69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez review – fact or act?

Danny Hernandez, AKA rapper and internet troll Tekashi69 AKA 6ix9ine, started life as a damaged and fatherless Hispanic kid from Brooklyn, driven by a hunger for wealth, fame and, most of all, a need to be seen at any cost. Everything – from the facial tattoos, to the rainbow hair, to the sexually explicit videos, to the embrace of gang culture – was ultimately about provoking a response that could be immediately quantified in clicks and follows: “clout”. But was the persona 6ix9ine an act or a kind of addiction? Was he a professional troll – the Katie Hopkins of hardcore hip-hop – or a genius marketeer? This intriguing documentary fails to fully answer these questions, but it does shine a light on a particularly uneasy aspect of internet celebrity.