XXXTentacion was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Though a controversial figure due to his widely publicized legal issues, XXXTentacion developed a lot following among his young fanbase during his short career, with his depression- and alienation-themed music. He was shot numerous times on the neck on the 18th of June,2018. 


But before his death, before his meteoric rise on Soundcloud and subsequent Billboard charting, with songs like "Fuck Love," "Roll in Peace," "Jocelyn Flores," and "Revenge", before joining forces with artists such as Kodak Black, Smokepurpp, Trippie Redd, Rich Chigga, Denzel Curry, and of course, Ski Mask the Slump God, before being repeatedly imprisoned, X was just a young lad struggling to survive.

X's uncharacteristically devoted and strong fan base, which he first created on Soundcloud with music recorded with little more than a mic and a laptop, elected him to XXL's 2017 freshman list. 

At the same time, X has been embroiled in a never-ending string of legal disputes, controversies, and beefs. And the roots of X's frequently violent demeanor can be found in a formative period marked by abuse, rejection, and juvenile imprisonment.

Here is an account of XXXtentacion's life and career before becoming well-known.

Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, better known as XXXtentacion, was born on January 23rd, 1998 in Plantation, Florida, not far from Fort Lauderdale. His mother raised him in the North Lauderdale and Pompano Beach regions. 

Due to his father's imprisonment, he wasn't around much, and his mother frequently wasn't healthy enough to care for him. He was subjected to mental abuse by his mom, and she occasionally had others raise him in her stead. 


In spite of this, she frequently paid X compliments on his appearance and dressed him in Abercrombie & Fitch. He adored his mother dearly and craved her company often. When he was 6 or 7 years old, a man she was dating assaulted his mother, and X attacked the man by biting him while clutching a shard of glass.

Throughout his childhood, X was a hardcore scrapper. He was expelled from Margaret Middle School after being involved in a wild brawl there. He relocated to Lauderhill to live with his Grandma when his mother threw him out of the house.

 Although he lacked direction or long-term goals, he did enjoy music. X would listen to bands like Nirvana, The Fray, Three Days Grace, and Papa Roach in addition to the most well-known rappers like Lil Wayne, Tupac, and Biggie. His aunt enrolled him in singing lessons after noticing his love in music, and he later spent some time studying the guitar and piano. He also studied karate, and he is a huge UFC fan.

For a boy that is 5'6 and 120 pounds, this youngster can fight. His life would be plagued by brawling, and he was expelled from at least one more school. He spent nine months at a bootcamp and was occasionally placed in a behavioral correction facility known as the sharing house.

Not all of his formative years were awful; the young man was surrounded by women. He had a list of girls he could date and was well-liked on Facebook and Tumblr.

He did have another pastime hobbies besides fighting, women and music: breaking into houses and stealing from them. He piled up a long record of offenses while still in his teens, including armed robbery, gun possession, resisting arrest, drug possession and more. He was also the subject of drive-by shootings and sustained a shoulder injury.



His one constant passion in life and his only glimmer of hope for a better future became music. In March 2014, he released his debut single Vice City. A year later, he was sentenced to a year in a youth detention facility on charges of gun possession. 

At the time, he had a sizable fan base on Facebook and Tumblr, but that would dwindle while he was confined. The good news was that he met Ski Mask, the slump god, his best buddy while he was incarcerated.

The bad news is that while inside, he almost killed a man. It appears that X's cellmate liked him; because, he never looked away from him, not even in the shower. Although X claims he doesn't have an issue with people of any sexual orientation, when the man crossed the line, X lost his cool and assaulted him, breaking open his head, before beginning to strangle him.

X is grateful that the guards intervened since he swears he would have killed the man otherwise. X was sent to the hole while his cellmate wound up in the ER. Let's return to him and Ski Mask now.

When X revealed that he had been producing music, Ski Mask wanted in. So they started debating their rap careers after being released from prison. When they first came out, they were focused, and once they released the song Fuck, X started to acquire fans once more.

His love of various musical genres and the distorted sound he was able to produce with very little equipment soon started generating a ton of revenue for his sound cloud account. Today, songs like I Love It When They Run, Skin, Teeth, Riot, and Tummy Tuck have received millions of plays.


