XXXTentacion has died. The 20-year-old South Florida rapper — whose September 2017 show in Ybor City was shut down before it began — was shot and killed in Broward Country on June 18.
P4K says that the rapper — born Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy — was leaving a motorcycle dealership this afternoon when a gunman ran up to his car and opened fire. TMZ said he was taken to a hospital around 1:35 p.m. EDT (the gossip website also has some graphic video that we will not post here). A dispatch call describes two suspects who got away in a black Dodge Journey, with dark tint and black wheels. Witnesses told cops that a Louis Vuitton bag was taken from XXX's vehicle.
The Broward County Sheriff's Department pronounced him dead at 5:40 p.m..
XXXTentacion first broke out on the strength of a late 2015 Soundcloud single, “Look At Me!.” The following October, he was arrested on charges of aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, and false imprisonment. He was released from jail in March 2016 after pleading no contest to charges of armed home invasion robbery and aggravated battery with a firearm and receiving a withheld conviction in addition to probation.
In spite of that, XXXTentacion was still inspirational to fans who say that his overly-transparent lyrics about depression and suicide helped them through hard times. Compton, California rapper Kendrick Lamar — who played to more than 13,000 fans at Tampa’s Amalie arena the night before the XXXTentacion show — has posted extremely glowing reactions to XXXTentacion’s debut LP, 17, even Tweeting that he had listened to it five times. XXXTentacion’s second studio album, ?, was released this past March and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
