Rapper Juice WRLD Dead at 21 — What Happened?
Sad news here: Rapper Jarad “Juice WRLD” Higgins has passed away.
Juice WRLD was a beloved figure in the music industry, known for his moody lyrics and artistic range. He experienced a meteoric rise to fame in 2018 following the release of his hit song, “Lucid Dreams,” and went on to work with the likes of Future and Travis Scott. But on Dec. 8, the “All Girls Are the Same” artist died suddenly. What happened?
A quick look at Juice WRLD’s life and career
Juice WRLD was born on Dec. 2, 1998 in Chicago, Illinois. As a kid, he learned to play the piano, drums, and guitar, according to iHeartRadio.
In later years, he started making music. Influenced by acts such as Chief Keef, Tupac, Blink 182, and Megadeth, he began rapping under the name Juice TheKidd before switching to Juice WRLD. His name is reportedly inspired by Tupac Shakur’s performance in 1992’s Juice.
In 2015, Juice WRLD started releasing music, per Genius.
“After a while, I noticed that I was developing a SoundCloud presence, what I thought was a lot—like 10K in four days—and it wasn’t even 10,000 people staying in my neighborhood,” he told Complex in 2018. “It was a lot, and it told me to keep going.”
Juice WRLD’s claim to fame
In 2017, he uploaded “Lucid Dreams,” which would become his claim to fame. The track launched him onto mainstream radars, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It would later appear on his debut album, Goodbye & Good Riddance, which came out in May 2018 and rose to No. 4 on the Billboard 200, according to XXL.
In March 2018, Juice WRLD reportedly inked a $3 million deal with Interscope Records. The same year, he got to work with one of his icons, Future, for a mixtape called Wrld on Drugs and appeared on Travis Scott’s Grammy-nominated album, ASTROWORLD.
But 2019 was arguably his biggest year. In March, Juice WRLD released his second album, Death Race for Love, which took the No. 1 spot on the charts.
Despite being on top of his game, Juice WRLD dealt with substance abuse. XXL reported that he started drinking lean in the sixth grade.
But in July of 2019, he announced on Twitter that he was kicking the habit after scaring his girlfriend, Ally.
“Bae I’m sorry I be tweaking, you’ve put up with more than ppl know I know I be scaring you, f*ck Codeine I’m done,” he wrote in a tweet to Ally. “I love you and I’m letting it be known publicly that ain’t sh*t f*cking up the real love I found. Learn from this everyone. Addiction kills all but you can overcome.”
“It just wasn’t healthy,” he later said of his decision to quit. “People really be dying off these things. I’m tryna avoid that.”
Juice WRLD passes away
On Dec. 8, TMZ reported that Juice WRLD died after having a seizure in Chicago’s Midway International Airport.
Earlier in the day, Juice WRLD had just gotten off a flight from California and was walking through the airport when he collapsed. When paramedics arrived, the rapper was reportedly bleeding from his mouth. He was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
As of writing, his cause of death is unknown. But officials are investigating.
We send our condolences to his loved ones.
