TEKASHI 6ix9ine vs the world

In association with YouTube Red, we were tasked with creating a long form web series that was equal parts travel, football, and music. Spanning eight episodes, we traveled around the world highlighting how traditions & culture impact the style of play certain countries developed. The finesse of the favelas vs the glamour of the gambeta.

Editor

Background

Snapchat approached Complex for Original content for their newly launched “premium” side. This, along with a few other series, offered a more mature look at the meteoric rise and subsequent crash of Bushwick’s Tekashi69. His troubled past, outlandish style, and penchant for starting beefs with all of hip hop - his story was caricature as much as a tragedy. With never before seen footage and new perspectives weighing on his recent arrest, we hear from the people at the epicenter explain how Daniel Hernandez adopted his rainbow haired persona and gang affiliations. A story about his seemingly overnight, oversea success that later gets him in rooms with stars like Nicki Minaj and Kanye West.

POSt-production

A two editor team, the six minute episodes were focused primarily on how Tekashi’s social media presence went above and beyond in catapulting him to notoriety. His shameless attempts at drumming up drama, community giveback, and girlfriend stealing led to some of the best reality show drama you could ask for. Our job was to find those moments buried in behind the scenes footage from an array of hard drives and find the threads to connect his major life events. The constant rolling of cameras, waiting for the next headline to happen, led to a breadcrumb trail, finding the footage that matches unheard testimonials from his immediate crew.

As this is all being worked on, his trial is happening live and as new things come to light, so does new footage. A constant overhaul happens as this process repeats itself leading up to the release Dec ‘19 right as Tekashi is found… well, that’s a spoiler.