XXXTentacion was a breath of fresh air when he first emerged on the hip-hop scene. A loud, audacious rapper, XXX gave his listeners crazy distorted beats and unparalleled dynamism. The Florida emcee had a rockstar image and emo aesthetic and was truly unique.
However, on June 18th 2018, the Miami musician (real name Jaseh Onfroy) was shot dead shortly after his seismic breakthrough with ‘Look at Me!’ Following his death, an inquiry into his death began imminently. Akin to so many rappers, including the likes of Juice Wrld and Mac Miller, many assumed that his murder might have been related to drugs. However, a jury convicted three men earlier this year for his murder.
27-year-old Michael Boatwright, 26-year-old Dedrick Williams, and 24-year-old Trayvon Newsome were all sentenced on charges of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm. Hence the case is now closed. However, hip-hop is still grieving.
It has now been five years since the ‘Jocelyn Flores’ artist passed away. In honour of Onfroy, his estate has officially released his song ‘I’m Not Human’, featuring Lil Uzi Vert, to honour the late rapper’s fifth anniversary.
A snippet of the previously unreleased track was shown to fans earlier this year. Still, now the entire song has been shared with his avid followers. The single entitled ‘I’m Not Human’ features the self-proclaimed “Rockstar” Lil Uzi Vert. However, to the surprise of many, the track is far from an emo rock-infused distorted trap song.
Instead, fans have received a sad and minimal guitar instrumental, with lyrics referencing the 2008 Slipknot track ‘Snuff’ as Onfroy raps, “Bury all your secrets in my skin / Come away with innocence, and leave me with my sins.”
According to Lil Uzi (real name Symere Woods), he was initially uncomfortable with a posthumous feature, stating, “I’d love to do a song with him, but I’m really weird on stuff like that. Don’t get me wrong. It took me really long to do that with another artist. I’m really weird because I understand that they’re not here living, and what if that’s not the vision they really want?”
Although he may have been uncomfortable Woods ultimately decided to feature on the song. You can hear ‘I’m Not Human’ below.
