“vice city” is the earliest song publicly available on XXXTENTACION’s SoundCloud. The song is a classic to many fans with its melancholy melody, cynical lyrics with the juxtaposition of Laura Mvula’s sample of “Sing to the Moon,” proving the versatility X has with his music, switching from rage rap to deep, pondering music. X has stated that he likes to blend and cross genres and “vice city” only serves to support this point.

The name “vice city” derives from the famous video game franchise, Grand Theft Auto, most notably from the sixth game in the series, Grand Theft Auto Vice City. Knowing X was born and lived in Florida, it can be interesting to note that the game’s story takes place in a city inspired by Miami. The song’s cover art is also a screenshot from the game.

“vice city” is part of his partially lost debut mixtape, XXX (UNMASTERED). The mixtape consists of his earlier songs from 2013-2014 but “vice city” remains to be the only track of the mixtape that has not been deleted by X.

On January 23, 2022, what would have been X’s 24th birthday, X’s estate announced the official release of “vice city” on all streaming services on the following Friday.

The song’s instrumental was made by Canis Major and uploaded to YouTube as a free beat. X slightly sped it up, but the original is still available online: