It's been a weird year for XXXTENTACION.
Beginning 2017 behind bars for several serious charges including aggravated assault, armed home invasion, and an allegation of assaulting his pregnant girlfriend at the time, his cult following grew into an army of fans who pushed his breakout hit "Look At Me!" into the Hot 100.
In the months that followed, he was released from jail, beefed with Drake, surprised fans with pop and acoustic songs, got attacked onstage, made the XXL Freshman list, and as recently as this week caused more controversy with a confusing Instagram post that led some fans to believe he committed suicide on camera.
Like I said, it's been a weird year. Skepticism from people who don't think anyone should support an artist with a criminal record like X's is valid. It's also understandable why his progressive, genre-defiant sound is capturing the attention of so many fans. The conversation continues today with his debut studio album, 17.
"It’s my first body of work, first official album release, and the first time I’ve put my all into a project, I mean it when I say this project is absolutely amazing," he said about the project earlier this month. "If you listen to me to get hype or to not think, don’t buy this album, this one is for the depression, for the depressed ones, for the lost ones."
Listen to the album below and continue for a video breakdown of X's genre-hopping style. We will update with a Spotify stream when it becomes available at 12:00 p.m. EST.
