Rapper Juice Wrld, 21, Dies After ‘Medical Emergency’ at Chicago Airport
Juice Wrld attends the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on August 20, 2018 in New York City. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for MTV)
IBexNews - Young rapper Juice Wrld died at the age of 21 early Sunday after reportedly suffering a seizure at a Chicago airport.
Jarad Anthony Higgins, as he was also known, was walking through Midway Airport when he experienced a “medical emergency,” an official with the Cook County medical examiner’s office told The Associated Press. TMZ reported that he had a seizure.
The musician, who lived in the Illinois suburb of Homewood, had just landed in Chicago.
Police and fire officials confirmed to The Associated Press that a 21-year-old male was transported from a small hangar at Midway to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead just after 3 a.m. An autopsy has not been conducted.
Cops have launched a death investigation.
Juice Wrld broke through with his hit song “Lucid Dreams” last year, and collaborated with Ellie Goulding on “Hate Me.”
“I can’t believe it ... you were such a sweet soul,” Goulding tweeted Sunday. “I’ll always remember meeting you and your family on the video set and thinking how close you were. You had so much further to go, you were just getting started. You’ll be missed Juice.”
Drake wrote on Instagram that “I would like to see all the younger talent live longer and I hate waking up hearing another story filled with blessings was cut short.”
Juice Wrld launched his career on SoundCloud. “Lucid Dreams,” which heavily samples Sting’s 1993 song “Shape of My Heart,” reached No. 2 on the all-genre Hot 100 chart.
His debut album “Goodbye & Good Riddance" featured the hit “All Girls Are the Same,” “Armed & Dangerous,” “Robbery,” “Fine China." His “Legends" song includes the lyrics: “What’s the 27 Club?/We ain’t making it past 21.”
He was named top new artist at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards earlier this year.
“It hasn’t really caught up to me yet. I haven’t really felt like ‘Oh my God, what just happened?’ ” he told the Chicago Tribune last year. “But I think it’s a good thing because when people get caught up, they can get lost — lost in the moment. That can ruin somebody.”
He graduated from Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School outside Chicago in 2017. School officials said Sunday that they would offer counseling services for students.
“He is remembered by his teachers and staff as being a brilliant and creative student. Jared was extraordinarily talented in music and played many instruments,” said school spokeswoman Jodi Bryant. “He was a caring and outgoing person who always tried to reach out to others while at the same time he was introspective and had a great sense of humor.”
Juice just turned 21 on Monday.
