[Read about 6ix9ine’s first, second and third days of testimony.]

His membership was a privileged one: 6ix9ine said he was never formally initiated. Instead, his earning power was his entry card. He was their ATM.

While he was providing material support to the Nine Treys, 6ix9ine was essentially cosplaying at gang life. At one point during his testimony, he was asked if a certain image depicted him making the Nine Trey hand sign. “I think I was just getting the hang of it,” he replied. Pressed on why he referred to the hosts of a radio show as “Blood” during his interview with them, 6ix9ine pleaded osmosis: “At the time, it was just being around Shotti so much. That’s the way he talks, so it rubbed off on me a little bit.” (Shotti, born Kifano Jordan, was his main handler. Jordan has pleaded guilty to the charges against him.)

Perhaps the most striking turn in 6ix9ine’s testimony, however, is the way his two lives began to fuse into one, how the part he was performing for public consumption became something more all encompassing. He adopted some of the gang’s tactics, giving orders to a friend to shoot at Chief Keef, a rival. As the gang splintered around him — often because of him — he felt confident pushing back at members he deemed disloyal.

There is also the music, which, in his telling, is in many places a kind of autofiction, a quick response system to the things he’s experiencing. “Gummo” is a reply to the rapper Trippie Redd; “Kooda” is a reaction to the “Gummo” aftershocks; “Billy” is an answer to Casanova. What was happening behind the scenes was also, in a way, what was animating his songs, but only fully evident to those in the know.

Social media has brought visibility to gang life in unprecedented ways. In this trial, Instagram posts were entered as evidence, and one pivotal tension arose because of a podcast. But at the same time, in the internet era, it is easier than ever to play a role, an ideal platform for 6ix9ine’s dubious slide into gang performance.

In this context, one of the defendants 6ix9ine was testifying against, Anthony (Harv) Ellison, emerges as a kind of tragic upholder of the old-fashioned, and perhaps now outmoded, gang ethics.