Juice Wrld

Jarad Anthony Higgins (December 2, 1998 – December 8, 2019), known professionally as Juice Wrld (pronounced as "Juice World"), was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, he was best known for his hit singles "All Girls Are the Same" and "Lucid Dreams" which helped him gain a recording contract with Lil Bibby's Grade A Productions and Interscope Records.

"All Girls Are the Same" and "Lucid Dreams" acted as singles for Juice Wrld's debut studio album Goodbye & Good Riddance (2018), which peaked at number six on the Billboard 200, and was eventually certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album enjoyed positive critical reception, and contained three other singles: "Armed and Dangerous", "Lean wit Me" and "Wasted", all of which charted on the Billboard Hot 100. After collaborating with Future on the mixtape Wrld on Drugs, which was released later that year and peaked at number two on the Billboard 200, Juice Wrld released his second album, Death Race for Love, in 2019. It became his first number-one album on the Billboard 200.

Juice Wrld was a heavy drug user and often detailed his use in his music. On December 8, 2019, aged 21, he suffered a seizure at Chicago's Midway Airport. Law enforcement sources say he was bleeding from the mouth when paramedics arrived at the scene and he was then rushed to hospital, where he died shortly after. The cause of the seizure is unknown at this time.

Early life

Jarad Higgins was born on December 2, 1998, in Chicago, Illinois. In 1999, he moved to Homewood, Illinois, and attended Homewood-Flossmoor High School. Higgins' parents divorced when he was three years old and his father left, leaving his mother to raise him as a single mother alongside one older brother. Higgins' mother was very religious and conservative, not letting Higgins listen to hip hop though allowing Higgins to listen to rock and pop music he found on video games such as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Guitar Hero, introducing Higgins to artists such as Billy Idol, Blink-182, Black Sabbath, Fall Out Boy, Megadeth, and Panic! at the Disco.

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, quitting in his last year of high school due to health issues. Until his death, he only smoked cannabis.

He first learned to play the piano at four years old, being inspired by his mother who later began paying for lessons, followed by guitar and drums. Higgins also played trumpet for band class. Higgins began to take rapping seriously in his sophomore year of high school.

Career

Higgins began to develop himself 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 a majority of his first tracks on a cellphone, uploading them to SoundCloud in his sophomore year. His name changed from JuicetheKidd, a name inspired by his affection for rapper Tupac Shakur and his part in the film Juice, to Juice Wrld because it "represents taking over the world."

His first track produced by his current producer Nick Mira, "Too Much Cash", was released in 2017. While releasing projects and songs on SoundCloud, Higgins worked in a factory, but was fired within two weeks after finding himself dissatisfied with the job. 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.

In mid-2017, the artist 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 signed with the latter's co-owned record label, Grade A Productions subsequently.

In December 2017, Higgins released the three-song EP Nothings Different. It was featured on numerous hip-hop blogs, such as Lyrical Lemonade, which helped Higgins's track "All Girls Are the Same" gain popularity. In February 2018, a music video directed by Cole Bennett was released. Following the video's release, Higgins was signed to Interscope Records for $3,000,000 and a remix featuring Lil Uzi Vert was previewed. "All Girls Are the Same" was critically praised, receiving a "Best New Music" designation from Pitchfork. This song and "Lucid Dreams" were Higgins's first entries on a Billboard chart, debuting at number 92 and 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively.

In May 2018, "Lucid Dreams" was officially released as a single and given a video. It has since peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and quickly became one of the biggest streaming songs of 2018. Higgins released his first studio album, Goodbye & Good Riddance, on May 23, 2018. On June 19, 2018, he released a two-song EP, Too Soon.., in remembrance of and dedicated to deceased rappers Lil Peep and XXXTentacion, the latter of whom was killed in a homicide case relating to robbery a day earlier. The song "Legends" from the EP charted under its debut at number 65.

Due to a Google Drive hack, many of Juice Wrld's unreleased songs had been extensively circulating, and in August 2018, songs began to leak. One particularly significant leak ("In My Head") revealed a collaboration with The Chainsmokers. As of now, there are over 100 leaked songs, and even more in circulation.

Higgins's first single as Juice WRLD featuring a collaboration was released on July 10, 2018, titled "Wasted" featuring Lil Uzi Vert. The song was added to Goodbye & Good Riddance and debuted at number 67 on the Billboard Hot 100. The next day, Higgins announced he was working on his next album. Following a series of leaks, Higgins' producer Danny Wolf released "Motions" on SoundCloud, giving the song an official release. On July 20, 2018, Higgins announced his first tour, "WRLD Domination" with additional acts YBN Cordae and Lil Mosey.

Higgins was featured on Travis Scott's Astroworld featuring on the song "No Bystanders" which peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. He also had his first late night television debut performing the song "Lucid Dreams" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on August 8, 2018. On October 15, 2018, the music video for the song "Armed & Dangerous" was released and the lead single for the collaboration album Wrld on Drugs with Future was also released, called "Fine China". Wrld on Drugs, Higgins’ second mixtape and a collaborative project with Future was released on October 19, 2018, via Epic Records. He also contributed to the soundtrack for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

In December, Ski Mask the Slump God confirmed that he and Juice WRLD will release a joint mixtape called Evil Twins in 2019. The pair also announced a 2019 tour featuring 30 concerts across North America, before Juice Wrld announced in February that his second studio album, Death Race for Love, would be released on March 8, 2019. He then embarked on The Nicki Wrld Tour, alongside Nicki Minaj.

On April 9, 2019, the music video for the song "Fast" was released. Later that year, he released other singles: "All Night", with RM and Suga of BTS; "Hate Me", with Ellie Goulding; "Run"; and "Graduation", with Benny Blanco.

Death

On December 8, 2019, six days after his 21st birthday, Higgins was pronounced dead at Chicago Midway Airport after suffering a seizure. According to Chicago Police Department, Higgins was bleeding from the mouth when paramedics arrived on scene.

Musical style

Higgins stated his musical influences as being genre-wide going from rock music to rap music. Higgins stated that his biggest influences were rappers Chief Keef, Travis Scott, Kanye West and British rock singer Billy Idol. His other influences included Wu-Tang Clan, Fall Out Boy, Black Sabbath, Megadeth, 2Pac, and Eminem, Kid Cudi and Escape the Fate.

Higgins' music has been branded as "emo" and "rock" leaning, "genre-bending" with music focusing on having a "every broken heart, every wounded feeling."

Personal life

In June 2018, Higgins was involved in an incident where he fell off a motorcycle, but he was safe following the incident.

In 2019, Higgins lived in Los Angeles with his girlfriend, Alexia.

Discography

Main article: Juice Wrld discography Studio albums

• Goodbye & Good Riddance (2018)
• Death Race for Love (2019)

Concert tours

• The Nicki Wrld Tour