The Posthumous Promotion: Is Every Dead Rapper Suddenly A Legend?

Rapper: XXXTENTACION (Illustrated by R.K / RABBI KUMI)

Introduction:

Death has become the fastest career upgrade in hip-hop. The moment a rapper passes away, something strange happens. Streams go up. IG followers go up. And people who never publicly supported them suddenly post broken-heart emojis and write paragraphs about “what they meant to the culture.”

It doesn’t matter whether the artist had one breakout tape, a cult following, or was still figuring things out creatively. Once they’re gone, Criticism disappears. The internet collectively labels them as a legend.

But here’s the uncomfortable question. Are we honoring the artist or are we putting them on a pedestal because they died?

Death As A Cultural Boost:

From 2PAC to The Notorious B.I.G., death didn’t just end careers; it gave them a cultural boost. Their music froze in time. No bad albums. No awkward reinventions. No decline. Just a permanent snapshot of potential.

But in the streaming era, that cultural boost happens instantly. When artists like Juice WRLD or XXXTENTACION  passed, their streams, monthly listeners, and IG followers skyrocketed. But what if Ice Spice died in 2023 when she still had a ‘’run’’, would we consider her a legend too? Would she get called a pioneer of New York Drill?

The Myth of Untouched Potential:

Part of what fuels posthumous legend status is potential. An artist who dies young doesn’t have time to fail publicly. They don’t release a disappointing album. They don’t switch genres awkwardly. They don’t fall off. They remain respected because absence is power. They can do no wrong in death.

We don’t just mourn who they were. We mythologize who they could have been. And that imagined future often becomes bigger than the actual catalog.

The Next ‘’Big 3’’ Debate:

And that imagined future leads us to an interesting debate about why hip hop nowadays feels so empty and how older rappers are carrying the game instead of the younger ones. Everybody is echoing the fact that rappers like: XXXTENTACION, Juice WRLD, and Pop Smoke were going to take over the rap game as the next Big 3 rappers.

Right now, we are still in the era of hip hop, where rappers like Kendrick Lamar, J.Cole, and Drake are still musically relevant. But when we look at rappers like Lil Uzi Vert, who, over the years, has dropped lackluster albums, he doesn’t get put in the ‘’Next Big 3’’ category because we have seen him miss.

My point is that if XXXTENTACION was still alive, best believe he would have dropped music that didn’t necessarily hit. The same thing can be said for Juice WRLD and especially Pop Smoke, who wasn’t long enough in the game to even prove himself to be an artist that could sustain longevity. Pop Smoke didn’t even get to do his XXL Freshman cover.

Why We Do This:

It’s easy to blame labels or fans, but there’s something human underneath it. Death forces clarity. It softens criticism. It reminds us that time is limited. When someone dies, we don’t want to talk about flaws. We want to celebrate the person.

Calling someone a “legend” becomes a way of making the grief make sense. But legend used to mean something specific. Cultural transformation. Longevity. Influence across generations. Now, it often just means: we’re sad.

Hip-Hop’s Unique Relationship with Loss:

Hip-hop, more than most genres, has been shaped by early death. Violence and addiction are ongoing problems within the community. So when a rapper dies, especially young, the reaction isn’t just musical. It’s an energy felt across the world. But that doesn’t mean every artist automatically becomes untouchable. We can grieve without rewriting history. We can respect without exaggerating.

Absence In The Culture:

There’s something ironic about how quick we are to crown legends after they’re gone, while hesitating to give artists their flowers when they’re alive. Familiarity breeds contempt. Absence creates respect. Maybe the real issue isn’t that we honor the dead too much. Or maybe the younger artists in their 20s like Yeat, Ken Carson, Lil Tecca, NBA YoungBoy, and many others aren’t just making good enough music for people to even forget about XXXTENTACION, Juice WRLD, and Pop Smoke, who at this point have been dead for more than 5 years.  

Conclusion:

Not every artist who dies is a legend. Some were promising. Some were influential in specific scenes. Some were flawed. Some were still growing. But I just hope we see fewer What If’ stories and people dying before turning 21. Because when every loss becomes a legend, the word stops meaning anything.