Rapper Juice WRLD Reported Dead at 21 After a Seizure

Hip-hop superstar Juice WRLD reportedly died following a seizure at Chicago's Midway Airport, IL. He was only 21. The news was first reported to TMZ.

Born Jarad Anthony Higgins, a young rapper, first burst onto the scene last year when his song "Lucid Dreams" soared all the way to No. 2 on the Hot 100. It would turn out to be not only his breakthrough but one of many hit singles over a very short period of time.

The song was first featured on his mixtape 9 9 9, but after it became an international hit, it was also included on his debut album Goodbye & Good Riddance. The collection was released in May 2018 and debuted at No. 4 on the  Billboard 200. Earlier in 2018, for their collaborative album Wrld On Drugs, Juice WRLD joined up with fellow hip-hop star Future who stalled just one rung short of ruling the Billboard 200.

With his second solo album Death Race for Love, which ruled for one frame in March, the rapper conquered the same chart earlier this year. It's been less than a year since he owned the Billboard 200, but Juice WRLD was already planning for his next album, which at some point this month was tentatively scheduled to fall. Recently, with YoungBoy Never Broke Again on "Bandit," he returned to the top 10 of the Hot 100, which became his second track to reach the highest and first level of the latter.

Juice WRLD put an impressive 25 songs on the Hot 100 in just two years, which is more than many well-known figures in other genres achieve during their careers. 

He was honest about how much music he was willing to share with listeners, and there's no telling how much of that work is going to see the sunlight. Just last month, at which point he said he had "possibly over a thousand tracks," he spoke with this journalist.

RIP to a young and promising artist.

Cover image via The NY Times