It might seem like it's been a while since beleaguered rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine has been heard from, but he's been hard at work getting a new record deal that TMZ reports is worth more than $6 million if everything goes according to plan. Tekashi has signed with Kartel Music in a deal that includes a new album and a tour.
Kartel is going to pay Tekashi $1 million for his upcoming 10-song album, which will be recorded along with several regional artists in Mexico. Then, to promote the record (and make some real money), he'll go on set to include the US, Mexico, and points beyond in Central and South America and get $250,000 a pop for each show.
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But 6ix9ine fans should be aware that the record is not a conventional rap album. Instead, he told TMZ that the purported "record deal" is actually more of a touring contract that happens to include an album that will belong to Kartel:
"It's an exclusive tour deal that I'm doing in Central America, South America, United States, and Mexico, like, the exclusivity deal…but the album belongs to them, to Kartel Music, because it's like Mexican regional music … It's nothing hip-hop."
Basically, the plan is for Tekashi to make a splash in the music business in Mexico, with some spillover into other adjacent regions. As long as he stays out of trouble, that is, since his contract will also forbid him from committing any crimes or getting arrested, and even from starting fights on social media. According to him, that shouldn't be an issue:
"If you know 6ix9ine, you know, like, I'm squeaky clean…I stay out of trouble. It's just trouble seems its way to find me all the time."
Back in 2019, the rapper cooperated with federal investigators against his former associates with the Nine Trey Gangsters in exchange for a reduced two-year prison sentence on racketeering charges (during which he signed an earlier record deal reportedly worth $10 million). That sentence was itself cut short when his lawyers managed an early release for health reasons during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, in 2023, he was arrested by authorities in the Dominican Republic in connection with an alleged assault on two music producers. And he also got hit with an alleged domestic violence arrest last year as well.
That's not to mention the debts he still owes the IRS even after his Lamborghini and Bentley automobiles were reportedly seized and auctioned off to pay a reported $260,000 towards an undisclosed total tax bill late last year. And around the same time, he was reportedly hit with a $10 million judgment in a lawsuit filed against him for assault. So, it seems clear that most or all of the money from this tour will probably be going towards his debtors and creditors.
