Thank you for the very welcome invitation!
I’ll kick off with a bang by talking about xxxtentacion. He’s a rapper from Florida, just 19 years old, and right now in the US, when it comes to rap, there’s no other topic. A$AP Rocky and many other big names are spreading his name everywhere, and it’s said that Universal is already backing him up, ready with a contract. Why?
xxxtentacion, whose real name is Jahseh Onfroy, is the most ignorant yet highly acclaimed figure in recent US underground music... it’s all anyone talks about. The reasons? They are various. First and foremost, music, of course. Have you heard of 21 Savage? Worse. Playboi Carti? Much worse. The $UICIDEBOY$? Much, much worse.
XXXTENTACION - #ImSippinTeaInYoHood (Prod. RONNYJLISTENUP) Brutal trap rap: beats thrown together, oversaturated with distorted bass, aggressive and "relentless" flow that others are already trying to copy. Who? DRAKE! YES, HIM.
An abrasive and industrial sound, a consequence of the fact that our friend x (I'll call him that from now on) may seem like just another dude with a middle school education coming out of some ghetto, but he’s actually a small, rough "mega-mind" with a vast musical background, to be a thug. His song "Look At Me!" (the one that supposedly inspired Drake’s flow) is the second most streamed track EVER on SoundCloud! It even reached 95th on the Billboard chart. And for a home-made track, that’s an insane achievement.
XXXTENTACION - Look At Me (Prod. by Rojas & Jimmy Duval) In America, he is revered like a cult, with his face printed on t-shirts, and his few interviews online are packed with views.
But unfortunately, music isn’t the only thing that has made our friend famous.
x is a sort of psychopathic, brawling individual, with clear anger management issues. There are tons of videos of his fights circulating on YouTube, all tagged with
#freex. #freex? Yes indeed. This madman is currently in jail, on various charges: armed robbery, assault, theft, accusations (later denied) of beating up his pregnant girlfriend, and other crap that has nothing to do with music, which keep him incarcerated to this day... or at least until April, when it’s speculated he might be released.
What will happen? Will we witness his ultimate explosion? Will he stop being a delinquent?
#FREEX