After teasing a collaborative mixtape at the top of the year, Joey Bada$$ and XXXTENTACION are back with the first single off the project. Titled “King’s Dead (Freestyle),” the song takes on the beat from Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Future and James Blake’s Black Panther track, “King’s Dead.” 

During the course of the roughly two-minute remix, Joey takes the lead, X offers up the second verse and Joey sews it up at the end.

“At 17 I made six figures/ Immature young rich nigga/ About 21 I made a mil twice/ Your dreams, my real life/ I’m up early, you still asleep,” Joey spits.

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Listen to “King’s Dead (Freestyle)” below.

(The last update of this article was published on January 22, 2018 and can be found below.)

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Controversial rapper XXXTENTACION and Brooklyn MC Joey Bada$$ caused a stir over the weekend when they both teased a collaboration during their Instagram stories. Fans weren’t quite sure what to make of the possibility and struggled to determine whether it was a smart move for Joey considering X’s current legal troubles. Despite the mixed feelings, it’s happening.

On Monday morning (January 22), X’s publicist sent a simple message to HipHopDX that read “Confirmed,” officially making a Joey-X collaborative mixtape a reality.

The publicist added, “Tomorrow [January 23] is X’s bday, hoping he drops it then.”

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Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

(The original version of this article was published on January 20, 2018 and can be found below.)

Polarizing artist XXXTENTACION is currently on house arrest but evidently that hasn’t stopped him from moving forward with his music. On Saturday (January 20), the “Look At Me!” rapper alluded he was working on a collaborative project with Brooklyn’s Joey Bada$$ during one of his Instagram stories.

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“xxxtentacion x joey badass,” he wrote in white text. “collaboration tape.”

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Joey, who just dropped the surprise single “King To A God” on Friday (January 19), appeared to back up X’s announcement with an Instagram post of his own. The Pro Era MC’s post consisted of a screenshot from X’s Instagram story that read, “xxxtentacion x joey badass. collaboration Tape. LETSGOOOOO @xxxtentacion.”

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Hip Hop fans weren’t quite in agreement on whether this was a smart move on Joey’s part. X is currently embroiled in a slew of legal trouble stemming from his 2016 domestic violence case. Last month, he was arrested on 15 felony charges, including witness tampering.

Late Friday night (January 19), X shared a snippet of new music on Instagram but it’s unclear where the song will actually wind up. In another post from last month, the 19-year-old claimed he was putting out three albums in 2018.

#xxxtentacion previews new music. Sounding ?? or ??

A post shared by DJ Akademiks (@akadmiks) on

Countless people took to Twitter to chime in on the possible Joey-X collaboration. From shock and anger to anticipation and excitement, the reactions were all over the place.

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Check out some of them below.