Wow. I’m speechless. I have just returned from the sold out XXXTENTACION show at The NOVO in Los Angeles, and all I can say is … wow. I’ve honestly never seen anything like this. From someone who goes to concerts more than the average, this was an experience I will never forget.
If you follow XXX at all, you’d probably know him more for his obscene outbursts and unnecessary turmoil in the rap game. First and foremost, he called out and accused Drake of biting his style. Sources who have worked with him directly have told me he’s actually crazy in the head. Given his actions, it’s hard to be surprised by such claims.
Before I proceed, I have to give a disclaimer. XXXTENTACION is actually really talented. One listen to his Revenge mixtape should make you notice that XXX isn’t just a rapper. He goes beyond a single genre, touching on trap, pop, rock, and whatever else he’s inspired by at the time. As I walked into the show with his publicist (shout out Aishah), she shared a time when they were in the studio together and he sang her a record a cappella. Moral of the story: homeboy can sing.
But for this particular show, there was no real singing. Instead, it was a straight hour of “turn up and lose your FUCKING MIND.” In preparation for the circus I was set to enter, I watched viral clips of him on the internet, including one where he leads a chant of “fuck the KKK.”
Being in the photo pit was the worst decision of my life. I mean, obviously, I had a choice. But I wanted to get the best footage. Being on the floor was the game changer — hands down. The craziest part is, although I was terrified for my life, the kids raging next to me were having the best night of theirs. Go figure.
After his first song, which was a slower joint off Revenge, he lets the sold out venue know that L.A. was the best crowd yet. He actually graces the stage fully clothed, but soon the only thing left on his body were boxers and some basketballs shorts. Those things were resting right underneath his gluteus maximus, and it still baffles me how they stayed on the majority of the show. Where the hell did his shoes go?
I got kicked out of the photo pit a whopping one song in for my own safety. (We usually get three songs, FYI.) I’ve never seen so much security in a photo pit, either. It was all hands on deck for regulating the crowd and making sure no one was hurt. It was so crazy. For the second song, XXX brings out his good friend Ski Mask The Slump God for “Take A Step Back.” Yeezus! The bass was so loud, you could feel it through your entire body.
These guys were NOT playing. They kept screaming at the crowd telling everybody to “get the fuck down.” Like, you didn’t have a choice. Peer pressure aside, you either got down or got yelled at. XXX was going in on anyone standing up. His aggression was the scariest part. Don’t know how many times he was yelling into that microphone like he was going to kill someone. They played “RIP Roach” before the first stage dive of the night.
This was only the beginning. Who does this? Being so close to the stage, I heard everything. Fans were screaming their heads off, including many “Fuck Rob $tone” bursts. Sad. I actually was at the Desiigner show when Rob $tone and his squad jumped Ski Mask on stage. XXX, of course, inserted himself into the beef.. Most recently, he threatened A$AP Lotto in the DMs over a beat. XXX stays with the threats.
The reason I say don’t bring your kids to this show is pretty obvious. Check out of this clip of him hanging off the balcony, literally giving a fuck less about the rules security had implemented. If it wasn’t for that one guy holding him back, he almost definitely would have jumped. All this while chanting “Suicide Pit.” Gulp. I guess to me, the word “suicide” should never be glorified.
“Look At Me!” is definitely his biggest song to date, and he brought out his entire squad (Ski Mask, Lil Pump, Yung Gleesh, etc.). This performance wasn’t all that smooth, either.
The thing was, XXX was extremely disappointed with how turnt the crowd was at this point. Although enthusiasm was through the roof, he literally told them if someone didn’t break a leg, he didn’t do his job. Smh.
Even after take two of the hit single, XXX still wasn’t pleased. He proceeded to stop the show for 10 minutes while everybody got it together. We had one more shot (well, the kids did). At this point, I made the conscious decision of moving and observing from the back. It was for my own well-being. After performing “Gospel,” his track with Rich Chigga (which undeniably slaps), the crowd got even rowdier. Two girls even decided to sit on top of shoulders and take off their tops. Titties. Were. Out.
So, how was your Tuesday?
