Billie Eilish Says XXXTentacion Was “A Complete Tortured Genius”

Although Billie Eilish does not entirely fit within the realm of hip-hop, she is one of the most popular musicians in the entire world and has some pretty strong connections to the genre. For instance, she brought Denzel Curry on tour with her and has collaborated with a number of rappers in the past. Some of her influences include Tyler, The Creator and Childish Gambino and even though she might not be spitting bars, her music does contain elements of trap production. She recently sat down with XXL to speak about her ties to hip-hop as a whole, honing in on her relationship with XXXTentacion during the talk.

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The “Bad Guy” singer has defended XXXTentacion in the past, mourning him publicly following his death last year and getting some backlash for it. She won’t stop supporting him though because in her most recent interview, she spoke again about the late superstar, remembering his creative mind and noting how it’s crazy that he’s only grown in popularity. “I think it’s kind of unfair when something gets more popular after someone passes,” she said before touching on X. “I remember in the midst of it, at the beginning, when I found him on SoundCloud. I had no idea who he was or anything about his backstory at all. I barely knew what he looked like. I just messed with what he was creating because it wasn’t something I had heard before. It was a mix between, you know, all types of shit. And that was without me having any knowledge of anything in his life: who he was, who he knew, anything at all.”

She went a little more in-depth about how much she respects Jah, telling her fans that the man was an absolute magician in the studio. “I think it’s still popular because he was a complete tortured genius,” says Eilish about X’s music.

Elsewhere in the interview, she gives her props to Denzel Curry, Philadelphia rapper Tierra Whack, and others.