That decision wasn't made without reason: the L.A. Times reported from sources that Capitol Music Group head Steve Barnett told staffers they could raise their concerns about signing XXXTentacion, but that the signing was to grow their market share in hip-hop and rap. The company has not publicly commented on the decision. Bartnett has been around the industry for a long time — he started his career in the '70s. He was previously the head of Epic and Columbia Records prior to joining Capitol in 2012, at a time when much of the labels' successes were in rock music. He doesn't necessarily have a lot of history in rap. So maybe he thought this was a situation like the '90s, where hip-hop artists come with a checkered past, and that informs their art. It's one thing to be YG and have a history with gang violence and rap about robbing people's houses in this day and age. It's quite another to have committed intimate partner violence. There is a vast difference between the violence of growing up on the streets and physically trying to kill your intimate partner. But Barnett's risk paid off, because the first album he released with XXXTentacion went right to No. 1.