How much money does HipHopDX have invested in this guy?!?!?! Nobody reports on him more, for real. There is more news on here about him than Drake and that’s saying a lot. Everyday there is a post about this dude. He’s not bad, but NOT that newsworthy! I normally ignore, but the headline grabbed me. I read and was basically questioning the whole article especially when you shout out the management team!
SOMEONE IS FINANCIALLY INVESTED OR GOT FREE PASSES TO WRITE A “FLUFF” PIECE!!!
…and I really enjoy this site, but com’on!
Seriously…this writer sounds a lot more like a groupie than a real journalist.
This dude is literally what’s wrong with kids today, trying to show out all the time and just being hella flithy like it’s cool. All these fools like dirty ass white kids and trying hella hard to be outcast.
WTF does being white have to do with anything? People like you are the real *ucking problem. Always bringing race and $hit into everything. This had nothing to do with race ffs. This is about this wanna be punk @$$ kid trying to be hard and not giving a $hit about anything. Especially his own life. $hit is just garbage put out by more garbage. And I’m not white, just tired off everyone trying to pull a *ucking race card over some bull$hit. People like you are the problem with America. Entitled pieces of $hit. That’s the problem with today’s kids. No discipline and they think they are entitled to something. You ain’t entitled to $hit
If your music is garbage you need to do sh*t like that to get attention
HIP HOP REPORTERS ARE THE BIGGEST NERDS ON EARTHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Motherfuckers get dumber and dumber
“Don’t send your kids to an X show” or “the story of how a hip-hop reporter got tricked into going to a death metal show” lmao sounds like a normal death she to me tbh
I’ve seen ten times worse than this at a couple of metal concerts i went to, peer pressure of course, fuck that didn’t
enjoy it at all. But this dude clearly got some severe mental issues and needs psychological help asap, meds and anything.
Man that aint shit
i dunno this fruity bastard even deserving of being called one letter. few other ‘x’ prior.
Is this professional journalism or this writer’s personal blog? What real writer writes in first person and uses shit like “SMH” in their stories? Writing like you’re texting your homegirl gossiping about the latest show is super wack. Please, if you’re going to report on current events in hip-hop, please do so with some authority and journalistic integrity for god’s sake. You could’ve spared us all the extra gossipy shit and been way more concise with this piece. Please do so next time.
This article made me realize how fucking old I am. What the hell is this dude doing? No idea this (whatever it is) even existed.
These rap shows looking like trump crowds:/
Where are the black and Latino people?
I don’t trust a crowd full of white people like that. Has to be a good ratio for me to feel safe…lol
man x is fucking lame not only is he copying dudes like bones an ghostemane and ripping off their metal aesthetic hes even trying to get a bunch of white teens to mosh to his shitty rap also this show was not crazy at all if youve even been to a few metal shows you know this x kid and his fans are no harder than a crowd for pierce the veil would be
awww, I remember my first concert too! Nothing new here.
he was not jumped. He was got knocked out by one guy and went to sleep.
Shirley Ju i’m sorry but you can’t one side things here. You sound like a groupie more than caring for the the real facts at hand. He was Punched One time and was knocked out cold. The video shows you exactly what went down. In the word of Jay Z, “Everybody Gets Punched Everyday B”. If you This is not the only time this happened in San Diego. Actually we are well known for it. From YG to Snoop. So as a write please have the fact at hand correct. He spoke on our town and it got handle as is. We was out there with nothing but white kids who had no ideal how to react or know anything about black culture and hip hop. Just angry little white kids who couldn’t get their rage on or their Mosh pit last night. So all that chanting was for nothing. None of those people came from the southeast to ride for the city so i’m glad we still got hands out here.
Remember when rappers had to rap to the beat, and not just let the song play and join when they feel like it.
Real talk.
“All this while chanting “Suicide Pit.” Gulp. I guess to me, the word “suicide” should never be glorified.” get ur head out of ur ass his art is a reflex of society. r u worried now? this’s fkd up cause everything is fkd up, if a music and an act have that much influence in ur bratt kiddo that he wants to kill himself u should re-think is education anyway
Amazing how XXX can continue doing vocals with the microphone nowhere near his face. A true talent.
Its just Hip Hop going punk.
Again?