XXXTentacion (center) attends the BET Hip Hop Awards 2017 on Oct. 6, 2017. (Photo by Thaddaeus McAdams/FilmMagic)
The three men convicted of killing rapper XXXTentacion will spend their lives behind bars.
On Thursday, Trayvon Newsome, Michael Boatwright and Dedrick Williams, who were found guilty of armed robbery and first-degree murder last month in a trial over the 20-year-old’s death, were all sentenced to life in prison. Variety reports that the men will not be eligible for parole or early release, because of Florida mandates.
Solomon Sobande, the artist’s manager, read a statement: “This is a loss we will never truly recover from. We will never get to see Jahseh live to his full potential, we will never get to watch him grow old, we will never get to watch him be a father.”
The rapper was gunned down in his car as he left Riva Motorsports in Pompano Beach, Fla., on June 18, 2018. Investigators found that the three men were in an SUV that cut off XXXTentacion, before Newsome and Boatwright jumped out in masks, swiped a bag of cash and shot him; Williams was the driver. (A fourth man, Robert Allen, sat in the backseat, but he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in June and testified for the state, according to WPLG Local 10 News in Miami.)
Born Jahseh Onfroy, XXXTentacion wasn’t yet a household name, but he was well on his way. Already popular on SoundCloud, his latest album, ?, landed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart when it was released three months prior to his death. His debut album, 17, had peaked at No. 2 on the same chart in September 2017. Musicians such as Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West were known supporters, and the young rapper had millions of followers on social media.
If you don’t know his music, XXXTentacion’s name might be familiar because he was one of the artists mentioned in May 2018, when streaming service Spotify vowed to stop promoting the music of R. Kelly and other artists who demonstrated “hateful conduct.” (The company had dropped the policy by the following month.) The Florida native was part of that conversation because some of his history fit into that category. When he died, XXXTentacion had been awaiting his own trial on charges of battery, false imprisonment and witness tampering, to which he had pleaded not guilty. According to the New York Times, his former girlfriend had stated in a deposition that he regularly abused her. She said that he had punched, kicked, strangled and head-butted her while she was pregnant in 2016, and she further accused him of keeping her at a friend’s house for two days against her will.
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Rapper XXXTentacion pictured in a mugshot taken Dec. 15, 2017, in Miami for his domestic violence case. (Photo: Miami Dade County Corrections via Getty Images)
XXXTentacion had also had physical altercations at concerts and feuded with Drake and Migos’ Offset.
In 2016, he was arrested on home invasion charges for an incident that happened in 2015. He was released from jail on house arrest in late 2017.
As the New York Times noted, the artist didn’t give many interviews. He preferred to interact with his fans on social media, where he had 1.2 million followers on Twitter and another 8.2 million on Instagram. “If I’m going to die or ever be a sacrifice, I want to make sure that my life made at least five million kids happy, or they found some sort of answers or resolve in my life, regardless of the negative around my name, regardless of the bad things people say to me,” he had reportedly said on Instagram.
In the wake of his death, many in the hip-hop community offered their condolences.
“This got me f***ed up,” J. Cole wrote. “RIP X. Enormous talent and limitless potential and a strong desire to be a better person. God bless his family, friends and fans.”
Although, Twitter was filled with mixed emotions over his death. For every RIP tweet, there were insensitive jokes and memes being shared.
Since XXXTentacion’s death, multiple albums and tracks have been released under his name. The 2022 Hulu documentary, Look at Me: XXXTentacion, recounts his rise to fame and his impact on the music industry. His son was born in January 2019.
This story was originally published June 18, 2018.
You can view the original article HERE.
