XXXTentacion was shot dead Monday afternoon after the rapper was reportedly shopping for motorcycles at a dealership. According to TMZ, an eyewitness told claimed that he “appeared lifeless with no pulse” before being rushed to the hospital. The Broward County Sheriff’s department tweeted that the rapper shortly after.
The 20-year-old rapper, whose real name is Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, grew up in Florida under the care of his grandmother after his mother, whom the rapper was known to have a strained relationship with, asked him to leave the house, according to The Famous People.
Here’s what you need to know about XXX’s family:
1. XXX Was Involved in Several Legal Issues From an Early Age, Which Led to His Mother Kicking Him Out
XXX was known to get involved with legal issues since an early age. According to The Famous People, he was fiercely protective of his mother, often fighting people “whom he perceived as a threat” to her.
“He was involved in several illegal activities like possession of fire arms, theft, armed robbery, oxycodone possession etc. for which he had spent a year in jail as well. In 2016, he was arrested thrice; the first case was for the charges of robbery and aggravated battery with deadly weapon. Later that year he was arrested once again for aggravated battery of a pregnant victim,” The Famous People reports.
Due to his delinquent behavior, his mother eventually kicked him out of the house while he was still just a teenager. He spent the following years at his grandmother’s home and in correctional homes, according to The Famous People.
2. He Claims That He Had an “Intensely Close” Relationship With His Mother Despite Her Kicking Him Out
Although his mother, Cleopatra Bernard, eventually kicked him out of the house, he told the Miami New Times that he had an “intensely close relationship” with her, and took everything she said to him to heart.
He told the publication that once, when he was in middle school, a girl had a crush on him and showed him in a way that only preteen’s know how to do – by hitting him. XXX asked his mother if he could hit her back, to which she replied “give the girl three warnings; if she keeps hitting you, you have to handle it.”
The young rapper took those words to heart, and the next time the girl next bothered him, he told the Miami New Times that he “slapped the sh– out of her and kneed her.”
He said that his mother was surprised at how serious he had taken her. “Her word was my bond.”
3. XXX Used to Start Fights at School Just to Get His Mother’s Attention
XXX says that Bernard was one of the “defining aspects of his early life and tied to the pattern of fighting that characterized his adolescence,” the Miami New Times reports. He didn’t live with her consistently while growing up, bouncing around between friends, family and babysitters. Bernard gave birth to her son when she was only 17 or 18, and “raising a kid was honestly one of her last priorities,” he told the Miami New Times.
“From what I can remember, I’ve never seen Jahseh living with [his mom],” his half-sister Ariana Onfroy said in a video. “He was always living with other people.”
XXX describes his mother as “exactly like me, but probably more pretty.” She would shower him with expensive gifts when she would make her way back into his life, but her presence was always brief, as she would disappear again shortly after. He says he used to pick fights with kids at school just to try to get her attention.
“I chased her,” he told the Miami New Times. “I used to beat kids at school just to get her to talk to me, yell at me.”
4. His Grandmother Raised Him After His Mother Kicked Him Out of the House
Once XXX turned 12-years-old, he most consistently lived with his grandmother, Collette Jones, in a Lauderhill gated community, according to the Miami New Times.
“My grandma really feels like my mom,” he says. “My mom almost feels like more of a sister.”
He reportedly spent a lot of time with his family before his death and tried to “build [up] his relationship” with them. “X has given back to his family a lot and helps them out a ton.”
Although he lived with his grandmother for large part of his youth, he also spent a lot of time in and out of jail. When XXX was in a juvenile detention center, he severely beat up his homosexual cellmate, and when his mother visited him in prison and noticed blood under his fingernails, she began to cry.
5. XXX’s Father Was Absent for Most of His Life, Allegedly Incarcerated
XXX’s father was absent for the majority of his life, according to Famous Birthdays. The publication claims he was incarcerated but doesn’t state why.
Ariana Onfroy, his half-sister, is a recent Howard University graduate with an expanding YouTube presence, according to the Miami New Times. He also has a younger brother named Aiden.