Teejayx6, Crown Prince of Scam Rap

Disclaimer: The Spectator does not endorse scamming.

“The government tried to ban me from the dark web / I downloaded Tor Browser, then got back in,” raps Teejayx6 on his breakout song “Dark Web” (2019). The dark web, a section of the Internet only accessible by hidden networks and software like Tor, is where Teejayx6 makes his money scamming. Frenetic, offbeat, and memorable, this song serves as an apt introduction to the Detroit rapper and the rising wave of scam rap.

Scam rap is a new breed of rap for the digital age, trading out bars about drug dealing and murder for ones about credit card fraud and identity theft. Like coke rap in the 1980s, scam rap is a snapshot of crime in the 2010s. It introduces uncommon phrases such as the dark web, methods, fake IDs, BINs, and Bitcoin. Scam rap originated in Detroit’s hip-hop scene, where energetic piano-driven beats and slightly off-kilter flows reign supreme. Teejayx6 emerged as the leading face of this new wave of hip-hop, and his success is a reminder of the Internet’s influence.

Teejayx6, born Teejay Witherspoon, is a humble teenage scammer. He owes his name to the Bluetooth MSR-X6, a portable credit card reader and an essential tool in his scamming endeavors. Growing up with two scammer brothers, Teejayx6 immersed himself in their world, with one brother as his mentor. By first grade he made his first scam, and he continued as he discovered the money that could be made in crime. His rap career came later in 2017. The earliest songs he released were standard Detroit hip-hop, but Teejayx later developed a distinct style that set him apart and drove his Internet fame. His lyrics are often hilarious and light-hearted. On “Blackmail,” Teejayx claims he “made a juug page on Facebook, and [he] scammed [his] granny,” and on “Apple,” he laments that he “can't even get [his] haircut no more cause [he] done scammed [his] barber.” Two of his most notable songs, “Dynamic Duo” and its sequel “Dynamic Duo 2,” are duets with fellow Detroit rapper Kasher Quon where they trade increasingly comedic bars, with Teejayx6 going so far as to threaten to blow up his mother’s house. His lyrics are bolstered by his intense fast-paced flow, which often ends with him screaming the last syllable of a line for emphasis.

But Teejayx6 doesn’t want to just rap about scamming; he wants to promote it. In fact, his “Swipe Lesson” series of songs meticulously details actual scamming methods, including sites on the dark web to visit. His “Swipe Story” series is equally detailed, telling tales about his many scams. They play out like heist movies, except instead of robbing a bank, he’s scamming a department store. Listening to the first “Swipe Story” is like listening to an audiobook with a beat behind it, with Teejayx6 recounting a story of stealing Xboxes and TVs from a local Walmart, which he has scammed over 50 times. By the time Teejayx6 succeeds in tricking the cashier and making off with his haul of goods, you realize that you were invested in a story about Walmart theft for three minutes. His unconventional flow and almost self-incriminating level of detail is oddly captivating to a wide audience. His campaign to promote scamming has been successful, going so far as to hold a “scammer convention” in Manhattan to teach dozens of inexperienced scammers lessons in fraud.

Teejayx6’s rise in popularity is a lesson in building a brand in the Internet age. His distinctive style has garnered him notoriety on social media, despite his nonexistent presence on mainstream music charts. He has built an online reputation as the embodiment of black AF1s, a title that has only been bolstered by coverage from publications like The New York Times and Pitchfork. His meteoric rise in popularity has earned him the attention of well-known people, including Metro Boomin, one of hip-hop’s most prominent producers. Amidst his growing success, Teejayx6 maintains his authenticity, a rare occurence in an era where some artists throw away their original style for mass appeal. Teejayx6 will always be a scammer, and that won’t change no matter how popular he gets or how close he is to getting caught by the FBI.

His latest project “Black Air Force Activity 1” (2019) is his most artistically ambitious effort yet, where he puts his scam rap to the test with a greater variety of beats and flows, including a handful of more rhythmic tracks. He plans to release his next project “Fraud Bible” sometime in 2020, which he claims will be filled with scamming methods that anybody can use. With payment services like Apple Pay and Cash App growing in popularity, digital monetary transactions are quickly becoming the norm, so scam rap may very well become a defining sound for the age of digital crime. If it does, Teejayx6 will definitely be there to lead it.