"Look at Me!" is the debut commercial single by American rapper
XXXTentacion
Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy (January 23, 1998 – June 18, 2018), known professionally as XXXTentacion, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Though a controversial figure due to his widely publicized legal troubles, XXXTentacion gai ...
. The rap single premiered on December 30, 2015, on the
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...
account of Rojas, the song's co-producer, before initially being released for
digital download Digital download may refer to:
*Downloading, the processing of copying data to a computer from an external source
*Digital distribution, a method of downloading software or audio-visual media as opposed to buying it at a traditional point of sale
* ...
as a single on January 29, 2016, becoming a
sleeper hit
In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit refers to a film, television series, music release, video game or other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release, but eventually became a surprise success. A sleeper hit may have ...
in January 2017, in which the single was later re-released for digital download again with a remastered and clean version of the single on February 20, 2017, by
Empire Distribution
Empire Distribution, Records and Publishing Inc. (stylized as EMPIRE) is an independent American record label, distribution and publishing company founded in 2010 by Ghazi Shami. Based in San Francisco, EMPIRE has offices in New York, London, ...
.
The song serves as the lead single from his debut commercial
mixtape
In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...
''
Revenge
Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...
''. The track was produced by Rojas and Jimmy Duval, and heavily samples the 2007 song "Changes" by British
dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...
DJ and record producer
Mala.
The rap single peaked at number 34 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "Look at Me!" was certified Platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) on August 14, 2017, with over one million
single-equivalent units.
The rap single is ranked as one of the 100 songs that defined the 2010s decade by ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''.
Background
In verified annotations added along with song's lyrics on
Genius
Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for the future, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabiliti ...
, Rojas, the song's co-producer, spoke about how the song came together:
One day me and X were sitting at the crib going through beats and he wasn't really rocking with any of them, and then the last one I showed him was that beat, and he was like, "Rojas, this is it!"
In 15 minutes, it was done. X already knew the whole song in his head before he made it. He's creative as fuck. X decided to distort the whole track in one.
Rojas also spoke about the origin of the beat:
We made it at Jimmy Duval's Studio. The beat was actually made for Retch, when he came down to Miami after he had a show in Tampa.
He was staying at Jimmy's crib after I introduced them, when me and Jimmy decided to work on some stuff for Retch. That's when we made the "Look At Me!" beat. We never got to send it to Retch because he went to jail and I lost contact with him and his management.
Rojas lastly talked about how they found the sample:
A couple months before I sampled it, I was listening to a song by Young Roddy
Roderick Brisco (born September 20, 1986), better known by his stage name Young Roddy (or simply Roddy), is an American hip hop recording artist signed to Jet Life Recordings and iHipHop Distribution.
Early life
Young Roddy was born and raised ...
called "Water" and I was fucking with him heavy. I thought the sample was really hard and I wanted to use it but I failed with it so many times before I got it right.
The rap single was originally listed as a feature of Rojas, who is also a DJ, before later being renamed as a whole following the initial iTunes release.
Composition
The track, which has a tempo of 139 BPM (beats per minute), heavily samples "Changes" by British dubstep DJ and record producer Mala.
"Look at Me!" features an extremely heavy and distorted bass, creating an aggressive feeling throughout the track. While some criticized the heavy distortion to be a case of bad
mixing, Rojas, the producer, said the poor mixing and distortion on the track was intentional to differentiate the rap from other popular hip hop rap singles at the time.
Chart performance
"Look at Me!" debuted at number 94 on US
''Billboard'' Hot 100 for the chart dated February 25, 2017, and peaked at number 34. The track charted for 20 weeks, becoming his longest charting song until the release of "
SAD!
"Sad!" (stylized all caps) is a song by American rapper XXXTentacion from his second studio album, ''? (XXXTentacion album), ?'' (2018). It was released as the lead single from the album on March 2, 2018. The track was written alongside producer ...
" (later becoming his longest-charting track with 38 weeks on the chart). It is XXXTentacion's first charting single, later making it into the
''Billboard'' Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017 at number 99. "Look at Me!" was certified 2× Platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) on July 31, 2019, with over two million units sold.
Music video
The official music video for "Look at Me!" was released on the XXXTentacion.
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel on September 12, 2017. The video features both "Look at Me!" and "
Riot
A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people.
Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...
" by XXXTentacion.
Controversy
The rap single first received notable attention and controversy in early 2017 when Canadian rapper
Drake
Drake may refer to:
Animals and creatures
* A male duck
* Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon
People and fictional characters
* Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...
used a similar
rap flow from "Look at Me!" in an unreleased rap single. It sparked a viral surge in the song's popularity, as well as Onfroy himself, while he was incarcerated at the time.
Drake released the song "
KMT" featuring English rapper
Giggs on his commercial mixtape ''
More Life
''More Life'' is the fifth commercial mixtape by Canadian rapper Drake. Described and marketed as a playlist, some publications have referred to it as a mixtape. It was released on March 18, 2017, through Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Rec ...
'', which was marketed as a "playlist."
The rap single received further controversy in September 2017 when the music video was released depicting a white child being hanged on stage in addition to other various depictions of murder and death. Although heavily criticized by conservative news outlets, Onfroy clarified via Instagram that the video was meant to be taken seriously as a form of art, and that it was a form of
shock value
Shock value (or shock factor) is the potential of an image, text, action, or other form of communication, such as a public execution, to provoke a reaction of sharp disgust, shock, anger, fear, or similar negative emotions.
In advertising
Sho ...
. Soon after, Onfroy claimed on an Instagram video that a member of the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
had threatened him for the depictions in the rap single.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
External links
Lyrics of this rap single at Genius*
*
{{authority control
2015 debut singles
2016 singles
2017 singles
Music video controversies
Songs written by XXXTentacion
XXXTentacion songs
Empire Distribution singles
Race-related controversies in music
Trap metal songs