XXXTentacion is defending his disturbing and violent new music video for his breakout hit single “Look At Me.”
The video stirred up some controversy on Tuesday when it premiered on YouTube while showcasing child lynching and students beating down a teacher. Aside from the explicit lyrical content, the video also showcases footage of the Philando Castille, Rodney King, and Heather Hayes police shooting incident. The child lynching scene at the end of the video was particularly disturbing for some viewers and after that X went on a monologue addressing race and equality in America.
In a series of videos posted on Instagram, XXXTentacion explained the video. “It’s an art form and something that you’re supposed to take seriously,” he said. “No matter how you look at it, the three to four murders I showed, in the beginning were murders done by supremacist that was real, that white boy is still alive. So the people that died in the video are real.”
XXXTentacion says that he used a child in the lynching scene for shock-value. “Martin Luther King fought for equity with passively expressing his mind and passively walking through the streets and expressing himself,” he added. “So no matter how you look at it this video is an art form. So I understand if you’re bothered obviously by the child being hung because it was obviously done for shock-value. I couldn’t hang a 40-year-old caucasian man and get the same response.”
The Ft. Lauderdale rapper says that he will be doing a full-length interview sometime soon to fully give his views on opinion about the message that he is sending in the video. He also said that he does not regret anything that he previously said or did. XXXTentacion is also under fire for domestic abuse after details of his assault case made its way online.
