In celebration of the late Jahseh Onfroy’s 25th birthday (Jan. 23), XXXTENTACION’s estate gifted fans with a present of their own.
Sharing “I’M NOT HUMAN” featuring Lil Uzi Vert — who rivaled X during the height of the SoundCloud era — news of the gorgeous collaboration came as a complete surprise Sunday night (Jan. 22). Along with the track, X’s estate uploaded the 2015-released “VERY RARE FREESTYLE” to all digital streaming platforms.
Amid its release on Monday (Jan. 23), this “gift from Jah” was short lived — lasting two days on the rapper’s SoundCloud before it was removed. The announcement on Instagram has since been wiped, however, the initial tweet remains on the late-rapper’s feed.
X’s ghostly vocals pair well with the track’s minimalistic guitar strums — melding airy ad-libs with introspective lines like “Air around me feels just like a cage / Love is just a camouflage for what resembles rage.” Despite not crossing paths, Uzi’s guest verse is not only an homage to the competitive nature they shared, but saw the Philly emcee lean into his singing more than ever before. “I know that I am not from this Earth / I know deep down you are hurt / but I’m not a human,” he croons into the abyss, with X answering the call from the other side.
When speaking on The Pink Tape rapper in his telling documentary LOOK AT ME in June, X saw Uzi as a motivator above all. “Things were different around that time and different in a good way,” he said. “[He] was like my only competition… Every time I dropped, he dropped, or every time he dropped, I dropped. Or either he goes No. 1, or I go No. 1. Either way it was going to go, one of us was gonna turn up.”
Since the Fader Films-produced “XXXTENTACION: In His Own Words” dropped in November, the Florida rapper’s legacy has been upheld by an outpour of support from die-hard fans and posthumous projects. However, in light of the hard-hitting topics discussed in his never-before-seen 2017 Fader interview — where questions surrounding his ethical appeal and mental health come into focus — X’s openess and engagement with his fan-base was a highlight of his life.
Lil Uzi Vert, on the other hand, is preparing to release his long-awaited album The Pink Tape. Reported to drop next month according to Uzi via a Reddit conversation, the “Just Wanna Rock” star also made an appearance at the second show of Drake’s Apollo Theater performance — who praised Uzi for “checking up” on him, noted his contributions to the culture and his “experimental” potency.
Listen to the track below!