But even as his career was advancing, X would have to deal with additional legal issues. X was detained in July 2016 on suspicion of robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. You have to believe that he might have worried a little bit that his career would end again and he wouldn't be able to compose music, but the exact opposite thing transpired.

The news of his imprisonment increased interest in his music and artistic talent. Online, the hashtag #FreeX was often used, and his infrequent interviews, such as his sit-down conversation with No Jumper, received millions of views.

X was granted a $10,000 bail amount, but it wasn't long before he was back in jail. He was taken into custody once more on October 8th, 2016, this time on suspicion of witness tampering, strangulation as a domestic battery, and false imprisonment. X became involved in the feud that was forming between Rob Stone and Ski Mask the Slump God while he was in jail. In prison, X also got into a fight with Drake.

Fans thought Drake's tune KMT, which he released on January 28, 2017, was a knockoff of X's breakout hit "Look at Me." X wasn't too critical of Drake at the time, telling XXL, "If Drake is going to take the flow, and I don't know if he legitimately did, but if that is the situation, at least reach out to a nigga, help a nigga out in this situation."

On March 26, 2017, X posted bail and was released from custody, although he was still under probation for his robbery convictions. But after he was let out of prison, the conflict with Drake got worse. 

He referred to Drake as a "bitch" in an interview and claimed that KMT had treated him disrespectfully. The next day, he tweeted images of Drake's mother with the caption "she could get it." Naturally, Drake denied stealing X's flow.


After being released from prison, X would hold a string of gory concerts, starting with an unexpected concert that took place on April 7 in Miami. It had a cheap entry fee, and before he got there, the place was packed. When he began to perform, a riot started, which the police had to put down. 

When they performed in San Diego, an alleged Rob Stone associate, knocked X out cold. A few days later, Rob dropped XXXtracredit, a diss track directed at X. X assaulted a concert goer in the face in Salt Lake City, Utah, in June 2017, he said it was for self defense. 

Then,  X was supposed to perform in Chicago a few days later but postponed it at the last minute. As a result, a large number of supporters poured onto the streets and almost caused a melee. 

But despite the violence during his concerts,  his ongoing feuds with other rappers and his legal difficulties, his followers remained devoted to him, earning him a spot on XXL's 2017 freshmen list.

X's first studio album, 17, was released on August 25th, 2017, and it debuted in the Billboard 200, peaked at number two on the charts and at the top of the rap and hip-hop lists.

In September of 2017, Pitchfork revealed a transcript of the deposition of  one of X's alleged victim. They published a bleak history of their connection, at least from the reported victim's perspective. According to the victim, X persuaded her to break up with her boyfriend and move in with him in late May 2016. 


She stated that the abuse started 2 weeks after, with X breaking her phone and slapping her. Other more graphic allegations include X repeatedly slapping, punching, elbowing, choking, headbutting, and tackling her. He also allegedly threatened to penetrate her with a barbecue tool, beat her until plastic hangers broke, locked her in a room for two days, threatened to cut out her tongue, put a knife to her throat, and threatened to kill her. 

She also claims that some of these acts happened when she was pregnant. On October 8, 2016, at around two in the morning, the alleged victim left X's house without permission. She then called her exboyfriend's mother, who drove her to the Miami Beach police station. Of course, this is only one side of the story. 

X has pleaded not guilty and repeatedly rejected the allegations. He claimed to have evidence that she was not pregnant in a phone call that was recorded and posted to youtube in October 2016. He also claimed that she had been attacked by someone else.

Nevertheless, the purported victim's deposition continues to trouble the rapper. He posted on Instagram after the pitchfork piece was published and said, "You were informed that I am not who they portray me to be, so do not be blind,"

Later, between September 11 and September 12, he continued to post about the subject, saying, in part, "I will not have people trying to make me submissive off some shit I ain't do, I'm good. I will not have fabricated stories pushed on me."

"Everyone that called me a domestic abuser, I'm finna domestically abuse y'all little sister pussies from the back," he continued in a video post. "If you want your pussy domestically abused, hit my line."


Since then, X has removed all of the content from his Instagram page with the exception of one image of himself sporting a completely new appearance. He has a new tree tattoo on his forehead and has dyed his dreads all grey.