crime

Secret Recording Captures XXXTentacion Confessing to Abuse, Stabbings

Photo: MATIAS J. OCNER/TNS via Getty Images

Pitchfork has obtained a recording from the Miami-Dade County sheriff’s office of late rapper XXXTentacion confessing to various violent crimes. He had been charged with aggravated battery of a pregnant victim, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, and witness tampering, but maintained his innocence up until his death. On the newly revealed tape, made around the time of his October 2016 arrest, XXXTentacion can be heard discussing the ex-girlfriend he is accused of abusing. “I started fucking her up because she made one mistake. And from there, the whole cycle went down. Now she’s scared. That girl is scared for her life. Which I understand,” he can be heard saying in the audio, which authorities say was obtained from an acquaintance of the late rapper.

He also talked about the multiple stabbings he’d been accused of, “I’m on New Times for stabbing, how many people they put in the news? They said three, it was eight.” Later, the rapper seems to try and justify his actions by recounting his own traumas, “You ever seen somebody get their tongue cut out? … You ever seen somebody get raped? … You ever seen somebody try to kill your mom in front of you?”

Secret Recording Captures XXXTentacion Confessing to Crimes