“Listen, I’m gangsta and I know I’m gangsta,” 6ix9ine told The Breakfast Club this morning. “I tell everybody all of the time to test my gangsta. A lot of people don’t like me, but I’m not here to fit in. My message is just to be yourself, and I’m always myself.”

6ix9ine’s visit to the top-rated morning show was entertaining, to say the least. But having several records, including “Billy” and “Gummo,” riding up the Billboard Hot 100 wasn’t enough to make sure the conversation stuck to the music. Much of the discussion focused on the colorful rap star’s antics on the stage or outside of the booth.

In the thick of 6ix9ine’s sit down with Charlamagne tha God, DJ Envy and Angela Yee, his manager, Tr3yway came to his defense. “In a sense, he’s expressing himself just like everyone else that gets on the internet,” he said. “People perceive it to be him trolling, right? I’m not in his generation, but most of the people in his generation, they do the same thing. This is how the Rich The Kids and all of the other young millionaires achieve their goals, right?”

Tr3yway added, “Tekashi doesn’t get on camera or the internet saying he’s going to kill anybody. He does say he’s Blood. He does say he’s gangsta, but he doesn’t threaten anybody’s life or well-being. With that being said, this is America. We have a freedom of speech, so whether he’s on the internet saying, ‘I’m gangsta, come touch me or take my chain’…that’s how he feels and what he wants to promote.”

Aside from claiming New York’s crown, the emerging rapper has confidently claimed the streets too which has, of course, rubbed a lot of people, in a lot of places, the wrong way. The Game, J Prince Jr, and YG have already addressed the 21-year-old and questioned his street credentials.

“In essence, that doesn’t say that these guys in L.A. can say, ‘When you come out here, I’m going to kill you’ or the guys in Texas can say, ‘Yo nigga, you gotta check in when you come in here.’ You dig what I’m saying? We don’t check in with nobody,” said a defiant Tr3yway who earlier this week, posted a video in response to the gang-related hate Tekashi has been attracting as of late.