Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy (January 23, 1998 – June 18, 2018), known by his stage name XXXTentacion has been shot and killed in Miami, Florida.
Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy (XXXTentacion) (January 23, 1998 – June 18, 2018), was an American rapper, singer and songwriter.
XXXTentacion was born on January 23, 1998, in Plantation, Florida, to Jamaican parents, Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy and Cleopatra Bernard, and was raised by his grandmother Collette Jones in Pompano Beach, Florida, and Lauderhill, Florida.
When he was six years old, he tried to stab a man who was attacking his mother and was eventually put into a youth program.
XXXTentacion’s interest in music started when his aunt persuaded him to attend school and church choir. But he was kicked out of the school choir after attacking another student. He attended Margate Middle School and was eventually expelled for fighting. XXXTentacion began to listen to nu-metal, hard rock and rap, which led to him trying to learn the piano and guitar.
He then attended Piper High School but dropped out in the tenth grade. He later said he was a “misfit” during that time, was quiet, regularly involved in fights, and was insecure and depressed.
While in a juvenile detention center for gun possession charges, XXXTentacion met Stokeley Clevon Goulbourne, also known as Ski Mask the Slump God, and they began freestyling. After being released from juvenile detention center, Onfroy and Goulbourne met up again intending to carry out home invasions, but eventually XXXTentacion began recording music, which convinced Stokeley to do the same.
After Onfroy adopted name XXXTentacion, he uploaded his first official song, called “Vice City”, on SoundCloud. Speaking about his decision to give up crime for music, XXXTentacion said that he felt like music was a better outlet for his feelings.
XXXTentacion released his first official EP, The Fall, on November 21, 2014. He also released a collaboration album with Ski Mask the Slump God, called Members Only Vol. 1, before releasing Members Only Vol. 2 in 2015 with several members of the Members Only collective. In 2016, he released the EP Willy Wonka Was a Child Murderer, with music inspired by indie music and heavy metal. In 2016, XXXTentacion quit his job as a call center operator due to his growing music career and moved in with rapper Denzel Curry.
In July 2016, he was arrested and charged with robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. He posted $10,000 bail and continued to work on his debut album, Bad Vibes Forever. The album was delayed due to XXXTentacion being arrested in early October on charges of false imprisonment, witness tampering and aggravated battery of a pregnant victim.
In 2017, XXXTentacion re-released his song “Look at Me” which reached number 34 on US Billboard Hot 100 and was also in the top 40 of the Canadian Hot 100. Accusations that rapper Drake used a similar rap flow in his then-unreleased song “KMT”, helped him gain even more popularity.
After his release from prison on April 18, 2017, he released three more songs on SoundCloud.
XXXTentacion’s first nationwide tour, titled “The Revenge Tour”, had 26 tour dates and was widely publicized due to numerous controversies including a rapper being assaulted, XXXTentacion being involved in an fight on stage leaving him knocked unconscious, an audience member being stabbed, XXXTentacion being thrown into a barricade by security, and punching a fan. The tour was canceled after his cousin was shot on June 24, 2017, though the final night in Broward County, Florida, went ahead and was later streamed on the watchthemusic app.
He then released his first major-label album, 17, on August 25, 2017. It debuted at No. 2 on the US Billboard 200, selling 86,000 units in the first week. 17 received a very positive response from critics, some of which praised it for its personal narratives and diverse musical style.
XXXTentacion’s label, Bad Vibes Forever, signed a distribution deal worth 6 million dollars with Caroline, a subsidiary of Capitol Music Group, on October 19, 2017.
On November 17, 2017 XXXTentacion announced a new album titled Bad Vibes Forever, and said “It will be a mix of genres you have seen me dabble with, if you are not a fan of me this is not an album for you, it is for core fans only”. On December 11, 2017, Onfroy released the A Ghetto Christmas Carol EP on SoundCloud.
In 2018 XXXTentacion began to use his long-time YouTube channel “xxxtentacion”, previously used to upload music, to upload gaming videos and vlogs. The channel now has over 8.9 million subscribers.
XXXTentacion released his first single of 2018 on February 2, titled “Shining Like the Northstar”. He then released the song “Hope” which was dedicated to the victims of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on his SoundCloud account on February 21, 2018.
On March 2, 2018 XXXTentacion announced that he was releasing two songs at midnight, both the first singles for his upcoming album “?”. The lead single for “?”, “Sad!”, was released several hours later alongside “Changes”. “Sad!” debuted at number 17, becoming his highest-charting song in the United States.
XXXTentacion’s second studio album, “?”, was released on March 16, 2018 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming his first number one in the US.
On June 18, 2018, XXXTentacion was leaving the Riva Motorsports motorcycle dealership in Deerfield Beach, Florida, driving his BMW i8, when two armed men approached him. A struggle occurred, and the men reached inside his car, took a small bag, and shot XXXTentacion several times. XXXTentacion was taken to the nearby Broward Health North in Deerfield Beach, by paramedics, where was pronounced dead by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office at approximately 5:30 p.m.
Suspect Dedrick Williams, of Pompano Beach, was arrested 2 days later and held at the Broward County jail, he was charged with first degree murder without premeditation.
Rolling Stone said XXXTentacion left behind “a huge musical footprint” due to his impact on his fan base and his popularity during his career. Given his immense influence only to die young, the article compared his cultural impact with that of Ritchie Valens and Darby Crash, the latter of whom had a similar trajectory as well. This success as “a zeitgeist-grabbing, industry-defying, boundary-destroying phenomenon” is “overshadowed” by his reported abuse of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, however, and the latter is focus of his life story. Nonetheless, the article contends that despite media attempts to suppress him, XXXTentacion’s “impact on music will be felt for years to come” and his recordings have “helped signal a new era of post-streaming, post-genre teenagers”.
A public open-casket memorial service was held on Wednesday June 27, 2018, followed by a private funeral and a separate fans memorial service on Thursday June 28, 2018.
Very weirdly, XXXTentacion’s video for “SAD!” shows him at his own funeral………..
Check out XXXTentacion on Amazon
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