Though his voice was silenced early, the music of Juice WRLD will echo throughout the hip-hop landscape for generations to come. Born Jarad Anthony Higgins in 1998 in Chicago, Illinois, Juice WRLD learned to play music at an early age. While being raised by a protective mother, Jared was not allowed to listen to hip-hop. So, his first introduction to music was through pop and rock, and he developed a love for punk acts like Blink-182, metal legends like Black Sabbath, and emo icons like Fall Out Boy through such outlets like iHeartRadio and the ‘Guitar Hero’ franchise. In high school, he began his hip-hop career, freestyling as a teen and recording music under the name Juice TheKidd (the name being an homage to Tupac Shakur and the movie ‘Juice’). His music on SoundCloud began to get a buzz, and he signed with Lil Bibby’s Grade A Productions, which (through Interscope) released his debut album, ‘Goodbye & Good Riddance,’ in 2018.
In 2019, he followed that up with ‘Death Race For Love,’ and seemed like he was headed for a new level of fame – when tragedy struck. Juice WRLD died on Dec. 8, 2019, due to an accidental overdose. Since then, the work of the prolific rapper has been shared with his fans, including 2020’s ‘Legends Never Die.’
