Juice WRLD

Jarad Anthony HigginsJarad Anthony Higgins (December 2, 1998 – December 8, 2019), known professionally as Juice Wrld (pronounced "juice world"; stylized as Juice WRLD), was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is considered to be a leading figure in the development and popularity of emo-rap and SoundCloud rap. Hisrap.His stage name is derived from the film Juice (1992) and he stated it represents "taking over the world".

Higgins began his career as an independent artist in 2015 and signed a recording contract with Grade A Productions and Interscope Records in 2017. He is best known for his tracks "All Girls Are the Same", "Lucid Dreams", "Armed and Dangerous", "Lean wit Me", "Wasted", "Robbery" and "Hear Me Calling". Juice gained recognition with his 2018 single "Lucid Dreams", which peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was included on his triple platinum debut studio album Goodbye & Good Riddance (2018), alongside the singles "All Girls Are the Same", "Lean wit Me", "Wasted", and "Armed and Dangerous", all of which charted on the Hot 100. He then collaborated with Future on the mixtape Wrld on Drugs (2018), and released his second album, Death Race for Love, in 2019; it contained the platinum singles "Robbery" and "Hear Me Calling" and became Higgins' first number one debut on the US Billboard 200.

Chicago-area hip-hop musician Juice WRLD delivers introspective lyrics atop melodic production, echoing Travis Scott and Post Malone. Born Jarad Higgins in 1998, the Calumet Park artist grew up playing piano, drums, and guitar, turning to rap freestyling in high school. Influenced by rock music and Chicago drill from Lil Durk and Chief Keef, Higgins began recording as Juice TheKidd, a moniker derived from his haircut, which resembled 2Pac's in the film Juice.

His early tracks were all posted online, leading up to 2017's Juice WRLD 999 EP. Produced by Nick Mira and Sidepce, the set included the singles "Lucid Dreams (Forget Me)" and "All Girls Are the Same". Both tracks would also land on his official debut full-length album, Goodbye & Good Riddance, which peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200 upon release in May 2018.

Jarad Anthony Higgins was born on December 2, 1998, in Chicago, Illinois.He grew up in the South Suburbs spending his childhood in Calumet Park and later moving to Homewood, where he attended Homewood-Flossmoor High School and graduated in 2017. His parents divorced when he was three years old, and his father left, leaving his mother to raise him and an older brother as a single parent.Higgins' father passed away in June 2019.Higgins' mother was very religious and conservative, and did not let him listen to hip hop. He was allowed to listen to rock and pop music, however, being introduced to artists including Billy Idol, Blink-182, Black Sabbath, Fall Out Boy, Megadeth and Panic! at the Disco through video games such as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Guitar Hero.

Higgins was a heavy drug user during his childhood and teens. He began drinking lean in sixth grade and using percocets and xanax in 2013. Higgins also smoked cigarettes briefly before quitting in his last year of high school because of health issues.

He learned to play the piano at four years old, having been inspired by his mother, Carmella Wallace, who later began paying for lessons. He then took up the guitar and drums while also playing the trumpet for band class. In his sophomore year of high school, he began posting songs to SoundCloud which he recorded on his smartphone. Around this time, Higgins began to take rapping more seriously.

2015–2017: Beginnings, record deal, and early projects

Higgins began to develop as an artist in his first year of high school. His first track, "Forever", was released on SoundCloud in 2015 under the name JuicetheKidd. Higgins recorded most of his first tracks on a cellphone, uploading them to SoundCloud in his sophomore year. He changed his name from JuicetheKidd, a name inspired by his affection for rapper Tupac Shakur's role in the film Juice, to Juice Wrld because he and his associates believed the change would benefit his career. In an interview with the Atlanta radio station WHTA, Higgins revealed that the latter part of his stage name initially had no meaning but that he came to think it "represents taking over the world". "Too Much Cash", Higgins' first track to be produced by frequent collaborator Nick Mira, was released in 2017. While releasing projects and songs on SoundCloud, Higgins worked in a factory but was dissatisfied with the job; he was fired within two weeks.After joining the internet collective Internet Money, Higgins released his debut full-length EP, 9 9 9, on June 15, 2017, with the song "Lucid Dreams" breaking out and growing his following. Higgins also briefly performed under the name Juice in early 2017.

In mid-2017, he began to receive attention from artists such as Waka Flocka Flame and Southside, as well as fellow Chicago artists G Herbo and Lil Bibby. He subsequently signed with Lil Bibby's co-owned record label, Grade A Productions.

