XXXTentacion shows his human side on Skins
Soundcloud graduate XXXTentacion proves he was on the path to greatness before his early death.
XXXTentacion’s murder on the 18th of June 2018 sent the hip-hop community into a tailspin. Debates around the morality of his behaviour and artistic genius divided fans and haters alike. Pusha T, Kanye West, J.Cole, Billie Eilish, Diplo, Lil Pump, 2Chainz and Gucci Mane were among some of the celebrities that expressed great remorse for the loss of the young artist. Inversely, the mood of the public online seems to be swayed against him. There is no debate that XXXTentacion made an impression while he was alive but whether that impression was positive or negative remains up for discussion.
The Good:
SKINS is a posthumous release intended to satiate the hungry hoards of fans XXXTentacion left behind. The album was in the development process prior to XXXTentation’s untimely death and is comprised of a variety of demo tapes, home audio recordings and unreleased tracks recorded for the project. For this reason, SKINS is very much an XXXTentacion project. The tape emanates his signature genre-bending style and lo-fi beat selection. It even evidences some significant artistic growth. It feels like a much more concentrated, profound iteration of his earlier works ? and 17. Tracks like Train Food and Guardian Angel are haunting emotional rabbit holes whereas BAD! and Whoa exemplify his proficiency developing earworm harmonies that get stuck in your head. Perhaps the most standout track comes courtesy of Kanye’s verse on One Minute. Ye proves he’s still on top of his game with a prophetic verse describing the hypocrisy of XXXTentacions critics.
Said that’s all I’ma say, if he caught him a case
Then send him to jail, like a dog in a cage
I ain’t feeling the age, no rottin’ away
The Bad:
While SKINS shows huge artistic development for XXXTentacion it’s also full of the flaws that let him down on earlier projects. Even though he intended the songs to be unusually short, they still feel underdeveloped. Many of the tracks star short repetitive verses over looping melodies which get old awfully quick. It’s no coincidence that the best songs on this album are the ones with the most lyrics. The album is also overly melodramatic at times. While the introduction on SKINS is incredibly moving considering the artist’s death, I’ve never liked the concept behind them. Declaring you art as such pulls down the fourth wall and ruins the illusion. I think given more time, this project could have still gone a long way.
Long story short I love this album. There will be many who give it little cadence and that’s a subjective difference. What can be said conclusively is that this album proves XXXTentacion was a cut above his peers and held the keys to a wildly successful career. He had a seed of artistic genius that was only beginning to grow before he was murdered. He was on the upswing from a dark, hate-filled past, born of poverty, abuse, racism and toxic masculinity. While this doesn’t excuse his behaviour, it shows there was a light at the end of his tunnel that was snuffed before it had a chance to grow. The emotional complexity and relatability of his music is a result of a new found love and wealth from his fans that rejected societies predisposition to institutionalising criminals to a life of aggression. Criminals deserve justice but they also deserve to be humanised in the face of overwhelming hatred. If art like this isn’t testament enough, then I don’t know what is.
Read our review of XXXTentacion’s last album here.
Should we seperate artists from their actions? Read our thoughts here.
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