Rappers who make it and get signed by a major label have usually overcome some extremely traumatic incidents on their way to the top. Excessive amounts of money can exacerbate this problem and when the pain doesn’t go away, desperation often drives these mentally fragile people to coping mechanisms that have serious consequences. Michael Jackson and Prince were two more examples that prove that no matter how big one’s name is, mental health problems can lead to very real life-or-death outcomes. For many, self-medication feels like the only escape from the pain and confusion caused by mental illness. Juice WRLD’s breakout song “Lucid Dreams” is a testament to heartbreak, self-loathing, and the escapism that comes from abusing prescription medication as a way to deal with real-life issues.
He never hid his struggles from us and that is why many felt that they could relate to him on an intimate level..Juice WRLD named himself after the movie called Juice starring Tupac, another rapper taken from us far too soon. In that movie, Pac’s character, Bishop, slowly descends into the darker compulsions of violence and murder when he has a mental breakdown.
On December 8, 2019, Higgins was aboard a private Gulfstream jet flying from Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles to Midway Isaytional Airport in Chicago, where cops were waiting for the jet to arrive, as the pilot had notified them while the flight was en route that the jet was carrying guns and drugs.
Higgins had taken "several unknown pills", including allegedly swallowing multiple Percocet pills to hide them while police were on board the plane searching the luggage.
Higgins began convulsing and going into seizures, after which two doses of the emergency medication Narcan were administered as an opioid overdose was suspected. Higgins was transported to nearby Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died at age 21.
The fact cops were all over Juice WRLD multiple times -- including an NYC bust last year -- pisses off his friends, who think cops were merely profiling a 20-year-old rich black man who dares to fly on private jets.
Those close to him are saying... all of the run-ins he had with cops are more than suspicious. The fact feds just happened to show up at multiple airports where he and/or his private jet were searched is enough for Juice's inner circle to believe this might well have something to do with race and rappers.
Juice got arrested in 2018 at NYC's LaGuardia Airport after officers responded to a call for "prohibited items" found inside one of his checked bags. We're told the items included a small amount of marijuana and bottles of codeine cough syrup.
Juice was initially charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana, and possession of a controlled substance -- however we're told he eventually pled to a much lesser, non-criminal offense. The case has since been sealed.
It seems like cops were racially profiling him.. he was only 20, but he'd signed a reported $3 million deal in 2018 with Interscope...people close to him think the sudden fame, success and money made him a target with law enforcement -- especially considering he was a kid flying private with other kids.
This generation didn’t invent pills, powder, or lean. They aren’t the first to introduce them to hip-hop. 80s and ‘90s stars from Flavor Flav, DMX, and ODB to Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston dabbled in hard drugs, though admittedly it wasn’t the focal point of their music. Texas rap lost legends in DJ Screw, Pimp C, and Big Moe in the aughts from complications believed to be tied to promethazine use. The Texas rap veterans were far from the first to dally with codeine.
As a 2005 Houston Press article pointed out, southern folkie Townes Van Zandt’s 1968 classic “Waitin’ ‘Round to Die” ends in a chilling verse: “I got me a friend at last / He don’t steal or cheat or lie / His name’s codeine, he’s the nicest thing I’ve seen / And together we’re gonna wait around and die.” An honest conversation about drug use in music has to see it as a continuum and not a new darkness creeping across the horizon. In the ’60s, the jazz community lost greats like Charlie Parker, Lee Morgan, and Dinah Washington.
Rock and roll lost Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin. Punk rock lost countless heroes. Nineties stars Kurt Cobain and Bradley Nowell both fought uphill battles with addiction. “How could this happen?” is not a fruitful question. How we stop it from continuing to happen is.
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