6ix9ine took center stage with a dramatic speech during the federal court hearing where he was ultimately sentenced to three months behind bars for a series of supervised release violations — a speech that recounted a series of about a dozen assaults and threats he's encountered over the past few years.
The courtroom recitation, which the controversial rapper gave on Friday (Dec. 5), was his effort to explain to Judge Paul Engelmayer why he should avoid prison time.
6ix9ine began by telling the judge, "I don't think you have all the facts."
"They say you don't understand a person until you walk a mile in their shoes," he continued. "I want you to know facts."
Accompanied by a number of oversized sheets of paper which contained printouts of photos, video screenshots, and text, he proceeded to give a rundown of a number of times he'd been threatened or assaulted since his early release from prison in April, 2020, all because of his cooperation with the federal government in the racketeering case against the gang that cleared the way for his rise to fame, the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods.
"This is my life," he said.
Here are most of the incidents he discussed:
- Aug. 5, 2020: He was having dinner with his lawyer Lance Lazzaro and some members of Lazzaro's family at a restaurant, when one of the owners came over and demanded that they leave. "If not, we would be assaulted," 6ix9ine explained.
- Aug. 7, 2020: He was made to leave a different restaurant, this one in Harlem. "[I was] told this is not the place for a rat," he remembered.
- Aug. 20, 2020: He was threatened by a man holding a "dark object."
- Feb. 20, 2021: He was threatened to a fistfight.
- Feb. 21, 2021: He was at a Foot Locker, when he was told there were "no shoes for a rat," and then challenged to a fistfight.
- Sept., 2021: At a UFC event in Las Vegas, he was "assaulted with a drink to the face."
- Apr., 2022: He was punched in the back of the head after a show.
- Mar., 2023: He was hospitalized after being attacked by multiple men at a gym. The rapper described it as being "beaten to a bloody pulp in a bathroom due to my cooperation."
- Feb., 2025: A coffin containing a dead animal was left in front of his house.
- May, 2025: A fake police car attempted to pull him over.
- Nov., 2025: His house was invaded by armed robbers who, he said, asked his mother, "Where's your son?"
As he described all these incidents, the rapper's voice began breaking. He also mentioned that his cooperation became so notorious in part because audio of his testimony leaked, which he said was unprecedented.
6ix9ine focused on the 2023 gym assault in particular as a way of explaining the assault he was currently in trouble for, where he and a friend beat up a man at a mall who had called him a snitch. They chased the man down after the initial verbal confrontation was over, began hitting him, and only left when they noticed a gun in his waistband.
The rapper said that in the 2023 gym incident, he had been insulted but hadn't responded, so the man then gathered more friends, came back, and beat him. That dynamic, he said, was in his mind during the incident at the mall, and explains why he chased the man down.
"I was worried it would happen again," he said.
6ix9ine told the court that the repeated incidents had taken a toll on his mental health, and that time in prison would do nothing to help his state of mind.
"Mental health is a real thing," he said to the judge. "Just give me a chance to get my life back together."
Judge Engelmayer acknowledged the toll these incidents had taken, saying he "can't imagine" the stress the rapper is constantly under due to his notoriety as a cooperator. In part for that reason, he ordered that the one year of supervised release 6ix9ine will be subject to after his three-month incarceration will include mental health treatment, with a focus on anger management.
The judge ended with a note of caution.
"If you come back before me...,there will be another sentencing," he told 6ix9ine. "And it will not end well."