XXXTentacion’s legacy is still under development as the late rapper’s second posthumous album, Bad Vibes Forever, is set to be released this fall. As it turns out, there’s a third posthumous collaboration with Lil Wayne on the way with “School Shooter.”
The two rappers have been featured together on “Scared of the Dark” from the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack and “Don’t Cry” from Tha Carter V.
However, Weezy revealed in an interview with Elliot Wilson’s CRWN series that he didn’t know who X was when he was alive. “May he rest in peace. Y’all know I don’t listen to nothing but myself cause I work too much, so I didn’t know who XXXtentacion was,” he said at the time. “Mack had to explain the whole story to me right? Then and there I had to Google and all that, and I found out, figured everything out. It was easy. It wasn’t no such a thing as yes or no, it was let me get my verses together.”
X’s manager, Soloman Sobande, recently sat down with Billboard to talk about the upcoming release. “A lot of records, like ‘School Shooter’ featuring Lil Wayne or ‘Hearteater,’ Jahseh [the late rapper’s given name] saved for this point in his career when he was more established, so they would be better received,” he said. “A lot of things he had worked on, almost complete ideas, weren’t finished–maybe [they] only had one verse and a hook or only a beat. To fill out those songs, a who’s who of the music industry came out to help us.”
Cleopatra Bernard, X’s mother, is the executive producer–and the album features production from John Cunningham, DJ Carnage, and JonFX.
While critics have side-eyed XXXTentacion’s posthumous releases with Lil Pump and Kanye West, Sobande insists that the new work is paying tribute to his complex legacy. “I remember 2Pac albums coming out and being upset about people who had no relation to him being put on records,” he told Billboard. “So now that I’m working on a project for someone who was taken away from us too early, I want to make sure I satisfy the kids in the position I was in.”
XXXTentacion remains a controversial figure due to a serious domestic violence case that remained unresolved at the time of his death. His manager addressed the issue with Billboard, distancing the late rapper from his charges. “I knew him personally, and he wasn’t the person those charges said he was,” he said. “He had his share of problems, mental health issues. But he was making every effort to change. Part of the responsibility for me and his team is to expose that person who was trying to be better.”
Elsewhere, the album will include features by blink-182, Tory Lanez, and Mavado. Lil Nas X is set to appear on a country song.
Wayne has been on tour with blink-182, and the artists recently released a mashup of “What’s My Age Again?” and “A Milli.”
Catch up on all the lyrics to “Don’t Cry” on Genius now.