Musical style

Higgins said his musical influences were genre-wide from rock to rap music, and that his biggest influences were rappers Travis Scott, Chief Keef, Kanye West and British rock singer Billy Idol.Billboard writer Michael Saponara claimed, "If West and his sparse 808s were a tree, it would have grown another branch with the blossoming art displayed by fellow Chicago native Juice WRLD in 2018".Higgins was among the ranks of openly vulnerable artists born from the emo rap scene inspired by West's influential fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak (2008). During an interview with All Def Music, Higgins said, "I was singing "Street Lights" like I had shit to be sad about. Kanye West is a time traveler. That nigga went to damn near 2015 and came back with some sauce". His other influences included Wu-Tang Clan, Quietdrive, Fall Out Boy, Black Sabbath, The Starting Line, The Cranberries, The City Drive, Tupac, Eminem, XXXTentacion, Kid Cudi and Escape The Fate.

Higgins' music has been branded as "emo" and "rock" leaning, "genre-bending" with music focusing on "every broken heart, every wounded feeling". More specifically, he has been labeled as a hip hop,trap, emo rap, and SoundCloud rap artist. With a penchant for short, hook-heavy songs, Higgins seemed a leading figure for the current era of hip-hop. In 2018, the streaming platform Spotify named "emo rap" its fastest growing genre. Higgins achieved arguably the most mainstream success of any artist in the sub-genre. This was boosted by his collaboration with Panic! at the Disco frontman Brendon Urie.Higgins himself considered the emo label to be both negative and positive as he felt music sometimes has to be a bit dark to reflect his belief that the world is not really a light or a happy place.

Higgins said that "Lucid Dreams" was the only track from Goodbye & Good Riddance that he wrote, while the rest was done impromptu. Rather than write down his rhymes, Higgins crafted whole songs in a few minutes by way of off-the-cuff rhyming.Most of the time, his songwriting process involved freestyling lyrics instead of writing them down. When he did write a song, it usually began with hearing a beat and instantaneously conceiving an idea, although Higgins sometimes found himself alone with an idea for a song and afraid that he would be unable to remember it hours later after arriving at the studio. For this reason, he sometimes took a voice memo or simply wrote the whole song.

Higgins saw the value in his position as one of very few contemporary SoundCloud artists who could compose soul-bearing ballads and odes but remain comfortable freestyle rapping over classic hip hop beats. Rather than eschewing it, his freestyles emphasize wordplay and feel indebted to the art form's tradition. When asked for his opinion on why freestyles are no longer considered the rite of passage in hip hop culture as they once were he replied, "Stuff is just changing, that's all. We're moving into a new era of music. I feel like it's not necessarily a good thing to forget where shit started, but shit is changing".Though his songs do not always feature very technical lyricism, intricate flows or tongue-twisting wordplay, Higgins delivered inventive flows and memorable bars during his freestyles.

Lyrical themes

His most successful singles express melodic, emo-inspired compositions that exhibit his songwriting skill.His songs harbor melodic flows to complement their melancholic subjects.Higgins claimed he talked about things others are thinking but are afraid to speak about, such as being vulnerable and hurt. Having built a following through emo rap, Higgins offered lyrics that touch on heartbreak and fragmented feelings.Though not entirely groundbreaking, his musical approach provided a sense of familiarity that heartbroken adolescents of the current generation could gravitate towards. Higgins maintained that he only wrote from personal experience, and found strength in his pain and vulnerability.While the lyrical content of his songs often centered on heartache and bitterness, there are occasionally more boastful lines and creative references.

Higgins had a history of drug abuse that began at an early age, and he spoke openly about his experiences. His mother claimed that he was also dealing with anxiety and depression on top of his battle with drug addiction.Higgins had agreed to attend drug rehabilitation weeks prior to his death.

He was living in Los Angeles with his girlfriend, Ally Lotti, at the time of his death.The pair revealed that they were dating via Instagram in November 2018.

On December 8, 2019, Higgins was aboard a private Gulfstream jet flying from Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles to Midway International Airport in Chicago. Law enforcement officers were waiting for the jet to arrive, having been notified by federal agents, while the flight was en route, that they suspected there were guns and drugs on the plane. Law enforcement officials later revealed that they found 70 lb (32 kg) of marijuana on the aircraft and said several members of Higgins' management team aboard the flight told them that Higgins had taken "several unknown pills", including allegedly swallowing multiple Percocet pills to hide them while police were on board the plane searching the luggage.

Higgins then began convulsing and seizing, after which two doses of the emergency medication Narcan were administered as an opioid overdose was suspected. Higgins was transported to the nearby Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead. On January 22, 2020, the Cook County Medical Examiner stated that Higgins died as a result of toxic levels of oxycodone and codeine present in his system.Higgins' funeral was held on December 13, 2019, at the Holy Temple Cathedral Church of God in Christ in Harvey, Illinois. Friends and family were in attendance, including collaborators Ski Mask the Slump God and Young Thug.