This is what happens when you don’t watch to the end.
The popular 19-year old rapper, XXXTentacion has made headlines all over the place for his new video, ‘Look At Me!‘.
This isn’t the message that he was hoping would come across in his new video.
The song itself is filled with obscenities and sexual references, and the rapper… well, he seems to be really bad news.
XXXTentacion, aka Jahseh Onfroy, was released from jail in March but is still facing a slew of charges after allegedly assaulting a pregnant woman.
His alleged crimes are wide-ranging and serious, as this thorough Pitchfork report makes clear. In Broward, he was charged with home invasion and battery with a firearm, to which he plead no contest. On Tuesday he received a “withheld conviction,” was told to serve six years probation, and was released from jail. In Dade County, he has a more severe, and notorious, case. There, he has been charged with aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, and witness-tampering stemming from an incident involving his girlfriend at the time, to which he has pled not guilty. He’s been out on bail on those charges since December, though the Broward case kept him in jail, and will be in a Miami-Dade courthouse on May 1 for a hearing as the case moves forward.
Source: Spin
Despite all of this, his music is hugely popular.
This song, Look At Me!, which was released months ago, racked up 45 Million plays on Soundcloud while he sat in the clink.
The outrage stems from a scene at the end of the video, after the song is complete.
The rapper takes two young children — one black boy, and one white boy — and brings them to a noose on a stage.
He then speaks to them (you cannot hear what is being said) and then hangs the white child.
This is of course what sparked the outrage.
It should also be mentioned that the video shows 3 black teens hanging from a tree at the beginning of the video.
It’s what comes after that, though.
XXXTentacion, as vile as he is, calls for an end to the violence on both sides.
He speaks about black on white violence as well as white on black violence.
He calls for an end to the racism on both sides.
He says that murder is murder no matter the color and it’s disgusting.
He also talks about children not standing for bigotry and hate.
There are also some weird comments about ‘supremacy’ but I think he’s trying to make moves in the right direction with regard to race relations.
Here is the scene that caused all the outrage followed by his commentary.
I really don’t recommend that you back it up and listen to the whole thing because it’s just quite vile. Maybe just watch the video on mute, if you feel so inclined.
The rapper then explains on another video some of the imagery used.
(LANGUAGE WARNING)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Diy8NdadxhY
Well, that was… interesting.
It’s pretty disgusting to have that imagery of a white child hanging.
And I’m not keen on that at all — I think there are things that you just don’t do because decency dictates that you shouldn’t.
Just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should.
At least he’s trying to talk about racism on both sides.
And hey, he’s reaching an audience that is getting a very different message most of the time.
What do you think?
Let us know in the comments.
