Rapper XXXTentacion passed away on the 18th of June in 2018 at the age of 20. On December 6 of 2019, his last studio album, Bad Vibes Forever was released. It consisted of 25 tracks and featured many other singers such as Trippie Redd, Lil Wayne, PnB Rock, Noah Cyrus, and more.
The album starts off with the “Introduction.” The intro is a little less than two minutes and it’s a message from X to his fans and listeners. Growing up wasn’t easy for X. He was in and out of jail, his father was not around to support him, and he ran into a lot of trouble. Therefore, X was demanding people to stop judging him on his past mistakes. He said, “If I make my mistakes, if I make my mistakes along the road, then that’s my fault, you feel me.” Before his death, he was working on becoming a better person. X went out to help the kids in his community and took that big step in changing into the person he wanted to be. He was done suffering, he was done with his hardships, and he wanted people to stop making preconceived notions about him.
The third song on the track is “Ugly” which X sang on his own. The song is only a minute and a half but the lyrics are very strong. Here, X talks about his past troubles. He says in the first verse “The dream I had about her in my head, it seems I won’t forget,” giving off a sad vibe. X also shows his uniqueness and versatility by singing along to a heavy, yet slow guitar beat. The song also samples “Invisible” by Grouper.
“Bad Vibes Forever,” which is the fourth song on the track, is the most popular song of the album. It features the artists Trippie Redd and PnB Rock which X has collabed with in the past. In this song, X sings the first chorus and mostly talks about love and how this certain girl makes him feel. In the first Verse, Trippie Redd says “Hey, put your pride to the side” and PnB rock then joins in and sings the second verse. The fans really enjoyed this trio and there was even a music video released for this song. Unfortunately, X could not be in it but Trippie Redd and PnB Rock were both there to do their part.
The second to last song on the track is “Numb the pain.” The title of this song is very similar to the one in his “?” album which was just called “Numb.” X also sang this song on his own and he says in the chorus “Numb the pain like I was Novocaine, numb the pain, pain.” Novocaine is an anesthetic which is a substance that induces insensitivity to pain so it causes loss of feeling or numbness. X is trying to say that he was able to get rid of his pain as if he took Novocaine. This song and most of the songs on the album were produced by John Cunningham.
Unfortunately, this is X’s last album but it is portrayed very extensively and complex. It is also his longest album. “Bad Vibes Forever” includes over twenty featured artists. It is also extremely versatile ranging from shorter songs to longer songs to sad beats to hype beats and more. Even though he is not here today, he is still able to communicate with his fans through his music.
