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“Take a picture, take a picture, I’m going to be famous now,” attacker says
Footage has emerged of notorious New York rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine being battered in a gym toilet this week in Miami.
The musician was ‘beaten to a pulp’ in front of onlookers at the LA Fitness premises in South Florida, half a decade after he was labelled a “snitch” and a “rat” for testifying against gang members and fellow rapper, Cardi B.
'Take a picture, take a picture - I am going to be famous now,” said one of the attackers in the filmed footage of the beating.
After the hiding, Tekashi’s assailants boasted about what they did on social media, saying the musician would never be allowed reside in their area.
The 26-year-old, real name Daniel Hernandez, sustained a range of injuries to his body, according to his lawyer, Lance Lazzaro.
“He had cuts to his face and bruises,” the attorney said.
Footage of the toilet attack emerged on social media.
Hernandez tried fighting back but was jumped by up to four men in the sauna of LA Fitness and the perpetrators fled the scene after being disturbed by employees.
In the brutal footage, Tekashi can be seen rolling around on the floor and writhing in pain as punches and kicks rain down on him from two skin head individuals, dressed in black. They call the rapper a “clown” amongst other insults.
Police transported the artist to hospital via ambulance where he was admitted. Lazzaro told American news sites he plans to ensure Hernandez gets security protection.
The New Yorker was known as a social media phenomenon back in 2017 with millions of followers on Instagram before becoming a hip-hop star. He had a multi-platinum hit song, "Fefe," with Nicki Minaj, which peaked at No. 3 on the pop charts, and "Stoopid," featuring the incarcerated rapper Bobby Shmurda.
But run-ins with the law put his career on the back burner.
Hernandez was arrested and sentenced to two years in prison in 2018 on a number of charges, including racketeering, drug trafficking and gun offences in relation to his involvement with the Nine Trey Bloods gang.
He also pleaded guilty to domestic violence charges against an ex-girlfriend whom he reportedly subjected to a number of violent incidents. Prior to all of that, he had also been up against drug and sexual assault charges involving a minor for which he reached a plea bargain with authorities.
Hernandez received a shortened prison sentence after he cooperated with federal officials to imprison his associates in 2019. He was subsequently released early during the pandemic in 2020.
According to further reports in the U.S, the controversial rapper was ejected from a baseball game in the Miami stadium for being drunk and disorderly late last week.