Based on photos recently shared online, Kanye West appears poised to follow suit. Ahead of her Queen album release, Nicki Minaj siphoned some controversial clout off the 6ix9ine collab “Fefe” and saw huge charting success in return, while erstwhile tri-state hip-hop heroes 50 Cent and Fetty Wap have made short term gains on their respective would-be journeys out of musical obsolescence. Of course, this problem isn’t exclusive to Latin trap. Anuel has since apologized for his offending verses, but not about his offensive collaborator. The situation was complicated even further by a homophobic tiraera (read: diss track) against fellow Puerto Rican artist Cosculluela, which led to immediate criticism from media and fans as well as the cancellation of a highly-anticipated, and undoubtedly lucrative, comeback concert in San Juan.
Still, the move to work with him in light of the details of his sex crime already seems to have eroded a considerable amount of the goodwill banked during Anuel’s time away. As I’ve written elsewhere, Spanish-language media has been especially poor about reporting on the story, even after the Manhattan District Attorney's Office recommended as many as three years behind bars in a pre-sentencing court appearance this summer. How much Anuel and his camp knew about 6ix9ine’s unsettling history prior to recording “Bebe” remains unclear.
With a plea agreement almost certainly nullified by his subsequent arrests on unrelated charges and the failure to obtain his G.E.D., the long-delayed sentencing hearing scheduled for next month may finally lead to jail time. The particularly young age of the victim, a 13-year-old girl, is one of several details of the crime he either glossed over or otherwise dodged in a one-sided, rambling video interview with Internet personality and frequent 6ix9ine booster DJ Akademiks. Despite RIAA-certified gold and platinum singles like “Gummo” and “Kooda,” 6ix9ine’s career remains rightfully clouded by his criminal past, specifically his felony participation in the use of a child in a sexual performance, to which he plead guilty in 2015. Still, those early gains for “Bebe” come with one hell of an asterisk attached. Within two weeks, it logged some four million SoundCloud plays and nearly seven million Spotify streams just in the U.S. With all that juice behind them, “Bebe” became an instant hit, debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 at No.
Thus, pairing him with a young viral American like 6ix9ine provides him entrée into the broader rap music marketplace. Having once been publicly affiliated with Rick Ross’ Maybach Music Group, collaborations outside of Anuel’s pre-existing comfort zone seemed inevitable. Still, as Bad Bunny, Farruko, and others were logging Billboard chart hits, that involuntary absence swelled his reputation to the point where, once freed, he had the coveted attention of genre devotees and industry watchers alike. As Latin trap made considerable strides over the past couple of years in its ascent as a formidable force in hip-hop, Anuel’s incarceration made him a limited participant in that success, largely via previously recorded verses and prison phone features. From one perspective, “Bebe” is the ideal match-up-and not because of the artists’ shared Latinidad.