British Rapper Octavian domestic abuse allegations by his ex-girlfriend has gotten him dropped by his record label.
The British imprint Black Butter Records confirmed the move in a statement to the Guardian on Thursday, just hours before Octavian was scheduled to release his debut album ALPHA.
“We at Black Butter have taken the decision not to continue working with Octavian and we will not be releasing his album,” a spokesperson for the label told the outlet. “We do not condone domestic abuse of any kind and we have suggested Octavian seeks professional help at this time.”
The Guardian also confirmed PR agencies Technique Publicity and Pattern Publicity have decided to cut ties with the UK rapper after the abuse allegations came to light.
Octavian’s ex-partner, who goes by the stage name Emo Baby, shared a series of social media posts in which she accused the 24-year-old rapper of being physically and emotionally abusive toward her during their three-year relationship. She claimed the first instance of abuse took place after she became pregnant with Octavian’s child. The woman alleges Octavian pressured her to get an abortion before he physically attacked her and issued death threats.
Emo Baby also shared disturbing photos of her injuries as well as a video in which she is heard screaming, “Get away from me. Get away … Octavian, stop.”
“[Octavian] kicked me in my stomach, burst my lip, attacked me with a hammer and threatened to kill me,” Emo Baby wrote. “I was shortly later asked to sign a [Nondisclosure Agreement] in attempt to ‘gag’ me for $20k, which I didn’t sign.”
The woman said she was routinely abused until April of this year, when she decided to leave the relationship. She accused Octavian of kicking, punching, and strangling her and claimed she was attacked with various items, including a screwdriver.
Baby Emo explained she decided to speak out ahead of Octavian’s album release because she didn’t want anyone—especially young girls—looking up to him. She pointed to an ALPHA track titled “My Head,” claiming it was a “song about violently killing [her] with a machete.”
“He also has a new song on the album named ‘Rock Smiles,’ which is about two men attacking me and at the end of the he says that he … wants to kill me for telling everyone what he has done,” the woman wrote. “I felt I had to share all this and speak my truth before these songs are out.”
The rapper denied the allegations in since-deleted Instagram posts viewed by Pitchfork.
“People are bare thinking I’m an abuser, but just go and watch that video again,” he wrote. “Go and see if there’s any real physical abuse in the video. Been going out with this girl for three years, and then she posts one video showing nothing, and everyone thinks I’m an abuser, just because of her statement. Go watch the video again. This is my ex-girlfriend that I broke up with, remember that. I broke up with her a couple of times. Right now we’re gonna deal with it legally, gonna deal with it properly.”
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