XXXTentacion mourned in Florida
SUNRISE, Fla. — Hordes of eager young fans burst into spontaneous songs of grief and celebration Wednesday afternoon at an arena in South Florida, where they had gathered to honor the life of the controversial 20-year-old rapper and singer
XXXTentacion, who was shot and killed in an apparent robbery last week.
The public memorial, organized by the rapper’s family, included an open-coffin viewing onstage at the BB&T Center — capacity 20,000 — in Sunrise, about 25 miles from where XXXTentacion (born Jahseh Onfroy) was killed in his BMW sports car on June 18, halting what had been a meteoric 18-month rise and raising knotty questions about his legacy.
XXXTentacion’s body was laid in a dark polished coffin at center stage, surrounded by a spray of black flowers with metallic accents. Images of him, along with quotes from his interviews, clips from his music videos and even coverage of a chaotic memorial in Los Angeles last week, played on screens above the crowd.
A messianic youth-culture figure whose online notoriety was driven in part by allegations of horrific abuse against a girlfriend, XXXTentacion muscled his way from the SoundCloud underground to the mainstream with a raw mixture of rap, rock and punk music, along with a near-constant stream of fan interaction on social media.