XXXTentacion had landed $10 million deal for third album before his death
In the latest revelations about late rapper, XXXTentacion reports have revealed that Tentacion had actually signed a $10 million deal for an upcoming album. Ghazi Shami founder of Empire aid that the rapper had finished “a significant amount of material” for the new record but there were no firm plans for its release.
XXXTentacion aka Jahseh Onfroy, had released two albums during his career called "17" in 2017 through Empire and "?" in 2018 through Universal Music Group as well as some mixtapes. His third official release is said to have been of the said amount.
According to the New York Times report, Shami recalled his conversation with the rapper. "Are you sure you want to sign me, even when my streams are down?" XXXTentacion is said to have asked him to which he replied, "I believe in you, I don’t believe in playlists. Playlists are nice. You are a musical phenomenon." The report also speculates that the album may not see the sun until October.
The rapper who was shot dead in Miami last month, while he was out buying a new motorcycle was a rising star, with established rappers like Kendrick Lamar recommending his work on social media. He had managed to build an early audience on SoundCloud with multiple rap tracks that boasted of distorted bass and guitar riffs.
His vocal approaches set him apart and with excessively melodramatic lyrics along the lines of the punk and emo genre, he succeeded in creating a fan base. In May 2018, just a month before his unfortunate murder, XXX's songs got banned by Spotify and its in-house playlists after they changed their policies "to curb the promotion of artists with alleged histories of hateful conduct."
At the time of his death, eyewitnesses had said at the time that the 20-year-old rapper appeared "lifeless with no pulse" in his car before the authorities were called. At the time of the attack, he was reportedly leaving the dealer when a gunman ran up to his vehicle and managed to shoot him. The shocking incident also got other rappers paying their tributes to him on social media.
Kanye West had tweeted at the time, " rest in peace I never told you how much you inspired me when you were here thank you for existing". T-Pain, too, tweeted, "Man, damn X. you JUST turned it around brother. Senseless bro. No reason. We gotta do better man."
Spotify wasn't his only trouble. The rapper was awaiting trial for domestic violence against his pregnant girlfriend Geneva Ayala. He was also facing over a dozen felony charges, along with prosecutors accusing him of witness tampering.
XXX had been on house arrest but recently got released by a judge so he could go on tour after his last album debuted at number one. This wasn't the first attack against the rapper either. Just last year, he got jumped by a few men in LA He shared with TMZ that the incident left him shaken enough to tighten up his security detail.