Tekashi 6ix9ine really meant it when he said, “I don’t really want no friends.” 

The New York-based rapper recently appeared in court again as part of the ongoing racketeering trial in which he’s been involved. 6ix9ine is not on trial himself, due to pleading guilty in January. Instead, he’s appearing as the government’s star witness in the trial against two members of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods (NTG), being charged for multiple crimes including dealing heroin and attempting to rob and murder Tekashi.

You all remember Tekashi. From the colorful hair to the ridiculous songs and face tattoos, 6ix9ine became an Internet icon in a matter of months. He was charged with multiple criminal counts of performing sexual acts with a minor because what kind of rappers aren’t problematic? He was also arrested last year for gang activity because he was part of the NTG, a subset of the notorious Bloods gang. At first, he pleaded not guilty in late 2018, but changed his plea to guilty earlier this year.

A lot happened in the 3 days that 6ix9ine was on the stand. 6ix9ine appeared in court first on Sept. 16, alleging that multiple people were in different subsets of the Bloods including his manager–Trippie Redd–and fellow rappers Jim Jones and Cardi B, which didn’t shock us. 6ix9ine also admitted that he ordered the shooting of Chief Keef—a rival rapper of 6ix9ine.

Interestingly, 6ix9ine’s lyrics were used against him in court. As we all know, rap is a form of creative expression, especially the lyrics.  However, that creative expression is being used against the artist, with prosecutors saying that 6ix9ine’s lyrics provide evidence of organized crime and gang activity. While many people are pointing out the unfairness of the prosecutors for this, it’s perfectly reasonable. In case we forgot, YNW Melly wrote that song ‘Murder on my Mind’ not that long ago and actually murdered somebody. So, I feel like 6ix9ine was also writing about his own experiences in his songs, while also normalizing violence.

Of course, as a result of 6ix9ine’s “snitching,” there has been an uproar in the hiphop community. Rappers like Future have been relentlessly shaming him, calling him a “rat” among other things. However, 6ix9ine did nothing wrong, except for the many criminal charges. After all, the same people that sent out others to kidnap and beat 6ix9ine are the ones that he testified against. 6ix9ine owed nothing to these people, and “snitching” was the perfect form of revenge. There’s no point in catching extra criminal charges just to protect those who didn’t even care about him. It was brought up, however, that Tekashi did deny the witness protection program, which was definitely a mistake on his part because no gang that I’ve ever heard of has ever been very forgiving.

In the end, there was a serious lesson to be learned from the situation. 6ix9ine put his neck on the line for people who ultimately cared little to none about him. Then, the pop culture community shames him for betraying the same people who betrayed him, which was ultimately wrong. 6ix9ine did what we would probably all do if we were in that situation, help provide justice. Not to mention, the Internet memes he inspired which were definitely one of the highlights of the trial.

As for the future for 6ix9ine, he faces anywhere from 47 years to life in prison. However, if he meets the terms of his new plea deal, prosecutors may require the judge to sentence 6ix9ine below the minimums for his charges. As far as music, it’s highly unlikely that any more will appear considering nobody would want to work with 6ix9ine after the events of the trial. While his music will be missed by many, Tekashi did the right thing by testifying and helping work towards justice. If there’s anything to take from the trial, don’t be “Stoopid” and always do the right thing, just as 6ix9ine did.