Florida rapper XXXTentacion spoke out on social media earlier this week about the school shooting in Parkland, Fl., offering his condolences to the victims. X grew up less than 20 miles from Parkland in the Broward County city of Lauderhill, and has a cousin who attends the school. Today, he shared a song dedicated to the shooting’s victims and survivors titled “HOPE.”
On the customarily short track, X sings about finding hope in dark situations. This is a common theme in his music, which often addresses issues of depression and suicide:
So outside my misery, I think I’ll find
A way of envisioning a better life
For the rest of us, the rest of us
There’s hope for the rest of us, the rest of us
The cover art explains that these words are meant for the Parkland, Fl. students, whom he also addressed in a note on his SoundCloud page:
Follow your dreams, and know that even though you have lost, you have guardian angels watching over you, day in and day out, the last thing they want is for their lives to be lost in vein [sic], make them proud! Live full, healthy, genius lives! #you are not alone.
XXXTentacion remains under house arrest in Florida, where he awaits trial on a series of charges including battery and aggravated assault of a pregnant victim, battery by strangulation, and false imprisonment as well as more than a dozen witness tampering felonies related to the case. “HOPE” is his first new song of 2018.
Listen to the song above and read all the lyrics to XXXTentacion’s “HOPE” on Genius now.
