XXXTentacion, the rapper who’s been accused of multiple incidents of domestic abuse, claims he’s “terminating” his reported deal with Capitol Records, although the deal itself was initially unclear.
A statement in one of his Instagram stories (snapshot below) reads: “Terminating my deal with ‘capitol records.’ I am not a ‘signed’ artist and I will not be releasing music for a very long time, I’m tired of this shit.” In another post, he labels himself a “free agent” and puts out a request for anyone looking to do business with him. (Similarly, in July, he alerted fans that he wanted to “disappear for a little while”)
Variety reported through sources that XXXTentacion’s potential contract would have been with Capitol’s indie distributor Caroline, not Capitol Records directly, and that the reported $6 million figure was “overstated.”
Any deal with any record label entity would be highly questionable at this point, though, given that XXXTentacion (who released his debut album in August under Empire) will soon be on trial for domestic violence charges. In September, Pitchfork published excerpts from a 142-page transcript of testimony from his ex-girlfriend, detailing repeated incidents of abuse and multiple threats of violent. Their report stated that XXXTentacion once “head-butted her, punched her, stomped on her, and put her in the bathtub, where he continued hitting and kicking her.”
XXXTentacion has plead not guilty to four counts of aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, and witness-tampering. His trial is set to begin in December in Miami.
Jezebel has reached out to reps at Capitol for comment.
UPDATE (10/27): A rep for XXXTentacion told Spin, “XXXTentacion is signed to Caroline/Capitol Music Group...Only X can elaborate on his posts.”