Muristek
‘Every day was an ethical quandary’: telling the difficult story of XXXTentacion
The late rapper, who was killed at the age of 20, was known for both his captivating music and a history of violence, a troubling legacy explored in a new documentary
In one of many chilling scenes in the XXXTentacion documentary Look at Me, the young musical artist whose real name was Jahseh Onfrey leaves a Florida jail and Googles himself. It’s March 2017. At the top of the search results is Onfrey’s bio, accompanied with a mugshot from his 2016 arrest for brutally imprisoning and assaulting Geneva Ayala – his girlfriend at the time. The detailed bio, evidence that he made it, has him squealing.
While Onfrey was inside for nearly six months without a data plan, a 2015 song he uploaded to SoundCloud called Look at Me went viral alongside that photo of his tatted face, Cruella-styled black-and-blond locks and piercing stare. His raps and rap sheet captivated the internet. His breakout success was immediately and intricately tied up with the horrifying domestic abuse, which, in that moment, didn’t seem to bother Onfrey in the slightest. His celebratory squeal, which the film plays against the haunting and twisted sounds of Look at Me, leaves knots in the stomach.
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