XXXTentacion's Passing & the Aftermath
On June 18th 2018, the world lost a rapper-on-the-come-up by the name of Jahseh Onfroy, known professionally as XXXTentacion. Born on January 23rd 1998 in Plantation, Florida, X's life was a life that was filled with battles and controversy. At the age of six, he would say that he attempted to stab a man that tried to attack his mom; he would be expelled from school on multiple occasions due to fighting, but situations would only escalate from here on. For all the negative in his life, X would turn a new leaf and begin philanthropy, notably reaching out to children in instances such as #TheHelpingHandChallenge. Sadly, Onfroy's life would be cut short before he could reach his dream.
His death has led to debate that transcends the hip-hop community and its borders, entering in the collective arguments that we all need to have as people in the XXIst century. Should we forgive the people that do wrong? How many rights does it take erase a wrong? Can someone ever be truly forgiven for their misgivings and transgressions? Social media has answered with an overwhelming series of response that go all across the scale. Some people were vocal in their refusal to give sympathies to him, as they saw a person that they was both misogynistic for beating up his then-pregnant girlfriend and nearly blinding and homophobic due to his violent attack on a homosexual prisoner who had looked at him whilst changing. Some of his fans though have retorted to his apparent change in the final year of his life, resulting in a lot of charity work, donations and philanthropy that truly helped the people and children of his community in south Florida.
If I'm gonna die or ever be a sacrifice, I want to make sure that my life made at least 5 million kids happy [...] So I just wanted to say, I appreciate and I love all of you and I believe in you all. Do not let your depression make you. Do not let your body define your soul. Let your soul define your body. Your mind is limitless ... and you are worth more than you can believe.
Jahseh "XXXTentacion" Onfroy
This divide in ideology led to contrasting and very different events going on in either camp. Many of XXXTentacion's detractors, naysayers and haters stood by their ground of defending the people that he hurt during his lifetime by donating a considerable amount of money to her GoFundMe page to help fix the eye that was supposedly damaged by XXXTentacion. All the while, His fans came together to commemorate his life and career and some took the news by creating mosh pits and burning the offerings given by the previously mentioned ex-girlfriend. The things going on are highly contrasting and give way to my opinion.
My perspective is this: we need to change. Let's alter the way we approach situations and the people who have left us. I do not believe in the perfect-evil or perfect-good that the media has portrayed because that's not how life works. We have good and bad in us all, and we should see people that have passed away as having that same flaw. I pick neither to deify or demonize XXXTentacion for his actions, nor do I believe we should do so to any person. He was a human; it seems like he understood the impact of his actions before he died and there's nothing anyone can compare to that. All we can do is hope for that and appreciate the positive energy that he brought about in the world and spoke about freely in his final months. Let's spread the positivity that he wanted and let's stop fighting and come together.
I would like to take the time to offer my sincerest condolences to the Onfroy family, to his loved ones and to his fans. Thank you for the memories, songs and lessons XXXTentacion.