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Photo: Lexiou WesCudi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)
Juice WRLD, born Jarad Higgins, was a rapper and singer from the Chicago area who helped define emo-rap. He first built a following on SoundCloud. In 2018 “Lucid Dreams” became a massive hit, and his debut album, Goodbye & Good Riddance, followed that year. Death Race for Love in 2019 debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. His freestyling ability was legendary, and his songs dealt openly with heartbreak, anxiety and addiction over melodic trap beats. He died in December 2019, days after turning 21. His estate has since released Legends Never Die in 2020, Fighting Demons in 2021 and The Party Never Ends in November 2024, which was billed as his final posthumous album. His influence is still all over today’s melodic rap.