XXXTentacion

About

XXXTENTACION was the alias of Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, a South Florida rapper, who despite being in jail for the majority of his career, has continued to grow a large cult following, especially after the release of his song "Look at Me!". Due to this, he has garnered notoriety for his incarceration and his music, which incorporates elements from various genres. On June 18th, 2018, Onfroy was shot by a gunman and died shortly after.

History

Jahseh was born on January 23rd, 1998 in Plantation, Florida.^[1] Due to his mother's financial situation which made her unable tor raise him, he was raised by various of his relatives, though mainly his grandmother. His interest in music initially began with him joining choir in school and church, though he would shortly be kicked out of school choir after an altercation with another student. After more altercations involving him occurred, he was expelled from middle school.

He attended Piper High School, but dropped out in grade 10. In 2014, he was sent to a juvenile detention center, where he would meet his producer and later friend Stokeley Clevon Goulbourne, also known as Ski Mask The Slump God, who would collaborate with Jahseh after his release from juvenile detention. XXXTentacion released his first song, "Vice City," in 2013 (shown below, left).

In 2015, he released 2 collaborative albums with producer Ski Mask The Slump God, titled Members Only Vol. 1 and Members Only Vol. 2. In 2016, he would release an EP titled Willy Wonka Was a Child Murderer. In 2016, he released what would be his biggest hit titled "Look at Me!", originally premiered on the Soundcloud account of Rojas, who co-produced the song, in late December of 2015, and released for digital download on January 29. The song would go on to become Jahseh's commercial breakthrough in 2017 due to controversy surrounding Canadian rapper Drake being accused of stealing the flow from "Look at Me!" in a song previewed with British rapper Giggs, later released as "KMT".

The song also charted during a time when Jahseh was serving time in jail due to charges of false imprisonment, witness tampering, and aggravated battery of a pregnant victim. During this time, rapper A$AP Rocky would voice his support for the incarcerated rapper through Snapchat, saying "Free my nigga X".

Reputation

XXXTentacion is known as a controversial figure within the hip-hop community for his social media beefs with several rappers, assaulting fans at concerts, and his arrest for beating his pregnant girlfriend. He also claimed to support All Lives Matter. In 2018, Spotify said they would no longer promote his music on their recommended playlists but overturned that decision after being threatened by his label.

Death

On June 18th, 2018, it was reported that Onfroy was shot in Miami with eyewitnesses saying it appeared as though the rapper was lifeless and had no pulse. His death was later confirmed by the local sheriff via Twitter (shown below), and corroborated by several news outlets.^[2]

That day, TMZ^[3] published an article which included a video from the scene (shown below).

Social Media Reaction

Social media was divided about XXXTentacion's death, as some expressed grief at the young death while others expressed no sympathy because of the rapper's past as an abuser. An /r/OutOfTheLoop^[4] post noticed that fans in K-pop seemed to be celebrating the rapper's death with references to certain K-pop artists (examples shown below).

/r/dankmemes^[5] stickied a post that day with an image welcoming XXXTentacion to a heaven filled with various popular deceased people including Steve Irwin, Prince, and Harambe. The post gained over 8,000 points.

Search Interest

External References