XXXtentacion

Background

Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, popularly known as XXXTentacion, was born on January 23, 1998, to parents Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy and Cleopatra Bernard in Florida. Due to his mother’s personal problems, Onfroy was mainly raised by Collette Jones, his grandmother. After his aunt persuaded him to attend the school choir, followed by the church choir, his interest in music started. He was soon expelled from the school choir for attacking another student. Onfroy then started listening to nu metal, hard rock, and rap during his years at Sheridan House Family Ministries, which led him to learn the piano and guitar. After his release from a juvenile detention center, He started writing music and soon began his music career in 2013.

Onfroy released his first official E.P. on November 21, 2014, named “The Fall.” In 2015, he released a mixtape in collaboration with Ski Mask the Slump God, “Members Only Vol. 1” followed by “Members Only Vol. 2.”

The original version of ‘Look at Me’ was uploaded to SoundCloud On December 30, 2015. He then released the E.P. “Willy Wonka Was a Child Murderer” on April 28, 2016. The single gained traction and helped him to popularity in 2017 as it peaked at number 34 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Following his release from prison on April 18, 2017, for the charges of false imprisonment, witness tampering, and aggravated battery of his pregnant girlfriend, he released three more songs on SoundCloud. On April 28, 2017, he announced his first nationwide tour titled ‘The Revenge Tour.’ His debut album “17” was released on August 25, 2017, and received mixed reviews. Onfroy’s second studio album, called “?,” was released on March 16, 2018.

His personal life drew as much attention as his career. His troubled relationship with Geneva Ayala led to multiple accusations of physical abuse, but Onfroy maintained his stand on being innocent till the end. In 2017, Onfroy started seeing Jenesis Sanchez, and the relationship eventually turned into a domestic partnership. Sanchez said that Onfroy showed changes in controlling his anger. On June 18, 2018, after leaving Riva Motorsports Motorcycle in Deerfield Beach, Florida, two armed men approached him. A brief struggle ensued. They stole a small Louis Vuitton bag containing $50,000 from his car and shot him multiple times. Upon being transported by paramedics to the nearby hospital in Deerfield Beach, he was pronounced dead. Three days later, his mother announced Sanchez’s pregnancy on Instagram. On January 26, 2019, their baby boy, Gekyume, was born.

On September 8, his estate released his E.P. “ItWasntMe,“ which was first released in 2016. Featuring four tracks, it was made available on all streaming services.