This is the 2nd posthumous outing yet 4th & final album from Floridian rapper, singer, songwriter, instrumentalist & Members Only co-founder XXXTENTACION. The kid became an overnight sensation in 2017, making onto the XXL Freshman Class & came out with his debut “album” if you wanna call it that 17 that same year. A record that saw X departing from his signature hardcore sound for a more lo-fi acoustic emo direction & failing miserably. X’s sophomore album ? last March while still not all that good was a bit more longer & showed a lot more musical variety. But sadly, X was murdered 3 months after that album’s release. His estate then released his first posthumous effort Skins last winter, which is a horrifically cobbled together cash grab. Almost 365 days have passed since then & X’s mother is putting out what’s left of his unreleased material.
After the intro, the first song “Ex Bitch” directs itself towards Geneva Ayala over an acoustic instrumental. The next track “UGLY” talks about it being out of it over a grungy instrumental while the titular song feels like a leftover from Trippie Redd’s latest album ! since X only handles the hook. The Wheezy-produced “School Shooters” sounds as if it could be a Carter V outtake as Lil Wayne pretty much dominates it whereas the song “I Changed Her Life” is literally a demo with an underwritten Rick Ross verse overtaking it.
The track “Triumph” gets annoyingly repetitive lyrically while the song “LIMBO” with Killstation actually sounds like a finished trap banger. The track “before i realize” sounds like a bad 17 outtake but then on the song “Ecstasy”, X sounds barely awake over this cavernous beat & the Noah Cyrus feature doesn’t help at all. The track “Kill My Vibe” by Tom G talks about haters over a generically cloudy trap beat while the song “Hot Gyal” with Mavado & Tory Lanez is an outdated dancehall joint.
“THE ONLY TIME I FEEL ALIVE” with Craig Xen sees the 2 getting vicious over a bassy-trap beat & then after the tedious piano-lead “interlude that never ends”, the song “Dæmons” with Joey Bada$$ & Kemba sees the 3 getting spiritual over some drums & keyboards. It’s ok though, because at least Joey isn’t talking about “catching all diseases in the world so the world don’t have no more diseases” again. The track “ATTENTION!” sees X flexing over a bland beat while the song “Eat It Up” gets raunchy over a distorted Ronny J beat. The track “Voss” by Sauce Walka sees him flexing over a trap rock fusion from Carnage while the song “Royalty” with Stefflon Don & Vybz Kartel another boring dancehall cut.
The track “wanna grow old (i won’t let go)” by Jimmy Levy is comatose on all musical fronts while the song “HEARTEATER” is a mediocre, melodramatic pop rock cut. The track “NorthStar” with Joyner Lucas sees the 2 boasting over a rubbery trap beat while the song “CHASE (glass shards)” with ikabodVEINS sees the 2 talking about death over a demented beat. The penultimate track “numb the pain” is yet another terrible 17 demo & then the album ends with “IT’S ALL FADING TO BLACK”, which is pretty much a sappy blink-182 song with an X hook.
Not much for me to say about it beyond that, this was dreadful. Sure this is the longest body of work that’s ever had X’s name, but it’s just as sloppily cobbled together as Skins.
Score: 1/5
Legends Will Never Die 