Two up-and-coming American rappers, XXXTentacion and Jimmy Wopo, were killed on Monday in separate shootings near Miami and in Pittsburgh, police and local media reported.
In Florida, the Broward County sheriff’s office said that XXXTentacion, 20, was shot while leaving a motor sports dealership in Deerfield Beach, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Miami.
The rapper, whose real name was Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, was later pronounced dead, the sheriff’s department said.
“The adult male victim has been confirmed as 20 year old Jahseh Onfroy, aka rapper #XXXTentacion,” the sheriff’s department said in a posting on Twitter.
Two men fled the scene in a dark-colored SUV after one of them opened fire, striking the rapper in what investigators said in a statement appeared to be a possible robbery.
Online Filipinos generated more than 10,000 searches for “Xxtentacion” on Google on Tuesday hours after his death, Google Trends show.
But Google users apparently leave out the third letter x in the rapper’s pseudonym.
XXXTentacion released his debut album in August 2017. His second album “?” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart when it was released in March.
XXXTentacion was born and raised in Plantation, Florida. According to media reports, he had spent time in jail and youth detention centers and was awaiting trial for domestic violence against his pregnant girlfriend.
His death sparked tributes from the hip-hop community, including from Kanye West.
rest in peace ??? I never told you how much you inspired me when you were here thank you for existing pic.twitter.com/QU7DR3Ghbw
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) June 18, 2018
— Reports from Reuters
