Juice WRLD, the rising Chicago-born rapper who topped the album charts in 2019 with his acclaimed album Death Race for Love, has died at the age of 21.
The rapper born Jarad Higgins reportedly suffered a seizure at Chicago’s Midway Airport on Sunday; he was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead, TMZ first reported. The Cook County medical examiner confirmed Higgins’ death to the New York Times.
“A 21-year-old male suffered a medical emergency and was transferred to [Advocate Christ Medical Center] in Oak Lawn where he was pronounced dead,” a rep for the Chicago Police Department told Rolling Stone; authorities would not identify the male as the investigation was still pending. No cause of death was provided.
In just a two-year span, Juice WRLD landed three albums into the upper reaches of the album charts: Following his breakout single “All Girls Are the Same,” Higgins made his debut in 2018 with Goodbye & Good Riddance, which boasted the unexpected Hot 100 hit “Lucid Dreams.” The rapper followed that up with WRLD on Drugs, a collaborative mixtape with Future that peaked at Number 2 on the album charts.
Proving he was more than a one-hit wonder, Juice WRLD’s Death Race for Love placed Number 40 on Rolling Stone’s Best Albums of 2019 list. “People say that they can hear the rock influence, the Blink-182 influence, the emo influence in my music, but on this album you can hear ev-er-y-thing,” Juice WRLD told Rolling Stone. “I have songs for the trap house, songs for the sock hop, songs for the Caribbeans, songs for raves, songs for slow dancing.”
Recently, Higgins landed another hit with “Bandit” featuring NBA Youngboy; the single has already accrued 78 millions on YouTube.
In July 2018, following the deaths of fellow young rappers Lil Peep and XXXTentacion, Juice WLRD released the Soundcloud single “Legends.” “What’s the 27 Club? / We ain’t making it past 21,” Higgins said on the track. “They tell me I’m a be a legend / I don’t want that title now / ‘Cause all the legends seem to die out / What the fuck is this about?”
The rapper also sat down with Rolling Stone for our First Time series, where Higgins discussed writing his first song in fifth grade, working with Future and hiding his music from his mother:
rip juice wrld 💔
— chloe x halle (@chloexhalle) December 8, 2019