Rapper XXXTentacion Signed a $10 Million Deal Before His Death (Report)

By Variety Staff

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Rapper XXXTentacion, who was killed in south Flordia on June 18, had signed a deal worth $10 million with music distributor Empire to release his next album, says a report in the New York Times published on Sunday (July 8) citing three sources with knowledge of the matter.

, whose real name is  Jahseh Onfroy, had released two full-length albums during a short but fruitful career — “17” in 2017 (via Empire) and “?” in 2018 (via Caroline/Universal Music Group) — as well as a number of mixtapes and one-off tracks.

The forthcoming posthumous release won’t drop before October, according to the Times, which quotes Empire founder Ghazi Shami, who says “a significant amount of material” exists.

The late rapper’s following has grown in size since his death, and even before his murder, in spite a short ban from Spotify playlists under the streamer’s former “hateful conduct” policy. “Sad” returned to the top of consumption charts, as did both of his albums to the Billboard 200, and currently boasts more than 380 million streams on Spotify.

XXX died on June 18 at the age of 20 after he was wounded in a South Florida shooting. According to police, two armed suspects pursued XXX as he was leaving RIVA Motorsports in Deerfield Beach, Fla. At least one of the two suspects shot at XXX, fatally wounding him before fleeing the scene in an SUV in what investigators have called a possible robbery.

An open-casket viewing and memorial took place on June 27 which drew thousands of mourners to the 20,000-capacity BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla.

He was a controversial figure. Starting in grade school, Onfroy found himself at the center of several legal issues, resulting in expulsion for alleged physical violence. In 2016, the rapper was arrested for false imprisonment and battery of his pregnant ex-girlfriend.