in jail.

He literally confirmed about nearly--

something about everyone that put 'em all in jail.

[Brendan] You just don't snitch, man.

He has a remarkable ability to see himself as the victim.

Doesn't really matter who was hurt.

[attorney] ...what's been marked for identification

as Government Exhibit 202.

[Brendan] Eventually, lawyers started talking

about the "GUMMO" music video.

[Seqo] I was shocked.

He labeled my home, my grandmother's house,

Blood headquarters when it's not that.

It's never been that. Never known to be that.

[Billy] Stuff he did is just horrible.

You know, what he's carrying on about,

it's just disgusting, you know?

You've gotta have some sympathy

for people who risked their life for you,

people who didn't even know you from a can of paint.

Nobody was helping theyself.

They was just believing in your dream

and helping you build your career, you know?

It's sad. Really is.

[Tekashi] Harv, Anthony Ellison.

[DJ Pvnch] A lot of people then go,

"Yo, what you would've done? What you would've done?"

And they always do that and devil's advocate

and be like--if you're not asking someone

that's a gang member, that question is null and void.

What I would've done? We a civilian.

I do whatever I want.

I didn't sign up for that life.

He signed up for it voluntarily.

And he turned as dishonorable as you probably can get

to now where he might be the most famous cooperator

and snitch to ever walk the face of this earth.

[shutter clicks]

solemn music

He didn't wanna own up to anything.

He wanted the easier way out.

What do we say to that?

No one really has an answer for it

because at that point,

devil's advocate can't work anymore.

It exposes him indirectly for what he is,

which is, "I'll sacrifice other people's lives

for the betterment of my own."

Still blessed. I'm free. I'm still lit.

I didn't get caught up in all the stupidness they did.

I wasn't there for any of it.

I'm thankful to be free. That's all.

I'm not worried about driving a Bugatti.

I don't care about no Bugatti.

None of that shit.

[laughs] I'm more than blessed.

He don't even know.

dramatic music

[Giancarlo] It's fucked up.

And it doesn't really make sense how it happens.

Every supervillain has this ability

to keep getting away.

Just when you think it's all but over

and the villain is finally being served justice,

they somehow escape...

...getting everything back.

And then some.

[chuckles]

Slippery fuckers.

tense music

[person] Tekashi has been released from prison.

[Ron] I would fear for him coming back to New York.

[Adam 22] You know, he's got, like, a whole city

wanting to kill him.

[Sara] His life is in danger.

Somebody's gonna kill him.

[Seqo] Yeah, you know he's in danger.

Never know who might wanna do something to him

who would do it for the clout, who don't give a damn.

[interviewer] Did you write music

while you were in prison?

[Tekashi] Yeah.

Yeah, I actually wrote "GOOBA" in jail.

The first part was...

Niggas always wanna talk about some gangster shit

But never went to jail for no gangster shit

They can't wait for times like this

To rhyme like this so they can

Lie about that and lie about this

Screaming murder, murder, murder

But ain't murder shit

Nigga, if you're gun busting

Who the fuck you hit?

Who the fuck you ever rob when you did your bit?

Who the fuck you ever drop, nigga, suck my dick

See the vibes and all that, man?

First day home. You see the vibes, man?

That's how we push, man.

King of New York's home, man.

All this shit was bought, man. Y'all rent.

We don't rent, man. All this shit mine, man.

You heard?

Quarantine, man. This how I quarantine, man.

I'm on house arrest. Come on, let's go.

You know why people so mad?

They thought it was over for me.

They counting me out. "Yo, you ratted?

[trills] It's over for you."

I would be mad too.

You're mad, I'm back, big mad

He's mad, she's mad, big sad

Ha-ha, don't care, stay mad

Ah-ha, ah-ha, ah-ha

Ha-ha, bitch, I'm laughing 'cause you big mad

See it in your face, cry baby, bitch, you big sad

Niggas tweeting 'bout me,

got me trending, bitch, you big sad

Tell me how I ratted, came home to a big bag

[Joe] This little manipulative fuck.

-[Rory] Mm-hmm. -Back to manipulating.

He manipulated the gang culture.

Then I think he took that

and he manipulated the court system.

And I think the broader picture is

all an effort to manipulate hip-hop culture.

-[cohost] Yeah. -Mm-hmm.

Nah. [laughs]

[Adam 22] He's trying to convince everybody

that, actually, it was cool for him to snitch.

"Actually, it was cool for me to put,

like, 15 people in jail" that, realistically,

a lot of them were total loyal servants to him.

You know, people who shot people for him.

[Cardi] The crimes that you commit...

and then when you get locked up,

you're going to snitch.

It doesn't work like that.

Tough-ass niggas.

-Point niggas out in court. -[cohost] It's crazy.

You're a rat. R-A-T, a rat.

Man, I don't even know

what these kids doing

these days, bro, with this music.

So maybe they condone the snitching,

but, you know, my generation, we ain't fucking with that.

[Brendan] In the hip-hop community,

snitching is traditionally seen

as something that you just don't do.

But the people who are paying attention to Tekashi

are young people

who do not know or care

about the, like, traditional terms of engagement.

To me, it's a race thing, you know?

Society is just accepting things.

You can clearly see them.

He did a lot of messed up stuff,

and just 'cause he don't care, they're saying it isn't.

He's laughing and he's laughing it off

and he thinks it's cool, they're saying, "Okay,

if he don't care, then why should we care?

He's gonna laugh it off too." And that's not cool.

Lives gone for nothing.

