6Ix9Ine

2017internet personalityclassic

Published August 15, 2026

6ix9ine is the stage name of Brooklyn rapper Daniel Hernandez, a rainbow-haired, face-tattooed artist whose 2017 hit "Gummo" made him one of the most divisive figures in rap. His fame is inseparable from his meme status, driven by his cartoonish look, viral online feuds, and a 2018 racketeering arrest that ended with him cooperating against his own gang.

hip hop memesscandal memescelebrity nickname memescrime memesbody image memes

Overview

6ix9ine, also spelled Tekashi69, is the stage name of Daniel Hernandez, a Brooklyn rapper whose rainbow-dyed hair, "69" face tattoos, and screaming ad-lib delivery turned him into one of the most memeable figures in late-2010s hip-hop1. The look was so cartoonish that Urban Dictionary entries described him as "a screaming bag of skittles" and "a rainbow with a speech impediment from Naruto," which is roughly the tone most of his meme presence took2.

He first entered wider awareness through his October 2017 single "Gummo," which peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and racked up hundreds of millions of YouTube views3. From that point his fame ran on two parallel tracks: chart hits and a very online anti-fandom that used his image as shorthand for rap-industry absurdity1. By late 2018 the memes tilted from mockery of his aesthetic to mockery of his legal situation, after a federal racketeering arrest reframed him as "Snitch9ine" following his cooperation with prosecutors4.

Origin & Background

Platform
Instagram (image) / Reddit and Twitter (viral spread)
Creator
Daniel Hernandez
Date
2017

Hernandez was born May 8, 1996 in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, and started releasing music around 2015 after being expelled from school1. His breakout moment as a visual meme came on July 5, 2017, when he posted an Instagram photo showing the finished "69" face tattoos and full rainbow hair. The image was quickly reposted to Reddit and Twitter, where the extreme look became the joke on its own, independent of his music1.

"Gummo" arrived on YouTube on October 8, 2017 and hardened the image, since the video paired the rainbow-haired rapper with red-bandana-clad Nine Trey Bloods affiliates, a visual contrast that fed both fans and detractors3. Billboard later noted that the beat itself was the subject of an early controversy, with producer Pierre Bourne publicly distancing himself from the song after it took off5.

How It Spread

By early 2018, 6ix9ine had a large mainstream footprint, with more than 2.9 million Instagram followers and additional reach on Twitter and Facebook, but a matching anti-fandom on Reddit1. An October 2017 post to r/trashy mocking him gained more than 14,000 upvotes, and a January 2018 r/cringe clip of him exposing fake jewelry and then being called out for his own fake jewelry made the rounds before it was deleted1.

The meme flipped genre after his November 18, 2018 arrest alongside Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods members on federal racketeering and firearms charges4. When he took the stand in September 2019 and named Cardi B and Jim Jones as alleged Bloods members, the "snitch" jokes exploded; DJ Akademiks amplified an alleged leaked courtroom audio clip on Twitter that same week1. In the days before his sentencing, an Instagram attorney account (@lawyerforworkers) posted a prediction that he would walk free, which several outlets repeated as fact. Twitter user @adam22 called it out on December 16, 2019 in a tweet that gained more than 7,400 likes in a day1.

On December 18, 2019, Judge Paul Engelmayer sentenced him to two years in prison, five years of supervised release, 300 hours of community service, and a $35,000 fine, calling him a "central figure in a vicious and brutal gang" while crediting his cooperation6. The sentencing happened the same day as the House vote on Donald Trump's impeachment, and Twitter users spliced the two events together as "Snitching 6ix9ine" memes, with one @MatthewKick post gaining more than 1,600 likes and a @redamnable post pulling more than 4,900 likes1.

How to Use This Meme

The 6ix9ine meme is used less as a fixed template and more as a shorthand image. The rainbow-and-face-tattoo photo typically appears as a reaction image for anything loud, tacky, or over-the-top, and the "Snitch9ine" version is often dropped into conversations about informants, plea deals, or anyone perceived as talking too much1. Common conventions include captioning the July 2017 Instagram portrait with mock quotes in his shouted ad-lib style, or pairing his courtroom photos with unrelated "tell-all" scenarios1.

