RAPPER Juice Wrld, who was known for being open about his battles with drug addiction and mental health, died from a seizure yesterday. The 21-year-old was bleeding from the mouth when he collapsed at Chicago Airport yesterday – despite being in good spirits throughout his flight. The star whose real name is Jarad A Higgins spoke […]
RAPPER Juice Wrld, who was known for being open about his battles with drug addiction and mental health, died from a seizure yesterday.
The 21-year-old was bleeding from the mouth when he collapsed at Chicago Airport yesterday – despite being in good spirits throughout his flight.
The star whose real name is Jarad A Higgins spoke candidly about his experiences with Lean, Percocet and Xanax to NME: “Drugs can ruin your whole life. If they don’t kill you, they can leave you in a trance for the rest of your life.
“Most f***ing rappers rap about getting high and feeling great. But I talk about the good side and the bad side. Just to shed some light on the negative side.”
Lean, or purple drank – a mixture of prescription-grade cough syrup mixed with a fizzy drink and a hard sweet – has become prolific in America’s rap scene.
Emo rapper Lil Peep died in 2017 from an accidental overdose after taking fentanyl and Xanax – he was vocal about his battles with Bipolar and other mental health issues.
Lil Wayne has sung about Lean, in his 2008 song, “Me and my drank”, he refers to his double cup ‘sizzurp’ as his “beloved”.
Mac Miller, who died from a drug overdose of cocaine, Fentanyl and alcohol in September last year aged just 26.
Lil Pump, who released a song in 2018 called ‘Drug Addicts’ and is often seen drinking Lean and other drugs on social media.
Not keeping the heavy drug use a secret, Juice Wrld once rapped: “What’s the 27 club? We ain’t making it past 21.”
The lyric is from a song written shortly after the deaths of Lil Peep, 21 and XXXTenaction, 20.
Bow Wow opened up about almost dying as a result of his addiction to lean.
The drink, also known as ‘Texas Tea’ as it originated in Houston, is typically served in a white Styrofoam cup.
Codeine, a main ingredient in lean, has been a misused substance for years but it’s prominence in the rap and pop culture has made it more popular.
What’s the 27 club? We ain’t making it past 21.
Juice Wrld
In 2018 Juice was believed to have cut back on the substances, saying: “More recently, I’ve just kind of realised certain things about myself and my coming up, the way that substances played a part in my life, whether it was me doing them or other people,” he told Vulture.
“It’s something that I’m trying to separate myself from.”
In a series of clips the star can be seen joking with pals just hours before his death and was filmed telling fans “I love y’all more than life” at a concert nine days ago.
In footage from Juice Wrld’s entourage shared to TMZ, the youngster can be seen joking around – pranking one snoozing pal by splashing water on his face.
In another clip the 21-year-old can be seen poring over his phone with another friend – both clips were filmed on board the jet he’d been travelling on just hours before his death.
In another chilling clip, the young rapper can be seen lovingly telling fans “I love y’all more than life” at a concert just nine days before his tragic death.
Juice Wrld had hits with Lucid Dreams in 2018 and All Girls Are the Same.
These same thoughts harass me daily. N I’m not fast enough to run away from it.
Juice Wrld
His debut album, Goodbye & Good Riddance, reached number four on the Billboard 200 chart but it was his second album, Death Race For Love, which earned him his first number one on the chart.
As well as Travis Scott, Juice Wrld had collaborated with a range of artists including Future and Ellie Goulding. Earlier this year, the rapper replaced Future as the guest act on Nicki Minaj’s European tour which spanned 19 dates.
As well as his openness when it came to drug addiction, the singer was extremely over his battles with mental health.
His Twitter is peppered with tweets with him sharing his thoughts and feelings on his own struggles.
He wrote: “My brain is my own worst nightmare.. it could be the death of me easily if I didn’t somewhat know my way around it”
Another said: “These same thoughts harass me daily. N I’m not fast enough to run away from it.”
Speaking about his ‘999 Club’ he wrote: “Anxiety is real, detachment is real, so is depression. 999 fight back.”
On his online shop, fans can buy jumpers and t-shirts with a cartoon illustration of the world with purple liquid (the colour of lean) spilling from it’s mouth.
More footage of Juice Wrld on his private jet which was headed to Chicago. Seems like everything was good and everyone including him was in high spirits until he landed.
pic.twitter.com/ayDP0LXyeW
— DJ Akademiks (@Akademiks) December 8, 2019
