He was considered to be a leading figure in the establishment of the emo rap and SoundCloud rap genres, which garnered mainstream attention during the mid-to-late s. He began writing music after being released from a juvenile detention center and soon started his music career on SoundCloud in , employing styles and techniques that were unconventional in rap music such as distortion and heavy guitar-backed instrumentals, drawing inspiration from third-wave emo and grunge.
In , he formed the underground collective Members Only and alongside other members of the collective soon became a popular figure in SoundCloud rap, a trap music scene that takes elements of lo-fi music and harsh s. His debut album 17 is certified triple-platinum in the US and reached number two on the Billboard His second album? Its lead single, " Sad! XXXTentacion faced a variety of legal issues throughout his lifetime, most notably the controversy that arose from the battery charges that were levied against him in Four suspects were arrested and charged with first-degree murder among other charges.
On April 6, , they were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Both Onfroy's father and grandfather were Rastafarians. Due to his condition, he never grew taller than 5 feet 6 inches. Due to his mother's personal problems, [ 42 ] Onfroy was mainly raised by his grandmother Collette Jones [ 43 ] in Pompano Beach, Florida , and Lauderhill, Florida. When Onfroy was six years old, he allegedly tried to stab a man attempting to attack his mother [ 42 ] and was eventually put into a youth program before living with his grandmother.
When Onfroy was a child, he discovered his uncle's deceased body after the man committed suicide by hanging. In , Onfroy alluded that he had been sexually abused by an unnamed adult when he was a child. In early , when Onfroy was ten, his father was jailed for nine years in Arizona on RICO charges after the Drug Enforcement Administration organized a sting operation.
Onfroy's interest in music initially started after his aunt persuaded him to begin attending school choir and later church choir. He was soon kicked out of the school choir after attacking another student for touching him.
