During his short life, rapper XXXTentacion gathered a cult-like following of fervent supporters and fans of his brooding, angsty style. One of the more visible figures of emo-leaning SoundCloud rap, the Florida-based artist incorporated elements of nu-metal bombast and narcotic R&B into his usually dark and violent output. He was a worldwide sensation at the peak of his fame when he was murdered in June of 2018 at age 20. Following his death, a glut of posthumous XXXTentacion material appeared, from singles or features on other artists' songs to the short album Skins, which arrived in late 2018. Bad Vibes Forever was originally planned as the rapper's debut album, but was pushed back and still taking shape at the time of his death. Finally arriving as a 25-track, nearly hour-long postmortem release, Bad Vibes Forever is more a feature-heavy grab bag in tribute to the late rapper than a cohesive creative statement. Along with XXX's muttering flows on tracks like "The Only Time I Feel Alive," and the grizzly rap-metal yowling of "Chase/Glass Shards," the lengthy album offers of plenty of acoustic guitar based-songs, and moments of dancehall and cloudy experimental production amid more conventional radio-ready tracks. This versatility was one of the hallmarks of the late rapper's sound, but without him around to guide the vision of the project, Bad Vibes Forever quickly loses cohesion. There are interesting aspects to the disjointed flow. The melancholic sung hooks and organic drum sounds of the Trippie Redd-assisted title track sound almost heartfelt in their longing, and XXX explores both aggression and subtlety with full commitment. "Wanna Grow Old (I Won't Let Go)" is a beatless song built on looped cello plucks and lamenting vocals and the murky acoustic guitar of "Ugly" sounds almost like an attempt to replicate Grouper's distinctive ambient pop. Most tracks are short and seem cobbled together from whatever scraps were left in the vault, filled out with tacked-on features or re-recordings. Lil Wayne drops by for the would-be cautionary intensity of "School Shooters" and Noah Cyrus reworks the silky vocals of the ghostly "Ecstasy." Ultimately, the stylistic shifts offer more generic filler than genuine inspiration. "Attention!" sounds bored with itself, and while the alt-rock instrumentation of "Hearteater" is interesting in how much it stands out from the rest of the album, the song itself is coffee shop open-mike night fare, basic and forgettable. The makeshift album drags, even with its stylistic diversions. Bad Vibes Forever is less a testament to how XXXTentacion helped shape the wave of rap during his brief career and more a bottom-of-the-barrel-scraping of partially cooked ideas he left behind.
Fred Thomas. Allmusic.com
