XXXTentacion

At the time of XXXTentacion’s death at 20 years old in 2018, the controversial rapper had yet to resolve or apologize for the domestic abuse he allegedly admitted to committing against his ex-girlfriend Geneva Ayala. He was still awaiting trial when he was shot to death in June of that year for both aggravated battery of Ayala and witness tampering, with which he was charged after Ayala wrote a note to the court asking to have the charges dropped.

These events and others are the subjects of the upcoming documentary, Look at Me: XXXTENTACION, which will stream on Hulu later this year after premiering today at SXSW. According to The Daily Beast’s Cheyenne Roundtree, who reported from the premiere, the documentary does delve into X’s alleged abuse of Ayala, while including footage of the rapper’s mother, Cleo Bernard, who believes that her son would have eventually apologized for his actions.

“I would have liked to think he would have gotten there,” she says during her interview for the film. “He just never had a chance.” In lieu of that chance, the film reportedly features a meeting between Bernard and Ayala, during which the rapper’s mother says she feels “like it’s up to me now to make amends and try to right his wrongs as much as I can.” She admits that although X attempted to hid his actions from her, she acknowledges, “Jahseh was wrong for what he did. There’s no excuse for that, period. But I just want the world to know that he wasn’t that same person anymore, but the past is still part of his story.”

Look at Me: XXXTENTACION will stream on Hulu beginning June 10.

It’s no secret that the death of XXXTentacion was a complicated tragedy. It left social media in a state of moral quandary, reckoning with the inherent devastation of a young person dying too soon while also knowing that he committed a great deal of harm against women. This is why the news, via The Fader, that the documentary Look At Me: XXXTENTACION is coming this summer might not thrill everyone; it is opening that can of worms once again. It was originally announced in 2019 and it’s premiering today at SXSW in Austin, but it won’t be available to stream on Hulu until June 10.

The documentary was produced by FADER Films, and directed by Sabaah Folayan who directed 2017’s Whose Streets? about the Ferguson Uprising. Folayan claims that this XXXTentacion documentary will not ignore the complexity of the rapper’s death and will address those issues head-on. “I decided to tell this story because while violence is inexcusable, it is not unintelligible,” Folayan said in a press release. “It has interpersonal roots and generational pathways for both abusers and survivors. I am hopeful that with care from the collective, cycles of violence can be interrupted. Movements like #MeToo have spotlighted the need for improvement in the way masculinity is performed in society. But when, where, and how can this positive change take place? There is no certain solution but what is clear is that the criminal justice and deportation systems are doing more harm than good.”

Look At Me: XXXTENTACION streams 6/10 on Hulu.