Casanova: 'I Never Said Nothing About 6ix9ine on the Internet at All But I’m Still the Bad Guy'

Casanova stopped by Complex's Everyday Struggle ahead of the release of his debut album, and the Brooklyn rapper went deep on his past beefs. Almost immediately he got into his history with DJ Akademiks, whom he beefed with previously, but he also detailed his complicated relationship with the currently incarcerated 6ix9ine.

Casanova and 6ix9ine were involved in a shooting that took place at the Barclays Center in New York City last year, but they later put their differences aside. "I had the Barclay video forever, I ain't never post it. I wasn't looking for clout," Casanova explained of their beef at the 6:30 mark. "I could make him look bad, I didn't want to make him look bad it wasn't that serious. I just wanted a n***a to stop playing with me. I didn't [get] trolling, but now I understand it."

Early on Casanova was painted as the instigator in the beef between them, as WorldStarHipHop labeled the video for his song "Set Trippin" a "6ix9ine diss." However, Casanova has refuted that it was directed at the rapper, and instead it was a comment on the prevalence of gang-related imagery and lyrics in New York rap at the time. "He commented on my page and said, 'This is for me? You tryin' to diss me?" Casanova continued at the 8:00 mark. "So they labeled it that, I never responded. I deleted the comment. He got the song lit, though."

The beef essentially started over a misunderstanding and some trolling on 6ix9ine's part, but it still had Casanova angry that it even started in the first place. "I was so mad I couldn't eat. This is the biggest rapper in the world and he's fucking with me and I don't even know him," he added at the 11:40 mark. "I didn't do it for the clout. I been had that video. I been could have violated him. I could've posted my shit."

After they managed to patch up the situation, they were cool with one another. They no longer had issues between them anymore. "He called me like every other day," Casanova said, which prompted Akademiks to ask whether he ever suggested to 6ix9ine that he should change paths in order to not incriminate himself in gang activity. "I did, it was too late," he replied. "He wasn't really a part of that life. [...] I'm happy I dodged a bullet and it's cool. I'm not here to get no rap beef."

Later on in the interview, the subject veered back to how Casanova was painted as the bad guy around the 22:00 mark. "I feel like I get the bad end of the stick. Just like he said, I never said anything bad about this guy on the internet at all, but I'm still the bad guy," he says. "I never trolled him, I never responded to nothing, I was outside, though, but I never did nothing on the internet so why did people feel like I'm the bully?"

During the conversation, Casanova also explained how he's on his best behavior because he doesn't want to get dropped from Roc Nation. "I think I'm on my last straw and I ain't wanna get dropped off the label, you know I love the Roc but they ain't with the bullshit," he said at the 24:00 mark. "I remember [Tyran] Ty Ty [Smith] told me one time, 'Why you beefing with this guy?' I'm like, 'I don't even know. I wasn't beefing with this n***a.'"

He continued, "I was like, 'The n***a saying he shot at me man, and I ran. I ain't running, I don't know what he talking about.'" From there, Ty Ty told Casanova to chill out. "He goes, 'You got kids, right? So you think that's gangsta? Don't you supposed to run from bullets? Matter fact, get out of my office.' I walked out like a little kid, like, why am I mad? So it's just certain things I learned to deal with, I'm over a lot of things, man."

Watch the full interview with Casanova and the crew above.