10K Projects’ Elliot Grainge Defends Giving 6ix9ine a New Deal: ‘I Wouldn’t Be Doing a Good Job as a Human’

When 6ix9ine is finally released from federal prison, he’ll walk right back into the music industry with a new deal from 10K Projects. The label’s founder/CEO, Elliot Grainge, defended giving 6ix9ine another opportunity in an interview with Variety published Wednesday (Dec. 4).

“Knowing him like I do, since he was [called] Daniel Hernandez, I wouldn’t be doing a good job as a human, let alone a label head, if I didn’t try to help him,” Grainge asserted, but doesn’t believe this is truly a “second chance.” “I’m not giving 6ix9ine a second chance, just an opportunity. The rest is up to him. The artist himself has to make those choices.”

Even with his checkered past, Grainge believes the polarizing 6ix9ine is a bright kid who just made mistakes as to who he surrounded himself with. “Tekashi knows how to get under people’s skin,” he added. “He is an addictive, charismatic human being — and very intelligent, but he made some unfortunate choices in regard to the people he surrounded himself with.”

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6ix9ine Scores New Record Deal With 10k Projects

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6ix9ine is set to learn his fate and be sentenced on Dec. 18. As part of his new contract with 10K, he’ll be on the hook for a pair of albums, but could net himself in excess of $10 million if he holds up his end of the deal.