The most tangible way to look at it is,

you know, he gets arrested with a bunch of Black guys,

and those guys are still in prison,

and the one person who's not Black is not.

To me, it seemed a lot like

our legal system operating as intended.

[Tekashi] Y'all really thought it was over.

And I know when I was locked up,

y'all prayed every night like, "God, please.

God, please don't let him come home and be lit again.

God, please, every time I open the Gram, all I see is him."

Y'all wasting prayers, homey.

[Adam 22] 6ix9ine, right now, is in a weird place.

You look at him, he's really somebody

who's, like, created a character

that doesn't need to reference back

to the history of rap music,

that doesn't need to reference back

to really anything, you know?

Y'all can't do the shit I do.

Get this.

That's a million in cash right there.

A million in cash.

A million in cash.

Y'all real niggas can't do that.

[Adam 22] It's a situation where, like,

none of the elites will have anything to do with him,

but then the populace as a whole

apparently really, really likes him.

[cheers and applause]

Y'all egged him on. Y'all just fed him.

That shit made him wanna do it more and more and more.

I'm saying, the fans just provoked it.

[cheers and applause]

[Tekashi] Number one, nigga!

Didn't I tell you, nigga? Didn't I tell you, nigga?

Fuck you! I can't be stopped, nigga!

Didn't I tell you?

Stop playing with me. And we got blackballed.

Y'all try to blackball me on radio.

Y'all try to blackball me on radio.

-Uh-huh, uh-huh. -Apple Music, Spotify,

they didn't give us no playlisting.

-Fuck are they talking about? -I can't be stopped, nigga!

I can't be stopped!

Number fucking one, nigga!

-Daddy's bugging! -And for the fans?

Listen. And this for the fans.

This shit can't be possible without y'all.

We beat the industry.

I know they told you, "I'ma get the number one."

We beat the industry.

Fuck is y'all talking 'bout?

-I can't be stopped! -Let's fucking go!

dramatic music

Truth?

Man, this story don't got a lot to do with that.

[laughs]

I mean, this is a post-truth story.

Because if we were to really look

at, like, who 6ix9ine is

and the fans were concerned with who he really is,

then I don't think y'all would be

making a documentary about him,

because the truth of who he is isn't nearly as interesting

as the mask that he decided to throw on.

[Rory] Well, he was projected at 150,

and now currently, at this time,

he's projected for 35K.

-Wow. -Yeah.

You can be the numbers guy all day and say,

"Yo, my video got 5 billion views today."

Does it really have tangible results?

They'll click on it.

They'll watch a video on Instagram

and watch you acting crazy and do whatever you do,

but they not gonna go and support the music.

[Adam 22] The public has turned against

a lot of the stuff that was popping at that time.

It doesn't seem like people are

necessarily super interested

in, you know, the next green-haired face tattoo kid.

The appetite is more for authenticity and talent

over sorta sensationalism.

[Brendan] Authenticity in hip-hop is

a long-standing tradition,

and hip-hop culture has been around here

for a lot longer than he has.

And I don't think he's gonna have a whole lot of influence

in the genre moving forward.

Hip-hop culture is more resilient.

He makes the kind of music

that's captivating the first time.

I don't know that it's captivating the second,

and it's just tiring.

Now he's in a weird spot

because he's very invested in the idea

that he's, like, the most popular artist alive.

And if the numbers don't show that,

he doesn't matter so much.

[Adam 22] He's gonna run out of tricks at a certain point.

I can already see him picking fights with Drake,

and it's like, how much beefing can you really do

walking around with off-duty cops,

it's like, a straight-up, like, circle

of ten giant humans, 3,000 pounds of humans,

so nobody can get at you,

without people just being like, "Oh, all right,

this is all just jokes."

[Brendan] He's a product of the time.

The bigger forces at play here where, like, someone exploited

a very specific emotional response

to become extraordinarily popular

extraordinarily quickly, they haven't gone away.

I think you're gonna see more Tekashis

in terms of, like, the internet making,

like, incredibly compelling celebrity figures

on a very accelerated timeline.

I don't think I would have covered Tekashi

if there wasn't clearly

a large group of people in America

who were fascinated by him.

My fascination is with their fascination.

[Giancarlo] Supervillains are a reflection

of the society that creates them.

Through their miraculous rise and tragic fall,

we are actually able to learn

about who we are becoming as a culture.

At the end of the day,

we all have a fascination with the controversial.

All of the nightly news and cringeworthy clickbait.

And every true cultural supervillain

knows how to exploit these dark fascinations.

Until their tricks get old

and we become desensitized.

And finally, they fade into irrelevance.

None. At all.

I can't name one.

He doesn't really know nothing about hip-hop.

You put on old Biggie and stuff,

he don't even know the lyrics,

and you from Brooklyn right there.

How you don't know the lyrics to Biggie Smalls,

no matter how old you are?

And it's crazy

that he's using the culture.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. I got everybody."

It's a big game to him, you know?

He doesn't understand, like, being a real man

and understanding real principles and morals,

you know what I mean, so...

one day, I guess he'll grow up.

The Bee Gees' "I Started a Joke" playing

somber '70s ballad

I started a joke

Which started the whole world crying

But I didn't see

That the joke was on me

Oh, no

I started to cry

Which started the whole world laughing

Oh, if I'd only seen

That the joke was on me

Look at my city.

Take a look at my city.

That's my city right there.

These people love me.

Look. Look all around. Look all around.

music distorts and stops

Oh, and by the way,

if you trying to pause the video and screenshot,

by the time I uploaded this, I'm already gone.

[laughter echoing]

dramatic music