Jarad Anthony Higgins, known professionally as Juice Wrld, died on Saturday at the age of 21, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office in Illinois.
He was pronounced dead at 3:14 am at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois. The office said the cause of his death was not available and an autopsy was to be done.
He was one of the rising American rappers who emerged from the streaming platform “SoundCloud” in recent years.
His sharp, catchy songs combined the melodic hip-hop instincts with the heavy-hearted angst and nasal hooks.
Last year, the rapper told The New York Times, “I’ve always been different. I used to try to hide it a little bit, but now I have a platform for being different.”
He started posting his songs online, which were recorded directly onto his cellphone. He came to the limelight only after making his EP debut “9 9 9” in June 2017.
Juice was signed to Interscope Records at 19 after his breakout breakup song “All Girls Are the Same” took off on SoundCloud. And then he rose to success with one of his hit songs – Lucid Dreams – another belted and distressed lullaby, which went on to hit #2 on the Billboard singles chart.
In 2018, his first album, “Goodbye & Good Riddance” was released. His other song, “Death Race for Love” debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 in March. He also released “Wrld on Drugs,” a combination of the rapper Future and a stylistic forebear.
Juice frequently tried to touch on mental health themes, including sufferings and mortality in his songs.
Born in Chicago on December 2, 1998, Juice was raised by a single mother. He was introduced to music in his childhood through piano lessons. He used to listen to local rappers such as Kanye West and Chief Keef.
He often spoke openly about his struggles with drug abuse, including his exposure and addiction to prescription drugs such as Xanax and Percocet while he was in high school. In an interview with No Jumper, Juice said, “Drug use opens doors to feel emotions that you probably wouldn’t usually feel but it can destroy you – utterly destroy you.” He told The Times, “I smoke weed, and every now and then I slip up and do something that’s poor judgment. I have a lot going for me, I recognize it’s a lot of big things, a lot of big looks. I want to be there, and you don’t have to overdose to not be there.”
