Fame has made a monster out of Tekashi 6ix9ine, according to the director who documented him.
It’s been a week since a documentary about the life of the rainbow-haired rapper made its way onto Hulu. *69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez* attempts to offer a raw glimpse into the life of the young rapper who grew up on the streets of Brooklyn and fell into the wrong crowd, leading to an arrest, a trial, and time spent behind bars.
Vikram Gandhi, who in 2016 helmed a film about former US President Barack Obama entitled *Barry*, interviewed locals in the neighborhood in which Tekashi 6ix9ine grew up in what he termed “part investigative documentary, part real-life gangster movie.” Gandhi said he decided to do the project after he realized that the “Trollz” rapper grew up not far from him and used his experience as an investigative reporter to uncover how Tekashi 6ix9ine went from being a young Hispanic man known as Daniel Hernandez to a convicted hip-hop artist covered in tattoos who trolls fellow artists and became a state informant.
The filmmaker has stated that he is fascinated by the difference between the perceived person on the surface and the real person underneath and believes that the 6ix9ine’s quest for online approval has consumed him. “I see a young man who was intelligent, smart and had huge insight into how to make himself famous,” Gandhi said about the 24-year-old’s obsession with ‘likes’ on social media. “He got so caught up in the monster he created.”
The rapper’s manager, Murda Murphy, has condemned the documentary, claiming that it is unauthorized and full of lies.
