Release of Albums After the deaths of Xxxtentacion and Lil Peep

shadywix (-1)(1)in #music • 6 years ago

Hello steemians, I hope you all having a good time. I am Shady here and you are welcome to my steemit channel. Today I am gonna talk about the release of X's Skins and Lil Peep's Come Over When You’re Sober PT. 2 album after their deaths.
In the last months of 2018, there were two posthumous releases - the late Lil Peep’s 'Come Over When You’re Sober PT. 2' and XXXTENTACION’s 'SKINS.' While both releases satiated fans yearning for new music, they weren’t without their missteps and bigger questions. Lil Peep, known to many as a visionary due of his fusion of mid-aughts emo with today’s trap sound, was fresh off the release of his debut album, “Come Over When You’re Sober Pt. 1' when in November 2017, tragedy struck. Popular YouTube star and emerging rapper Lil Peep died last night right before he was set to perform in Tucson. The 20-year-old X was loved by fans for his raw and emotive lyrics. He also had a dark side. In June 2018, the month of his death, X was awaiting trial for charges for domestic abuse and false imprisonment regarding his ex-girlfriend. He was killed in an altercation outside of a motorcycle shop that same month. Police are investigating the death of a popular rapper from South Florida after he was ambushed and murdered in Deerfield Beach. The charges against X were dropped after his death. Both him and Peep left behind plenty of unfinished songs - with no real direction for what to do with them. This is a unique conundrum for today’s generation of artists as the New Yorker’s Carrie Battan writes, That’s Lil Peep’s mother Liza Womack. After Peep’s brother urged her to get involved, she started to take more control over 'Come Over When You’re Sober Pt. 2.' Liza believes “Pt. 2” is the perfect sequel to Peep’s debut. But the process wasn't always so smooth.

In September 2018, a Peep & X collab called "Falling Down" dropped. Originally “Falling Down,” was titled “Sunlight On Your Skin” and featured Makonnen. The addition of X caused quite a stir amongst Peeps’ friends and fans. He explicitly rejected Triple X for his abuse of women, spent time and money getting Triple X’s songs removed from his Spotify playlist, and wouldn't have co-signed that song. At the time, Makonnen insisted that the record was meant to bring people together. Still there is no way to know what Peep would’ve wanted - and therein lies the moral quandary with these posthumous releases - do you add features when the artist is not alive to approve it? As for X, his album 'SKINS' was released with only one feature - Kanye West. Longtime X collaborator John Cunningham explained why West was included on the album, Cunningham also told Genius that he and X began work on this project not long after X's "?" album, Knowing that John and X were close should put many fan worries to rest - but feasibly there could still be controversy on the horizon. X reportedly signed a $10 million deal shortly before his death, which may mean more posthumous albums are on the way that were not approved by X while he was alive. Issues over releases like these aren’t anything new. In fact, in June Drake took some flack for using dated Michael Jackson vocals on his 5th studio album, 'Scorpion.' Michael Jackson’s nephew raised some concerns. But Drake’s been here before - in 2014 he had to abandon a posthumous album of Aaliyah’s music after her frequent collaborator Timbaland objected. As for MJ, there's a lawsuit alleging that Sony's 2010 album 'Michael' - the first release after his death in 2009 - included three fake records. And if we look at rap history -- notably the numerous releases from 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. after they died -- we might see more from X and Peep. 2Pac and Biggie even posthumously appeared on a song together in 2003. As fans we’ll just have to hope that those in control of these artists legacies stay true to what they wanted. And when it comes to Lil Peep, we may not have to worry at all. We reached out to a representative for X's mother, Cleopatra Bernard for an interview, and she declined to comment.