XXXTentacion, jack of all trades, master of none: a thread

Please before reading any of this take in mind this is not going to incorporate anything X did or was alleged to have done. This is specifically the artistry of the rapper taken too soon. Also yes i’m bias so take with a pinch of salt. Thank you

Early Career:
XXXTentacion started his ‘music career’ in 2015; a 15 year old Jahseh Onfroy released his debut song ‘News/Flock’ to his soundcloud. N/F showed off X’s sound with it sounding a lot more watered down then we had come to hear. ‘News/Flock’ being a double sided track.

Both of which sounding impressive for a 15 year old of any stature, both sides of the track embodying a different sound, significantly by the delivery of X’s vocals. ‘Flock’ sees X show off his Jamaican descent. ‘News’ is very ‘Vice City’ feeling.

Speaking of ‘Vice City’
X’s first ‘big’ song was indeed ‘VC’ with X bleeding in and out as the instrumental took over. A lot of people think ‘Vice City’ is X’s first song, but as discussed above it wasn’t. The cover work for ‘Vice City’ has also become iconic.

After X’s 2015-16 soundcloud tracks were up he would constantly delete them and there was a mixtape/ep called ‘Ice Hotel’ set to come out with X’s infamous ‘Message to Tina Belcher’ series of songs. Along with this there was the notable releases of X fan classics, such as:

Never, R U N, I love my clique like kanye west, the ‘Alone’ series, Snow, Skin and many more. This being the first time X showed his true colours. One being the grungy, heavy production scream rap type and the other being the explicit dark and depressing lyrics.

Not long after this during X’s incarceration, a friend and producer of X’s released their breakout hit, ‘Look At Me’ which alongside the Drake flow comparisons blew up, skyrocketing X’s fan base and notoriety within the rap game. Bringing this notorious mugshot.

X, fresh out of prison releases his long awaited Mixtape ‘Revenge’ with the now classic ‘I Don’t Wanna Do This Anymore’

Only 2 short months after the release of the ‘Revenge’ EP on May 16th, X releases the 3rd instalment of his ‘Members Only’ group, Member Only Vol 3. This included some now classics such as Off The Wall, What In XXXTarnation, H20 among others.

The release of X’s debut studio album: 17.
The middle of X’s career came with the nod from Denzel Curry, the heavy grunge bangers with Ski Mask and the forming of ‘Members Only.’
Not too long after this, August 25th 2017 X released 17. A poetic masterpiece of scattered thoughts.

17 was received with lukewarm reviews, but rappers and artists across the world gave their personal co-signs, Rocky giving his a little earlier and bringing X out on stage at Rolling Loud 17, Lil Yachty, Kodak Black and above all Kendrick Lamar who adored 17.

17 included 2 of X’s biggest songs to date, Jocelyn Flores and Fuck Love (ft Trippie Redd) of which have both gone on to become multi platinum, Fuck Love going 6x and Jocelyn Flores 5x respectfully.

Not long after this, X released an EP called ‘A Ghetto Christmas Carol’ in December 19th, a week before Christmas. That being 4 projects in the year of 2017, X was then incarcerated again and let go on house arrest, where he finished his biggest release to this day, ‘?’

X’s second studio album, ‘?’
? would go on to sell 131k copies with 20,000 pure first week; debuting at #1 and including X’s largest song to this day, ‘SAD!’ which currently borders the diamond certification. (10x platinum) Furthermore, Moonlight going 6x and Changes 3x

The track list of ? was much more diverse then the depressing, emotional and acoustic predecessor of 17. ? had features from the following: Joey Bada$$, PnB Rock, Matt OX, Travis Barker, Rio Santana, Judah and Andrez Babii. Genres ranging from Boom Bap to latin dancehall.

Then after tragedy struck on June 18th 2018 X was left dead at the scene of a robbery. Fans worldwide mourned his death and though this next bit is controversial I am glad we got something.

Posthumous career:
X’s team and X’s mum, Cleo, then took it upon them self to release 2 posthumous albums, BVF and Skins. But before that, Members Only vol4 came out in memorial for X’s passing, including tracks by X that we unreleased up till this point.

As priorly mentioned, Cleo and X’s team released SKINS on December 7th, a short 10 track album only running 20mins in total. SKINS is a welcome edition though not what X would’ve wanted it to sound like and that reflects in the quality of the music too. But nevertheless.

SKINS being X’s highest first week sales, selling 132k equivalent and a further 52k pure, again debuting at #1

SKINS featuring only one artist, Kanye West, who has said himself that he loved X’s music and X also used Kanye as a mentor.

The other album, BVF (Bad Vibes Forever) not being welcomed well at all, the biggest cash grab of all. Unsurprisingly, no one was very happy with this release on December 6th. The tracks are feature dominated due to the limited resource of X’s vocals. The features being:

Trippie Redd, PnB Rock, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Killstation, Noah Cyrus, Tom G, Tory Lanez, Mavado, Craig Xen, Kemba, Joey Bada$$, Sauce Walka, Carnage, Ky Mani Marley, Stefflon Don, Jimmy Levi, Blink-182, Joyner Lucas and ikabodVEINS.

Apart from bvf, X’s discography is relatively solid, with it tailoring to numerous sounds and styles, there’s definitely something for everyone. X’s musical dominance is nothing to be sniffed at, in my opinion would’ve truly been one of the biggest artists of the decade.

X is the only artist to have 3 separate songs on Spotify reach a billion streams, the only artist to have 7 reach 300 million individual streams. The following screenshots are the information I have collated that depict X’s RIAA Certifications.

Thank you so much for taking your time reading all this. X as you all know means a lot to me. I want to enjoy the success he had while he was here and to listen and remember his art for the foreseeable future. Thank you again.
Likes and RTs are appreciated LLJ