It’s been nearly five years since XXXTentacion was fatally shot outside of a motorcycle dealership in Florida. In the years since his passing, his team has posthumously released several albums and a documentary. His fans continue to spin his music and remember his creativity as an artist. But now, his name isn’t just coming up in memoriam.
XXXTentacion’s murder trial against suspects Trayvon Newsome, Dedrick Williams, and Michael Boatwright, began at the Broward County Courthouse with opening statements on Feb. 7. Jurors heard both sides related to the case, but the most shocking revelation from the trial’s first day was the mention of Drake as a potential suspect.
Interestingly enough, XXXTentacion and Drake do have a storied past. So, in order to bring more context to the trial, we broke down why Drake’s name was mentioned in XXXTentacion’s murder trial below.
Update [Tues., Feb. 14, 4:55pm ET]: Judge Michael A. Usan granted Drake’s motion to avoid giving a deposition in XXXTentacion’s murder trial. He will no longer be ordered to appear in court on February 27, 2023.
Update [Fri., Feb. 10, 12pm ET]: Drake has been summoned to court and will need to appear. This piece will be updated as the story evolves.
The trial is in connection to the 2018 murder of rapper XXXTentacion, whose real name is Jahseh Onfroy. On June 18, 2018, XXXTentacion was leaving the RIVA Motorsports dealership in Deerfield Beach, Florida, when his BMW was blocked by an oncoming SUV. Two masked gunmen then confronted X, fatally shooting him. The attackers were spotted leaving the scene in the SUV, stealing the rapper’s personal belongings, later discovered to be a Louis Vuitton bag containing $50,000 in cash. XXXTentacion was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after. He was 20 years old at the time of his death.
In August 2018, two months after XXXTentacion’s death, four suspects—Michael Boatwright, Dedrick Williams, Robert Allen, and Trayvon Newsome—were arrested and charged with first-degree murder, robbery and firearm charges in the days and weeks following the shooting. On June 20, 2018, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office arrested Dedrick Williams after a car chase. Police said Williams was wearing the same clothing he wore on June 18, which included orange sandals and a white tank top, according security footage from RIVA to recent pictures from Williams’ Instagram. He was also identified by employees who saw him enter RIVA to buy a neoprene mask. One week later, Robert Allen was arrested. On July 5, Michael Boatwright was arrested by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office on unrelated drug charges. Police later said Boatwright had searched for “accessory to murder” and “XXXTentacion” on his phone’s search browser. Trayvon Newsome was last to be arrested. In August 2018, Allen accepted a plea deal of second-degree murder in exchange for his testimony against the other three defendants. Boatwright, Williams, and Newsome are the only three named as defendants in the current trial.
In opening statements on February 7, Williams’ defense attorney Mauricio Padilla provided an alternative scenario that involved global star Drake. In his argument, he brought up an old (now-deleted) Instagram story in which XXXTentacion wrote, “If anybody kills me, it’s Drake.” Padilla is suggesting that prosecutors never did their due diligence in investigating Drake as a suspect or person of interest after learning of X’s previous claim. “Do you think that for one moment, here today, days after the event, he’s killed by two masked men, right?” The attorney questioned. “Do you think in the time span that they went and addressed stuff and talked to him? No. Do you think sitting here today, years later any detective has ever asked, you know, Drake or anyone like that? No. They never did that. If any of us were involved in a murder and they said, ‘it’s so-and-so,’ you better believe so-and-so is going to get investigated. But in this case they didn’t do it.”
The suspected feud between X and Drake dates back to 2017, when Drake previewed a new song during a tour stop in Amsterdam. Some concertgoers suggested the new song sounded eerily close to X’s hit single “Look At Me.” Drake, who has been accused of “biting” other artists’ sounds in the past, denied all accusations. XXXtentacion later responded in a series of angry tweets. The beef was never publicly squashed.
To be clear, Drake is not currently on trial, but he will very likely have to appear in court later this month. According to court docs obtained by TMZ, Drake was originally ordered to be deposed on January 27, 2023, but failed to appear. A judge then ordered him to give a deposition relating to his past beef with XXXTentacion on February 27. One week later, a judge dismissed the original order. He is not longer obligated to give a deposition related to the trial.
Drake was not the only high profile artist that Padilla mentioned in court. The attorney also brought up “the issues [XXXTentacion] has with Drake and Migos.” Padilla appears to be referencing the same 2017 incident that started with Drake previewing new music at his 2017 concert. Following X’s Twitter rant, Migos member Offset responded by stating that X was “unheard of.”
In November 2017, things turned violent after X accused Migos of jumping him in Los Angeles. He shared a now-deleted video after the alleged fight, saying, “After all the shit I’ve been talking, how the fuck you ain’t shoot me? He [Offset] was scared to fight me one-on-one. These niggas were scared to fight me! Y’all niggas like 35! I ain’t mad because I got 35-year-olds afraid to fight me.”
Joseph Kimok, Boatwright’s attorney, has pointed the finger at another (non-celebrity) shooter: a friend of Williams who he was seen talking to inside of the motorsports store just before the shooting. Kimok also said that the evidence will show that Boatwright was home asleep at the time of the crime.
Prosecutors are not buying the Drake or Migos angle. Prosecutor Pascale Achille is arguing that all four suspects set out to commit robberies that day. New surveillance video from a bank in Florida that was viewed in court, shows XXXTentacion withdrawing a large sum of cash and putting it in the same designer bag that was stolen at the time of the shooting. The trio on trial are implicated in the murder by surveillance footage and cellphone data. Robert Allen, the fourth suspect who took a plea deal, will also provide testimony against them.
Boatwright, Williams, and Newsome, are facing life sentences for first-degree murder if convicted.
