Craig Xen

Gordwin was born on October 24, 1994, in Houston, Texas. He was raised Catholic and frequented a Catholic school until 6th grade.[2] In an interview with Adam22 in February 2016, he stated that he was raised by his mother while his father spent time in jail and that he started rapping when he was 6 years old with his cousin.[3] He grew up listening to Screwed Up Click, Green Day, Linkin Park, Eminem and Lil B, the last one being one of his biggest musical inspiration.[4][5] The last name in his stage name, Xen (formerly Zen) came from the time he was in high school when Xen was interested by spirituality, used hallucinogens and practised meditation.[6]

Craig Xen released his first song, "H.D.A.B.", in April 2013 on SoundCloud featuring his cousin Kay Rillo.[3][7] In 2015, before joining Members Only, he was a member of the Schemaposse collective, which included rappers JGRXXN, Lil Peep and Ghostemane, until their dissolution.[8] In February 2016, he released the song "Good Fellas" featuring Pouya and Shakewell.[9]

In 2016, Craig Xen joined the hip hop collective Members Only, which was originally a duo between XXXTentacion and Ski Mask the Slump God. Xen appeared on 4 songs from the mixtape Members Only, Vol. 3, released on June 26, 2017.[10][11] The hip hop collective's debut album, Members Only, Vol. 4, was released on January 23, 2019, by Empire.[12] The project debuted at number 18 on the US Billboard 200[13] and Craig Xen appeared on 8 songs.[14]

During the year 2016, Xen released few songs like "Death to He Who Cross Me",[15] "Six Men, One Casket"[16] and "Blueberry Lemonade" featuring Lil Peep and Nedarb.[17] Craig Xen was featured on XXXTentacion's single "I Wonder If Bloods Watch Blues Clues".[18][19] Another collaborative single, "Crucify Thy Infant, Son of Whore" with XXXTentacion and Garette Revenge was released in May 2017.[20] His first studio album, Voltage,[21] was released by label Cruel World in October 2017. His second studio album, Hell Bent,[22][23] was released in May 2018 by Empire with singles like "Killa" featuring Yung Bans[24] or "Murder" featuring Wifisfuneral.[25]

Craig Xen was featured alongside Lil Skies on Gnar's song "Death Note".[26] The music video for the song was directed by Cole Bennett and was published on Lyrical Lemonade YouTube channel on June 4, 2019.[27][28] Craig Xen's first extended play, Broken Kids Club, was released in June 2019 by Cruel World and Empire.[29][30] The project is supported by songs "Run it Back!" with XXXTentacion[8][31][32] and "Stain" featuring Ski Mask the Slump God and Smokepurpp.[29][33] A music video for the project's song "Cry Baby, Cell 17", directed by JMP, was published on July 17, 2019[34][35] and another music video for the song "Run it Back!", also directed by JMP, was released on July 30, 2019.[36][37] was released. Craig Xen was featured on the song "The Only Time I Feel Alive" from XXXTentacion's posthumous album Bad Vibes Forever, which was released in December 2019.[38][39]