Juice WRLD: A Legacy Left Behind

On Sunday, Dec. 8, 21-year-old Chicago rapper Jarad Higgins, better known as Juice WRLD, suffered a seizure induced cardiac arrest at Midway Airport. He was pronounced dead at 3:15 a.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois.

After his death, federal agents searched his luggage and found over 70 pounds of marijuana, six bottles of codeine, and two 9 mm pistols. Higgins took several Percocet pills in order to hide them from federal agents. When asked by police, the rapper’s girlfriend stated that he took Percocet’s regularly and had “a drug problem.” He was transparent in interviews about his experimentation with drugs as a youth, and his songs continued to reference their presence in his life.  

His death came as a shock to many, especially considering a recent trend on the video sharing app TikTok where creators would lip sync to his song “Lucid Dreams” whilst pretending to have a seizure. Higgins has also hinted about his own death in the past, stating in his 2018 single “Legends,” “What’s the 27 club? We ain’t making it passed 21,” and his 2018 single “Rich and Blind,” “They tell me the death of me gon’ be the Perkys.” The day of his passing, Higgins’ music was streamed 38.2 million times, which was nearly triple the amount of any other artist that day. 

“The main reason he impacted me is because he focused pretty heavily on mental health with his music and really tried to make music to help others. It cuts even deeper that he was so young and had only really scratched the surface both in music and with his cultural impact,” said UWM freshman Tyler Dodge. “My brain is just kinda moving in slow motion right now.”

Higgins did a lot to help put a new style of hip hop known as “Emo Rap” on the mainstream map. This genre is mainly influenced by the hard-hitting trap and moody cloud rap that has dominated the charts throughout much of this decade, incorporating vocals influenced by 2000’s fusions of emo and pop punk, and lyrics about emotional struggles. Higgins found that as he revealed more of himself through his music, he struck a deeper connection with his growing fan base and plugged into a style that was already resonating through contemporaries such as Lil Peep and XXXTentacion. These rappers conflated heartbreak and depression with self-medication, not so much celebrating drugs as viewing them as a last resort, a way to tamp down the pain that was eating them alive. In this world, death seemed not only inevitable but imminent.

His 2018 breakout album “Goodbye & Good Riddance” contained some of the biggest singles in this entire wave such as “All Girls Are the Same” and “Lucid Dreams.” His follow up album “Death Race for Love,” released earlier in 2019, saw Higgins continuing to push his sound forward, doubling down on rawer vocals and music that combined the sounds of real instruments with synthesizers. Singles like “Robbery” and “Hear Me Calling” are good examples of this, containing sad pianos and emo inspired vocal delivery. 

“It’s a shame that he left this Earth as soon as he did, as he was quickly becoming a big name in modern hip hop, and the music he released was impactful. He was an artist who defined this era of the genre like few others did, and hopefully won’t be forgotten anytime soon,” said sophomore Nick Giordano. “I’ve been a fan of his music since his first album came out and his music helped me get through some tough times. He was also our age, so it really puts things into perspective.”

Juice Wrld now joins a tragic list of relatively recent hip-hop deaths: Lil Peep, XXXTentacion, Mac Miller, Nipsey Hussle. “I talk about a lot of issues I go through and some of my fans go through and try to create a fellowship where people can relate to each other,” he told the Chicago Tribune in 2018. “I’m not worried about anyone getting the wrong idea or stereotyping what I’m doing. My music is straightforward because I want to give people me and let them know they’re not alone in going through the things that they go through.”

Nearly a week after his tragic and sudden death, family and close friends gathered near Chicago to celebrate the life of Juice WRLD. The 21-year-old recording artist was laid to rest during a private ceremony at the Holy Temple Cathedral Church of God in Harvey, Illinois on Friday December 13^th. The funeral program featured a photo collage of the rapper, born Jarad Anthony Higgins, and a touching dedication from his mother, Carmella Wallace.