Juice WRLD

Background

Jarad Anthony Higgins, professionally known as Juice WRLD, was born on December 2, 1998, in Chicago, Illinois. Higgins spent his childhood in Calumet Park and his teen years were spent in Homewood. His parents separated when he was three years old, and he lived with his mother and older brother. He developed an appreciation for hip-hop as well as rock music during this period. Despite being raised in a conservative environment by his mother, who didn’t allow him to listen to hip-hop, he was encouraged to explore rock and pop music, leading to his interest in artists such as Blink-182, Black Sabbath, Fall Out Boy, and others. At a young age, he learned to play various musical instruments, including the piano, guitar, drums, and trumpet. It was during his sophomore year that he started releasing songs on SoundCloud and began to take his music seriously.

Juice kicked off his career as an independent artist, releasing songs online before he signed a recording contract with Grade A Productions and Interscope Record. After releasing several bodies of work, one of his tracks called ‘Lucid Dreams’ went viral, peaking at number two on the U.S. Billboard 100. In 2017, he released the “Juice WRLD 999” E.P. which was produced by Nick Mira and Sidepce. He then released his debut album “Goodbye & Good Riddance” which included the singles ‘All Girls Are the Same’ and ‘Lean Wit Me.’ He gained popularity and was even dubbed one of the pioneers of the emo-rap genre. In 2019, his single ‘Robbery’ was released as part of the rollout of his second album “Death Race For Love.” Commercially, the album performed well as it peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold.

Unfortunately, Higgins life was cut short when he died from a drug overdose just days after he turned 21. Several months after his passing and with the approval of his estate, his label released his posthumous album, “Legends Never Die,” which entered the Billboard 200. In 2021, another posthumous project called “Fighting Demons” was released, which featured high-profile artists including Justin Bieber and Suga from BTS.