XXXTentacion, real name Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, was a famous American rapper and musician who passed away on June 18, 2018. Despite being a divisive figure due to his high-profile legal difficulties, XXXTentacion was able to build a loyal audience among the young people of his generation with songs about sadness and isolation. Both critics and listeners praise his eclectic musical tastes; he has dabbled with emo, trap, trap metal, nu metal, indie rock, lo-fi, hip hop, R&B, and punk rock. He is widely recognized as a pioneer of the emo rap and SoundCloud rap scenes, both of which saw widespread popularity in the middle to late 2010s.
Though he was born in Plantation, XXXTentacion moved to Lauderhill for the most of his formative years. After being released from a juvenile detention facility, he launched his music career on SoundCloud in 2013. He used methods and genres that were novel in rap music at the time, such as distortion and heavy guitar-backed instrumentals, which he modeled after third-wave emo and grunge. In 2014, he joined forces with like-minded musicians to establish the underground collective Members Only, and the group quickly rose to prominence in the SoundCloud rap scene. The song “Look at Me” by XXXTentacion brought him widespread fame. His self-titled debut album from 2017 debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 and went on to earn double platinum certification in the United States. He achieved quadruple-platinum status in the United States with his second album,? (2018), which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Posthumously, its first track “Sad!” topped the Billboard Hot 100[19]. By November 2021, it had gathered over 1.3 billion YouTube views and 1.7 billion Spotify listens, and the RIAA had certified it Diamond.
Over the course of his life, XXXTentacion had several run-ins with the law, but the battery accusations brought against him in 2016 generated the greatest uproar.
Some have said that XXXTentacion’s legacy will be defined by his history of legal issues and alleged violence, while others have criticized the media’s portrayal of him, arguing that his perceived improvements in character later in life have turned his legacy into a tale of the power of second chances and redemption.
The 20-year-old XXXTentacion was killed on June 18, 2018, after being shot at a motorcycle store in Deerfield Beach, Florida. After robbing him of his Louis Vuitton bag carrying fifty thousand dollars in cash, the assailants drove off in an SUV. The motivation for the crime is still unknown, even though four individuals have been detained and charged with first-degree murder and other offenses. [30] One of the four individuals involved in the case pled guilty to second-degree murder in August 2022 in return for testifying against the other three defendants at their impending trial. The remaining three accused are expected to stand trial in 2023.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, XXXTentacion has sold 61 million albums in the United States, while the British Phonographic Industry has recognized sales of over 7 million albums by the artist in the United Kingdom. Since his passing, he has been nominated for 11 Billboard Music Awards and won an American Music Award and a BET Hip Hop Award. [34] After his death, his albums Skins (2018) and Bad Vibes Forever (2019) were both published, with the former being his second consecutive number-one album on the Billboard 200 and the latter breaking into the top five.
