Born Jarad Higgins in 1998, the Calumet Park musician grew up playing piano, drums, and guitar, turning to rap freestyling in high school. Influenced by rock music and Chicago drill from Lil Durk and Chief Keef, Higgins began recording as Juice TheKidd, a moniker derived from his haircut, which resembled 2Pac's in the film Juice. His early tracks were all posted online, leading up to 2017's Juice WLRD 999 EP. Produced by Nick Mira and Sidepce, the set included the singles "Lucid Dreams (Forget Me)" and "All Girls Are the Same." Both tracks would also land on his official debut full-length, Goodbye Good Riddance (Interscope), which peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200 upon release in May 2018. In January 2019 Higgins issued the single "Robbery" ahead of the arrival of the full-length A Death Race for Love, which was released later that March. Death Race shot to number one on the Billboard 200 and was soon certified gold.
He followed with high-profile collaborations with Ellie Goulding ("Hate Me"), Benny Blanco ("Graduation"), BTS ("All Night"), and YoungBoy Never Broke Again ("Bandit"). In 2019, the latter track joined "Lucid Dreams" as the rapper's second Top Ten hit.
On December 8, 2019, Higgins suffered a medical emergency at Chicago's Midway International Airport and died. He had just turned 21. At the time of his death, he had three singles in the Hot 100 and both official LPs in the Top 100 on the Billboard 200. During the next several months, his verses appeared on tracks with Halsey, Marshmello, and Eminem. The posthumous album Legends Never Die followed in July of 2020 and topped the Billboard 200. Another volume of previously unreleased material arrived in 2021 with Fighting Demons. The album included 18 songs with newly recorded guest contributions from Justin Bieber, Polo G, Trippie Redd, and BTS member Suga. ~ Neil Z. Yeung, Rovi
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Lucid Dreams |
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Come & Go |
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Bandit |