The posthumous hits keep on coming for late rapper XXXTentacion. X's fellow South Florida superstar Lil Pump just shared "Arms Around You," a collab with the rapper who was murdered earlier this year. The Latin-leaning new single features more than a few big names, with Skrillex lending production and Maluma and Swae Lee swinging by for guest verses.
While the smart money for pop stars has been on dipping into the booming Latin rap and pop scenes, banking on artists like J Balvin and Bad Bunny being the future of radio. But for all the forward-thinking business savvy of teaming up with a star like Maluma, "Arms Around You" can't help but sound like the past. Beyond the fact that one of its biggest contributors is no longer with us, the production from Skrillex sounds like songs of former summers. There's quite a bit of Jack Ü in the lite-tropical bounce of this track. Gyptian might want to looking into getting a check for that chorus, too. Where songs like "MIA" sound like what we'll be listening to for the next few years, "Arms Around You" sounds like instant nostalgia.
The release comes just a day after audio of X confessing to multiple violent crimes surfaced. In the clips, the man born Jahseh Onfroy can be heard admitting to domestic abuse and multiple stabbings in Deerfield Beach, Florida, the city where he was eventually gunned down.
“I started fucking her up because she made one mistake. ... Now she’s scared," he says on the tape. "That girl is scared for her life. Which I understand.”
X said that his history of stabbings instilled a fear in his then-partner.
