XXXTentacion’s ‘Moonlight’ Music Video Drops Posthumously

XXXTentacion fans were treated to the second posthumous release of an official music video from his ? album — after the late Florida rapper’s YouTube channel uploaded a music video for “Moonlight” on Sunday night, September 30.

Entering the weekend, The Inquisitr reported on how a Broward County courtroom’s public airing of previously unseen surveillance footage from the scene of his murder left many struggling with a fresh reminder of XXXTentacion’s untimely passing. Some of the sorrow that lingered would subside thanks to Lil Wayne surprising the rap world with the inclusion of X’s vocals on Tha Carter V‘s opening musical number, “Don’t Cry.” But being able to actually see the artist — born as Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy — once again no doubt provided an extra bit of closure for those who continue to stream his catalog on a regular basis.

“Moonlight” starts off by citing XXXTentacion as having written and provided creative direction for the JMP and Joey Szela production. The black screen backing the video’s credits then blends to the wooded setting of a late night party that is being hosted beneath the moon. For most of the video, XXXTentacion remains crouched over to the side, where he seemingly enjoys people-watching as he listens to music in deep thought. Moments in, it becomes apparent that his mind is on this one particular young woman, who he catches fleeting glances of. At one point X appears to walk through the gathering in search for the mysterious woman, but he never does get to come in contact with her.

As Billboard would report, nine of the eighteen tracks featured on ‘?’ went on to make the Hot 100 chart the week after XXXTentacion’s fatal shooting. Among those, only the 4X Platinum “SAD!” outperformed “Moonlight,” which topped out at No. 13 and — to this day — is recognized as his second most popular song.

“SAD!” had already enjoyed a measure of commercial success prior to XXXTentacion’s passing, but the grief that fans endured on June 18 resulted in the single breaking the single-day streaming record that Taylor Swift had held at the time. The release of a posthumous video to support the song only 10 days later would further send it into orbit. What especially resonated about the video was how it eerily placed XXX at his own funeral, thus leading to a great deal of buzz from fans speculating that he might have been predicting his own death.

While “Moonlight” doesn’t give off a prophetic message in the same manner, the pensive solitude and free-spiritedness that projects from choosing to keep to one’s self in the mix of a party definitely captures some essence of the artist. “Moonlight” preserves his identity as that rapper who shot onto the scene with the help of a XXL 2017 Freshman Class photo shoot, and stands in as a message for the spirit that saw him break from the group to do his own thing in his own style.