XXXTentacion is one of the most recognizable icons in the rap and hip-hop sphere of the mid-to-late 2010s and early 2020s, even after his untimely death in June 2018. The late rapper and singer-songwriter, often referred to as simply “X” is mainly known for his role in popularizing the emo rap fusion genre, along with fellow late emo rappers Lil Peep and Juice WRLD, who both passed away from drug overdoses in 2017 and 2019 respectively. X collaborated with Lil Peep on the hit single “Falling Down” after Lil Peep’s death as a tribute, and in tragic irony, the track was not released until after X’s death. X and Juice WRLD were online friends, and Juice WRLD said that their final conversation was about meeting up and collaborating. Similarly, X and Lil Peep’s final conversation was about meeting up at X’s house and presumably burying the hatchet with their previous bad blood. This sort of tragedy within the emo rap community is, for better or for worse, what drew people to the newly popularized genre. X and his music are often credited with breaking the taboo of discussing emotional vulnerability and mental health within the hip hop realm, with his albums such as ? (pronounced as literally, “question mark”) and 17, which are credited as massive boosters for the emo rap genre, as are his hit singles such as “Jocelyn Flores”, “F*** Love”, “Moonlight”, “Changes”, and his most successful single, “Sad!” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 at the #1 spot, and is certified Diamond in the US. His success was prominent enough for him to have posthumous features with rappers such as Kanye West and Lil Wayne.
The “Sad!” rapper was tragically murdered on June 18, 2018 in broad daylight in Deerfield Beach, Florida. The motive remains unknown and no trial date has been set yet for the four suspects involved in the slaying. The music industry and community mourned, while some on social media celebrated the sight of a horrific assassination of a barely-20-year old artist.
If you’re unfamiliar with the successful emo rapper and singer-songwriter, you’re probably wondering how someone could defend such sociopathic behavior as celebrating the gruesome death of a 20-year old. To categorize XXXTentacion’s career as controversial would be the understatement of the century. The biggest controversy being his alleged (and all but confirmed) abuse of his ex-girlfriend Geneva Ayala while he was 18 years old. Though it has been speculated that the rapper likely suffered from an attachment disorder and possibly PTSD, it doesn’t make the accusations any less horrifying. Obviously to anyone with basic humanity and morals, it’s psychotic to say this warrants X deserving death, but a heinous section of the internet disagrees.
However, the focus of this piece is about how X, despite what you may have heard from hit pieces by The Guardian to CNN following his murder, was likely one of the strongest allies to the LGBTQ+ community in the history of hip hop. Hit pieces on X often cite a purported incident that X recalled during time he spent in juvy, where he described beating up his cellmate for staring at him while X was naked in the middle of changing clothes, saying he was afraid that the guy would rape him and that the cellmate had a reputation in the prison for such behavior. X clarified in the interview that he didn’t have any problem with gay people, but the fact that X consistently referred to the cellmate as the F-slur didn’t help in his battle with the media. X said he would never use the word to refer to gay people because they were gay, but he used when it when referring to his cellmate because of “what he did”. This is not to excuse X using the F-slur, nor to downplay the severity of the incident. Though it is important to note his history of mental instability and the fact that he was 15 when the altercation occurred.
After all this, you are most definitely wondering how in hell this guy could be an ally to the LGBTQ+. He used the F-slur, didn’t he?
Yes, at one point he had. There’s no excuse for it. You could try to explain it by noting that both his parents were Jamaican immigrants, and since Jamaica is known as one of the most homophobic countries in the world, it doesn’t take Albert Einstein to put two and two together on how this could’ve influenced X’s language. Though, it’s significant to note that there’s little to no trace of X using the word in 2017 or 2018, the highest points of his career, nor is there evidence of homophobia within his music’s lyrics.
“Okay, so he stopped using a slur as slang language. That doesn’t make him an ally.” This would be a good argument if not for the fact that this is not where the story of X’s advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights in the higher points of his career ends, in fact, the story of this advocacy has not even started.
The beginning of X’s advocacy of gay rights of any sort, ironically, comes from the infamous interview where he describes the juvy incident. “Gay marriage should be legal,” X states. “Because any man or any woman should be allowed to make the decision they want.” Following this, during the “Revenge Tour” which promoted his Revenge mixtape and his debut album 17, X routinely tested his audience by playing a segment of a speech from KKK leader Jeff Berry (which obviously promotes racism, homophobia, and every kind of bigotry imaginable), before asking the question, “Do any of you motherfuckers agree with that s***?” After, he would yell to the audience at the top of his lungs, “I don’t give a f*** if you’re gay, I don’t give a f*** if you’re straight, I give a f*** if you’re a person! I stand for equality for all people.”
In addition to these speeches at tour stops, X routinely posted statements and responses to LGBTQ+ fans on social media. In the first image above, you see him responding to an anonymous comment on his Tumblr page, in which a fan asked X, “Are you bisexual? I’m scared to come out. But it’s a burning hole in me keeping it a secret.” X responded to the bi fan, “No, I’m not, but sooner or later you won’t care about what everyone thinks, be yourself, be happy.” In the second image, you’ll see when X posted on his Instagram story, “To all the kids lacking love, depressed, anti-social, misunderstood, angry, crazy, black, white, yellow, gay, straight, bi, I accept you all and you will forever have a friend, lover, and brother in me until the very day I am dead. When you feel you are alone, think of me. My heart and energy is with you, and you are accepted.”
The recollections of X’s support for the transgender community mostly comes from anecdotal stories. Fifty Grand was one of X’s top producers, crafting some of X’s most chilling tracks such as “Kill Me (Pain from the Jail Phone)” and “King of the Dead”. Fifty Grand is also a transgender man, and said on social media and in X’s 2020 biography by Jonathan Reiss of Rolling Stone that X was “incredibly progressive” and was one of the only people to reach out to him and express support personally for him coming out. In addition to this, transgender artist N.Gantz, who was one of the only fan-artists that X ever cosigned in his lifetime, told Reiss that when he revealed to X that he was struggling with his gender identity, X said to him, “Don’t blame yourself for the way you were born. Be yourself because you only have one life.” If you want to go further into X’s beliefs, you’ll discover that he was a supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential primaries. Sanders is noted as one of the earliest and most prominent pro-LGBTQ+ voices in modern American history, with his activism as an ally dating all the way back to 1972. Yes, you read that right. 1972. X was also a borderline “Stan” of LGBTQ+ artists such as Lil Peep, Frank Ocean, and Shiloh Dynasty.
I challenge you to find any artist in the American hip hop scene who has made such declarations of support for the LGBTQ+ community this profound. Screaming at the top of their lungs that they deserve equality, reaching out personally to LGBTQ+ fans to give them support, explicitly condemning homophobia and transphobia from hate groups. Did X make comments or use slang earlier in his career that could have been offensive to those who identify as LGBTQ+? Yes. But sometimes, a hypocrite is just a man who is trying to change.
Long live X.
