Album Rating: 3.5

" and childish man admitting to attacking homosexuals and his girlfriend for no apparent reason, and then promoting those occurrences as inspirational or moments of pride for him both in conversation and in song"



Factually incorrect. He beat the homosexual because he was sexually harassing him. He warned him not to stare at him. He also said he had no problems with him being gay. Also, I haven't seen any evidence of him admitting to beating Geneva. If he had confessed, there would be no need for a trial. He still hasn't been proven guilty. It doesn't seem like you've done your research and this review comes off as very snobbish. Call me a triggered X fan if you want, but I have a problem when someone doesn't have their facts right and is using their information to demonize and individual.

"I think every album deserves a serious, professionally-written review."

I think this is where you and I (and others supporting this review) differ. it's the age-old question of "separating art from artist" - and in some cases there's definitely a blurry line of "can I like this album even though the artist did some shitty things?" i.e. I think there's arguments to be made either way for musicians like Bowie and Whirr, for example, and I've heard fairly compelling takes on both sides. that said, I think in other cases, where the artist's work and personal life are so intertwined that it's impossible to take one without examining the other, the "art vs artist" question has a definitive answer. and, in the case of X, where - in the words of this review - "this inarticulate, frustrated, and childish man admit[s] to attacking homosexuals and his girlfriend for no apparent reason, and then promot[es] those occurrences as inspirational or moments of pride for him both in conversation and in song," art is inseparable from artist, and we can absolutely devalue and scorn any art he makes, especially art in which he makes absolutely no effort to apologize or right his past wrongs.

so, when you say that this review "tries to pass off the idea that ? is inherently bad," I think that's a completely fair thing to do. it'd be like arguing that PWR BTTM's shit is inherently bad for existing at an impossible contradiction between queer expression and acceptance and Ben's horrific patterns of abuse, or arguing that Woody Allen's shit is inherently bad because its treatment of women is exactly in line with his own treatment of women (for further reading on Allen, this article is phenomenal: http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/11/20/art-monstrous-men/), both of which I would agree are valid tactics. saying "no music is inherently bad" is like saying "nothing is inherently bad" (because, often, music reflects the culture/beliefs of those behind it), which, like, nazism? genocide? slavery? music that supports a terrible creator - especially one who, emboldened by his success, will likely continue to follow the same patterns of abuse for which he's already known - should not be supported, and if a reviewer wants to use this notion to argue that nobody should support that music, I'm all for it.

(lmao my comment is too long sorry everyone)

last point - you talk about the review as "attempt[ing] to pass off a personal opinion as objective fact." the thing is that every single music review (minus this one, maybe: http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/59707/Lady-Gaga-Artpop/) is personal opinion. music/art is completely subjective, and reviews are not omniscient, iron-fist final stands on a work. that's why we have a lot of writers on this site, many of whom have completely different opinions on albums, and why not every rating on every album is the same as that of the staff review on it. reviews that appropriately embrace this subjectivity - as I think this one did - can be exceptionally written too.

"He beat the homosexual because he was sexually harassing him. He warned him not to stare at him. He also said he had no problems with him being gay. Also, I haven't seen any evidence of him admitting to beating Geneva. If he had confessed, there would be no need for a trial. He still hasn't been proven guilty"

hahahaha

1) in absolutely no world is it OK to beat someone within an inch of their life because they were staring at you. I can't believe this needs to be said out loud

2) in the very same interview where he said "he had no problems" with gay people, he also described this guy as a "f****t." that's like saying "I have black friends" and then describing someone you don't like as a "n****r" with a hard r. he also, uh, beat a gay dude within an inch of his life because the guy was staring at him. I think that means he has problems with gay people

3) I mean even if he doesn't admit to it her testimony is straight-up chilling (http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/xxxtentacions-reported-victim-details-grim-pattern-of-abuse-in-testimony/). and I don't know about you, but I'm not in the habit of believing an alleged abuser when the victim delivers two and a half hours of detailed testimony - especially in the face of X stans who harass her and send the judge death threats - and his response is to say, and I quote, "Everybody that called me a domestic abuser, I'm finna domestically abuse y'all little sister pussy from the back"

4) he hasn't been proven guilty yet, but, like, a) the trial has barely started, and b) neither has Bill Cosby, so that's not a particularly compelling case for his innocence

Album Rating: 3.5

^Except none of his lyrics openly talk about abusing his girlfriend. Upon observation, his music can be violent, but he's not talking about anyone in particular. It's no different than Jedi Mind Tricks or Vinnie Paz. X has not yet been found guilty of his charges and he is constantly trying to clean his image and help the community.

Album Rating: 3.5

Yet innocent until proven guilty is still a thing that people seem to ignore. One of the things that keeps this trial from starting is that there is a lack of evidence. I'm not saying he didn't do it, but I'm not saying he did either. People seem to forget that there are crazy people in this world that lie as well as abuse so it could really be either one in this case. Also, he explained that he called him that word only because he was harassing him. Yeah, he went over the top with beating him that much, but that doesn't inherently mean he hates gay people. We don't know what he was going through mentally.

Album Rating: 3.5

To be honest, you sound like someone who gets upset by words very easily and is quick to jump to the defense of a woman or lgbtq+ individual just for being what they are. Are the accusations a cause for concern? Of course. Do we truly know what happened? We sure don't.

XXX and 69 are fucking fuckers who don’t deserve a single fan

Agred

agreed

who'se 5s be that

Album Rating: 1.5 | Sound Off

xxxtentacion's i believe

Album Rating: 2.5

Brostep, I know that every review is a personal opinion. That's why I found it so bizarre how this one opinion is treated. All the readers know that plenty of other people like X, and this one reviewer happens to not like him, but I could pinpoint a few passages on here that make it sound like you're not allowed to like X. Someone could easily listen to this album with no knowledge of X's abuse allegations or the bad things we know he has done.

Also, I understand the idea that X's music and his life are so deeply intertwined, you can't talk about one without acknowledging the other. However, some of the worst things he has done don't show up in his music (as far as I know, and if I'm wrong please tell me). For example, we know that X beat up a homosexual man to the point of mutilating his face. I'm not aware of any X song where he talks about that explicitly, or admits to doing it.

Oh, and even if the artist is really cruel and that shows up in their music, I still personally prefer listening to it for the sake of listening. This album in particular was created seriously, and is meant to be perceived as art. I would rather approach it from a critic's mindset.

Album Rating: 3.5

^Agreed. I've listened to a lot of his songs and I've never heard him referencing beating anyone specifically. And me personally, I don't find it hard to talk about one without the other because I take art as art.

Album Rating: 0.5

"I've listened to a lot of his songs"



I'm so sorry

Album Rating: 2.5

I think I did something wrong, because this isn't the kind of topic on which I would want Thealwaysopenedmind to agree with me...

Album Rating: 1.5

The fact that this guy has ratings above 2 on here is baffling

you don't deserve that nujabes avatar

You know i think if he stopped trying to be so profound he could actually put a dec album. He tries too hard and it shows.

[2]

but only decent, not much more