For years, Lil Xan has been Public Enemy #1 in the hip-hop community because of his past comments about Tupac Shakur. In an infamous interview, the 23-year-old rapper disrespected the legend by saying that he has more clout than Pac. Those remarks have stuck with him and still, he has been unable to reach as far as he had hoped. Now, Lil Xan has seemingly had enough of all the hate because he’s giving up his old name and re-inventing himself under a new moniker.

The California native has flirted with the name Diego for years, which is his given name. It appears as though he is finally ready to embrace the name change and release new music using it.

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“Baby I’m coming back better than ever,” wrote the controversial rapper on Instagram. “I’m officially changing my name to ‘DIEGO’ rn, Leaving the old in the past. […] I’m restarting and reinventing myself.”

This is a great first step for Diego, who has not been a favorite for hip-hop heads. Hopefully, he starts to see a positive change in terms of the public’s perception of his music.

Will you be there for the next chapter in Diego’s career or did you give up on him a long time ago?

Lil Xan, like most Americans, is feeling the short-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic right now. We’re all cooped up in our homes, unable to go anywhere as most services have been deemed non-essential. For somebody like Lil Xan, that includes the studio, music video shoots, concerts, and more. Being the primary breadwinner of his family, a lot of responsibility is on the rapper’s shoulders to keep his loved ones afloat and, according to TMZ, the pressure bubbled up to a point where he had a panic attack so bad that he needed to be rushed to the hospital.

Lil Xan is currently quarantined at his mother’s home in Corona, California and she was the person who called an ambulance for him after he was reportedly hallucinating so badly that she was worried. 

Xan says that the doctors told him he suffered from a panic attack, but he does not remember much of the episode. He believes that the anxiety he’s been feeling as a result of the quarantine is what triggered the attack. 

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The 23-year-old adds that his album was delayed due to the pandemic, leaving him in a tough spot in terms of creating income. He is now recovering from his panic attack.

Send some love his way. Love him or hate him, this situation is not easy for anybody and nobody deserves to be suffering — even if they disrespected Tupac a few years ago.

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Plenty of friends, fans, and family of XXXTentacion took to social media to honour the late rapper this past Thursday, January 23rd, on what would have been his 22nd birthday. After he was murdered on June 18th, 2018, X did not make it to see 22, but his supporters and loved ones have ensured that his memory is kept alive by sharing some loving messages and revealing special exchanges they'd had with the rapper while he was still alive. One of those people was fellow rapper, Lil Xan, who posted a tribute to X on Instagram and shared some of the powerful advice he had given Xan.

"Happy Birthday Legend ?," Xan wrote, followed by some happy memories of X. "I met you in 2016 and we spent a week in an airbnb with other up and coming rappers to celebrate 'Look At Me' hitting 1 million ! And the way you spoke was like you were an old soul who had a purpose, that purpose was to save millions of life’s." Xan continued to heartfelt message by writing, "love you man and thank you for always giving me the best advice that I’ll cherish forever❤️ Love you man..." In the post, Xan shared a photo of X followed by a screenshot of some of their DMs. "Be empowered by it," X told Xan, followed by Xan writing, "Move in silence." X then proceeds to unleash some words of wisdom, declaring, "Get what you want out of it all, don't let them ruin your love for yourself. And beyond everything, always fear yourself. Because you are your best friend and your worst enemy." Wow.

The news of Mac Miller‘s death in September of 2018 was devastating for so many people around the world. While his friends and family were, of course, deeply affected by his passing, fans of Mac, of hip hop, and of music in general were also shocked and upset to hear he was gone. Many fellow artists in the industry, and those who just looked up to him, have shared their fond memories of crossing paths with Mac, and so many have had nothing but good things to say about the man. One such artist was Lil Xan, who has been very candid about Mac’s impact on him as an artist and how hard his death hit him. He even got a face tattoo in honour of Mac and commissioned a painting of the late rapper to remember him by. Following the news that Mac’s family will be releasing a completed, posthumous version of Mac’s album, Circles, which he was working on before his tragic death, Xan revealed he knew the name of the album for “dam near a year but wouldn’t say out of respect for everyone.”

He continued, “the fact this is dropping this month makes me wanna cry,This has made my whole fucking year and I wanna cry rn call me a bitch idc because it’s MOST DOPE FOREVER ! 412 BABYYYYY ! @macmiller @idlabsmusic ? Since 2009?.” Xan also posted a screenshot of him and Mac’s final DMs to each other.

The photo, which Xan captioned “Miss you every day malcolm ?” on Instagram, reveals the last words Xan and Mac exchanged before his untimely death on September 7th, 2018. On August 2nd, just over a month before Mac’s final moments, Xan had messaged him saying, “Bro so excited!” likely referring to his anticipation for the release of Mac’s album, Swimming, which dropped the following day on August 3rd. Mac replied with three swimming emojis (“?‍♂️?‍♂️?‍♂️”) followed by, “My guy,” confirming the meaning of the message. Xan messaged him again on October 3rd, less than a month after Mac had passed, writing, “Miss you man ❤️.” 

These were not Mac’s very final words to him, though. Xan has revealed that Mac’s final words to him were, “Be safe,” which became the name of Xan’s tribute album to Mac that he’s been working on for over a year now. A big reason that Mac’s passing had such a massive effect on Xan was their similar struggles with substance abuse. Mac’s tragic passing was the result of a drug overdose, and Xan has opened up about how losing so many of his friends (XXXTentacion and Lil Peep along with Mac) to drug-related deaths got him seriously considering getting sober. Circles will drop January 17th, 2020.