Frequently Asked Questions

6Ix9Ine

2017internet personalityclassic

Published August 15, 2026

6ix9ine is the stage name of Brooklyn rapper Daniel Hernandez, a rainbow-haired, face-tattooed artist whose 2017 hit "Gummo" made him one of the most divisive figures in rap. His fame is inseparable from his meme status, driven by his cartoonish look, viral online feuds, and a 2018 racketeering arrest that ended with him cooperating against his own gang.

hip hop memes scandal memes celebrity nickname memes crime memes body image memes

Overview

6ix9ine, also spelled Tekashi69, is the stage name of Daniel Hernandez, a Brooklyn rapper whose rainbow-dyed hair, "69" face tattoos, and screaming ad-lib delivery turned him into one of the most memeable figures in late-2010s hip-hop1. The look was so cartoonish that Urban Dictionary entries described him as "a screaming bag of skittles" and "a rainbow with a speech impediment from Naruto," which is roughly the tone most of his meme presence took2.

He first entered wider awareness through his October 2017 single "Gummo," which peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and racked up hundreds of millions of YouTube views3. From that point his fame ran on two parallel tracks: chart hits and a very online anti-fandom that used his image as shorthand for rap-industry absurdity1. By late 2018 the memes tilted from mockery of his aesthetic to mockery of his legal situation, after a federal racketeering arrest reframed him as "Snitch9ine" following his cooperation with prosecutors4.

Origin & Background

Platform
Instagram (image) / Reddit and Twitter (viral spread)
Creator
Daniel Hernandez
Date
2017

Hernandez was born May 8, 1996 in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, and started releasing music around 2015 after being expelled from school1. His breakout moment as a visual meme came on July 5, 2017, when he posted an Instagram photo showing the finished "69" face tattoos and full rainbow hair. The image was quickly reposted to Reddit and Twitter, where the extreme look became the joke on its own, independent of his music1.

"Gummo" arrived on YouTube on October 8, 2017 and hardened the image, since the video paired the rainbow-haired rapper with red-bandana-clad Nine Trey Bloods affiliates, a visual contrast that fed both fans and detractors3. Billboard later noted that the beat itself was the subject of an early controversy, with producer Pierre Bourne publicly distancing himself from the song after it took off5.

How It Spread

By early 2018, 6ix9ine had a large mainstream footprint, with more than 2.9 million Instagram followers and additional reach on Twitter and Facebook, but a matching anti-fandom on Reddit1. An October 2017 post to r/trashy mocking him gained more than 14,000 upvotes, and a January 2018 r/cringe clip of him exposing fake jewelry and then being called out for his own fake jewelry made the rounds before it was deleted1.

The meme flipped genre after his November 18, 2018 arrest alongside Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods members on federal racketeering and firearms charges4. When he took the stand in September 2019 and named Cardi B and Jim Jones as alleged Bloods members, the "snitch" jokes exploded; DJ Akademiks amplified an alleged leaked courtroom audio clip on Twitter that same week1. In the days before his sentencing, an Instagram attorney account (@lawyerforworkers) posted a prediction that he would walk free, which several outlets repeated as fact. Twitter user @adam22 called it out on December 16, 2019 in a tweet that gained more than 7,400 likes in a day1.

On December 18, 2019, Judge Paul Engelmayer sentenced him to two years in prison, five years of supervised release, 300 hours of community service, and a $35,000 fine, calling him a "central figure in a vicious and brutal gang" while crediting his cooperation6. The sentencing happened the same day as the House vote on Donald Trump's impeachment, and Twitter users spliced the two events together as "Snitching 6ix9ine" memes, with one @MatthewKick post gaining more than 1,600 likes and a @redamnable post pulling more than 4,900 likes1.

How to Use This Meme

The 6ix9ine meme is used less as a fixed template and more as a shorthand image. The rainbow-and-face-tattoo photo typically appears as a reaction image for anything loud, tacky, or over-the-top, and the "Snitch9ine" version is often dropped into conversations about informants, plea deals, or anyone perceived as talking too much1. Common conventions include captioning the July 2017 Instagram portrait with mock quotes in his shouted ad-lib style, or pairing his courtroom photos with unrelated "tell-all" scenarios1.

Frequently Asked Questions