6ix9ine & Nicki Minaj's "Fefe" Suffers Huge RIAA Demotion

BY Zachary Horvath 581 Views
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MIAMI, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 17: Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine performs during the MiamiBash 2021 at FTX Arena on December 17, 2021 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by John Parra/Getty Images.) NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 05: Nicki Minaj attends the 2025 Met Gala Celebrating "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 05, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/MG25/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
It's a mystery right now as to why this happened, but 6ix9ine and Nicki Minaj are a part one of the biggest RIAA alterations ever.

6ix9ine and Nicki Minaj's 2018 smash "FEFE" has received some major revisions to its RIAA certification. You could even call it historic because the once 8x platinum single now holds five million units sold. According to Pop Fusion, it's the first time this century that anything has happened like this.

Per RIAA's website, the update was made on Monday, December 15. If you were curious, "FEFE" sold eight million units on September 5, 2019, according to chart data. It was especially impressive back then as 6ix9ine and Nicki dropped the collab in July 2018.

Overall, this doesn't instantly wipe away anything the song did. It was unavoidable on the radio, on streaming playlists, and social media. The music video has over 1.1 billion views. Moreover, it debuted at number four on the Hot 100.

However, this does make you wonder if botting was going on to make the track just a bit more successful. That theory will almost certainly come to light as we await an answer from RIAA. As of yet, they have not clarified why such a drastic change was made to "FEFE."

But shockingly, that's not the only wild thing to report. If you notice on the RIAA's site, Nicki Minaj's name is nowhere to be found.

How Long Is 6ix9ine's Prison Sentence?

So, that means if the track ever achieves diamond status (10 million units), she won't receive a plaque for that. Of course, things could change to where her name gets re-added. After all, she's got feature and writing credits on DSPS.

But that is worth mentioning right now.

Overall, it's going to be interesting to hear what the RIAA has to say about this if they decide to speak out.

For 6ix9ine, though, this news comes at a bad time. Earlier this month, the "GUMMO" songwriter was sentenced to three months in prison over his handful of probation violations. They stem from his infamous Nine Trey Bloods RICO case.

Despite being labeled as "dumpster fire" by the judge who delivered the punishment, he decided against the prosecutors who pushed for a lengthier sentence.

About The Author
Zachary Horvath is one of the Music Freelance News Writers at HotNewHipHop and has held that title since August 2023. Prior to this position, he held another freelance gig covering local high school football, girls and boys varsity basketball, in addition to recapping Cleveland Cavaliers games remotely. He's taken the previous experience and used it to become a jack of all trades at HotNewHipHop. Zach has thoroughly enjoyed tackling some of the trending topics in sports, with a larger focus on hip-hop and pop culture. Some of those include Bronny James's draft stock, a multitude of angles swirling around the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef, as well as Diddy's arrest and lawsuits. Separate from the headlines that everyone wants to hear about, he was fortunate enough to help spread Zaytoven's current thoughts at the time around mid-December in 2023. Even though being able to give his expertise on these stories is fulfilling, being able to share his passion for releases trumps that ever so slightly. Having the chance to express his excitement indirectly about what he thinks our readers should be checking out/revisiting grows his passion for writing that much more.

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