Remembering Juice WRLD

At the anniversary of his death, we pay tribute to the artist who helped define emo-rap on Soundcloud, collaborated with underground music producers and changed the conversation around mental health in hip-hop.

By Mariia Ustimenko

"Juice Wrld" by thecomeupshow

In five years since uploading his first track on SoundCloud, Juice WRLD had achieved a sweeping career in music. He performed at arenas with the likes of Nicki Minaj, created an EP with one of his rap heroes Future, and scored collaborations with era-defining artists like Lil Uzi Vert, The Weeknd and Ellie Goulding. His openness about anxiety, depression and addiction had touched millions of people and left a global legacy. “That’s part of being honest, telling people how you feel, not beating around the bush,” he told Genius. The interview took place during the campaign that raised funds for 100 Black Men of Chicago, the charity that guides young people and provides a role model for those who are struggling. It’d done so for Juice WRLD and that’s what he was trying to do for others.

Born in 1998 and growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, a city with a rich legacy of rap and hip-hop, Juice WRLD was listening to the likes of Kanye West and Travis Scott in secret. His parents were divorced and with dad mostly out of the picture, his mom didn’t allow the genre at home. The often-explicit lyrics didn’t sit right with her religious views but she was the one who introduced her son to Billy Idol, one of his main musical influences. She nurtured his broad interest in music, also paying for piano lessons and supporting him when he wanted to learn drums and guitar, as well as to play trumpet in a band class. And when Juice WRLD decided to become a rapper as a freshman, his high school’s radio station gave him the first platform to freestyle.

Using only a phone to record, Juice WRLD, known as JuicetheKidd back then, released his first song titled “Forever” on SoundCloud. The platform was just beginning to create a new type of artist, the one who would first become popular online and then go on to achieve mainstream success. It’s birthed a whole movement of superstars – SoundCloud rappers – and the sub-genre called emo-rap, which gained prominence due to artists such as XXXTentacion and Lil Peep. The emotional lyrics, akin to those of Panic! At The Disco and Blink 182, melodic hip-hop beats and an occasional guitar riff are the main characteristics of this sound. Juice WRLD, whose interest in both rap and alt-rock of the 2000s had placed him in a prime position to succeed in the genre, soon began gaining a following and attracting the industry folk’s attention.  

But before the big labels came looking, Juice WRLD had reached out to the up-and-coming collective Internet Money in search of a producer. The crew specializes in making “type beats” for artists to rap over and, among other content, uploads video tutorials on YouTube. For instance, there’s one that shows how beat maker Nick Mira produced “Lean Wit Me,” one of the many songs he worked on for Juice WRLD, using FL Studio (you can find alternative free software in Our Toolbox). Mira had also produced Juice WRLD’s breakthrough song “Lucid Dreams,” which first came out on “999” EP on SoundCloud in 2017. When Grade A Recordings released it officially a few months later on his first full-length album “Goodbye & Good Riddance,” the song peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. 

If you want to learn how to make “Lucid Dreams,” check out our Juice WRLD tutorial and Lucid Dreams MIDI pack:

Mira sampled Sting’s “Shape of my Heart” on “Lucid Dreams” so over 85% of the royalties belong to the original artist, but this had never bothered Juice WRLD. “That song is so much more expensive than money and what money can buy. It’s so much more touching than what money could touch,” he said to NME. 

The Internet Money had helped shape Juice WRLD’s sound, echoing the way his most fundamental influence, Tupac Shakur, collaborated on music with various producers too. Both were eventually signed to Interscope Records and rapped about the issues plaguing the world. Shakur made an impact by advocating for social and racial equality, while Juice WRLD spoke out on the importance of expressing feelings and problematic drug use in the hip-hop scene. Both died prematurely in their 20s, leaving the world to wonder what else they could have achieved. 

"Tribute to Juice WRLD" by Atelier Teee

Last year on December 8th, Juice WRLD died from a seizure caused by an accidental overdose. Speaking to ABC7, his mom said, “One thing I’ve decided early on was that I was not going to hide the fact that he died from a drug overdose. I did not want to keep that a secret because there are a lot of people who deal with that every day." Earlier this year, she started the Live Free 999 Foundation to continue her son’s legacy of normalizing the conversation around mental health issues and addiction. The visual artists Corey Pane and Chris Devins had also found a way to keep the memory of the rapper alive and painted two murals in his hometown Chicago to give his fans a physical place to come together.

Happening a month after Juice WRLD’s death, the Rolling Loud festival gave this same opportunity to his mourning fans and collaborators by replacing his slot with a tribute set. His girlfriend Ally Lotti spoke from the stage, “Jarad loved every single person that he helped on this Earth...He literally loved every single one of you. He wants everyone to know that you need to take any negative thing in your life and change that to a positive situation. Change that to 999. You gotta keep that in your heart.” 

Juice WRLD’s poignant lyrics, heartfelt delivery and taste for melodic beats will be in ours forever. The social media tributes by such renowned artists as Drake, Chance the Rapper and Travis Scott is just another testament to how big of a void his death had left in the music world and beyond.