{"id":167361,"date":"2018-06-19T07:24:49","date_gmt":"2018-06-19T11:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=167361"},"modified":"2018-06-19T07:24:49","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T11:24:49","slug":"authorities-rapper-xxxtentacion-shot-dead-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/06\/19\/authorities-rapper-xxxtentacion-shot-dead-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Authorities: Rapper XXXTentacion shot dead in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"XXXTentacion<\/a>
XXXTentacion had been at RIVA Motorsports checking out inventory, sheriff’s public information officer Keyla Concepcion said. (Photo<\/a>: Xxxtentacion\/Faacebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. \u2014 Troubled rapper-singer XXXTentacion was shot and killed Monday in Florida in what police called an apparent robbery attempt.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old rising star, whose real name is Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, was pronounced dead Monday evening at a Fort Lauderdale-area hospital, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said. He was shot earlier outside a Deerfield Beach motorcycle dealership.<\/p>\n

XXXTentacion had been at RIVA Motorsports checking out inventory, sheriff’s public information officer Keyla Concepcion said. He was in a black BMW i8 and preparing to leave before 4 p.m. when two armed suspects approached him. At least one of them fired, and then both suspects fled the scene in a dark SUV, Concepcion said. Investigators don’t have a motive, and no arrests have been made.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Martinez, a 29-year-old mother who lives in the neighbourhood, was just coming back from the pool with her kids when she heard three shots. She drove to the end of the street and saw the rapper’s body in the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has his mouth open and his hand out. Two people went over and checked his pulse,\u201d said Martinez, who also saw blood. \u201cIt’s just weird because he should’ve had security and stuff with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Twitter, his peers expressed shock and sadness.<\/p>\n

Kanye West said: \u201crest in peace … I never told you how much you inspired me when you were here thank you for existing.\u201d Producer Diplo posted a photo of the two together and said, \u201cThanks for inspiring me.\u201d Travis Barker tweeted: \u201cI’m at a loss for words… speechless #RIPXXXTentacion Loved collaborating with you. You were a true artist …\u201d<\/p>\n

And J. Cole said, in part: \u201cRIP X. Enormous talent and limitless potential and a strong desire to be a better person. God bless his family, friends and fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The entertainer, who sported dreadlocks and a number of facial tattoos, was a rising star and notched a No. 1 album in March with his sophomore effort \u201c?\u201d and had a top 10 hit with \u201cSad!\u201d but was facing trial on charges that he beat up his pregnant girlfriend.<\/p>\n

XXXTentacion racked up huge streaming numbers \u2014 on Spotify, his \u201cSad!\u201d had more than 270 million streams and was on its Top 50 chart this week in the United States and globally. He also has several songs that have been declared platinum, including \u201cChanges,\u201d \u201cRoll in Peace\u201d with fellow rapper Kodak Black and \u201cLook at Me!\u201d<\/p>\n

In interview with XXL magazine, which named him an up-and-coming artist last year, the rapper cited Nirvana, the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur among his musical influences.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I’m one of the greatest of this generation, the upcoming generation, as far as artistry. … And I say that humbly,\u201d he said in a video interview with the outlet last year.<\/p>\n

But much of his brief career had been mired in controversy. In 2016, he was arrested on charges including home invasion for a 2015 incident, and less than a month later was arrested on charges that he attacked his girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time. He later faced more charges including witness tampering.<\/p>\n

Regarding a June 2017 attack at a San Diego concert, the following messages were posted on XXXTentacion’s Twitter account: \u201csecurity and venue set me up, I got sucker punched and knocked out, it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

A subsequent tweet said,\u201d \u201cnext time make sure you kill me so I can’t talk (expletive).\u201d<\/p>\n

He was released from jail on house arrest late last year and was released from house arrest earlier this year to allow him to tour.<\/p>\n

Fan Wyatt Rubin, 21, jumped in his car and headed to the scene shooting Monday as soon as he heard, playing the rapper’s songs like \u201cJocelyn Flores\u201d and \u201cKing\u201d on the drive over.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just maturing as a person and as an artist … it couldn’t have come at a worse time,\u201d Rubin said. \u201cA lot of it was really beautiful music, progressive music.\u201d’<\/p>\n

In an interview earlier this month with the Miami New Times, XXXTentacion described his upbringing, which included seeing his mother infrequently and being raised by friends, other family and babysitters. His mother would buy him clothes, phones and other gifts. He told the paper he used violence so she would engage with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to beat kids at school just to get her to talk to me, yell at me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

XXXTentacion was initially one of two artists Spotify removed from its promoted playlists in May in accordance with its new policy on hateful music and conduct. But after a backlash in the music industry, Spotify backpedaled and said it would no longer attempt to police conduct and restored XXXTentacion to its playlists (although they did not do the same for R. Kelly).<\/p>\n

While he made headlines for his legal woes, he connected to millions of fans musically. Among the topics he spoke about was depression and addressed it in his music.<\/p>\n

In one video posted to social media, he said: \u201cIf worse things come to worse, I (expletive) die a tragic death or some (expletive), and I’m not able to see out my dreams, I at least want to know that the kids perceive my message and were able to make something of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued later: \u201cI appreciate and 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 ….you are worth more than you can believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. \u2014 Troubled rapper-singer XXXTentacion was shot and killed Monday in Florida in what police called an apparent …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":167362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[949,52016],"class_list":["post-167361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-florida","tag-xxxtentacion","mauthors-kelli-kennedy","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}