To give some background, rapper Juice WRLD, known for his songs “Lucid Dreams,” and “All Girls Are the Same,” from his initial debut album “Goodbye and Good Riddance,” released in 2018. He tragically passed away from a drug overdose at the age of 21 on Dec. 8, 2019. If Juice WRLD, legally named Jarad Anthony Higgins, were still alive today, he would be five years older, making him 26 years of age.
Many people however still to this day mourn the death of Juice, and honor his musical legacy as well as his character and message as a person. Juice was cited by many to be very lyrically talented, and he used the pain and negativity he carried to create his music.
“As an artist,” says William Denecke, a long time avid fan of Juice WRLD, “his ability to freestyle and to elaborate on all his ideas that just go straight from his mind to his mouth is incredible. He’s probably the best freestyler in the world currently, but he sadly passed away.”
“So I didn’t really know him [at that time], but, like, his passing was huge,” Denecke continues. He has had Juice WRLD as his top most-listened-to artist for several months in a row on Apple Music, making him a true modern fan of Juice. “Everyone knew about his passing, or, like, his songs in middle school. And – I just remember hearing singing at the back of the bus. They brought a speaker, and they’re like, just blasting [his music]. I’m like, who is this man? Later on, I found out [about him]. I actually started listening to his music and I was like, ‘That’s very sad.’ Then when you listen to – his music, like ‘Legends’, and you just realize that – this was going through him, that it just, it’s very emotional, – to see all that is pretty inspiring.”
The song “Legends,” referenced by Denecke, was written and sung by Juice as homage to his late friends “Lil Peep,” and “XXXTentacion,” making it an emotional song in his music career. Juice WRLD eerily sings the lyric “We ain’t making it past 21” in this song, referencing rampant drug abuse/overdose and murder that cuts the lives short of many young rappers in the music industry. It is unfortunate that Juice WRLD himself did not make it past 21.
Fast forward to the current day, as of the year 2024 Juice’s birthday came to pass, and around the same time his previously aforementioned unreleased album “The Party Never Ends,” released on November 29th, 2024, three days before his birthday.
The album features songs “Empty Out Your Pockets,” “Misfit,” “Cuffed,” “AGATS2” featuring Nicki Minaj, “Lace It” with Eminem and Benny Blanco, “Celebrate” with Offset and “Best Friend” with Fallout Boy.
Juice’s wide array of collaborations and songs in the album were of course done before his passing, with all of these songs remaining unreleased until now.
In light of collaborations, Juice WRLD not only had collaborated with other rappers and singers, but after all this time he has been added to Fortnite. From the 20th to the 25th of November, players who logged into Fortnite could receive the “Juice WRLD Slayer” skin for free, although it may be purchasable after the deadline so players should check just in case they logged in too late and are fans enough to commit to the purchase.
Many people cite his addition to Fortnite as being perfectly appropriate given that Juice WRLD loved to play Fortnite. In 2018 he streamed his gameplay on the popular streaming site “Twitch,” and interacted with his fans at the peak of Fortnite’s popularity. The lack of backlash towards Epic, Grade A Productions and Opus Music Group (the latter two being owners of Juice’s music and the former the company behind Fortnite) shows how Juice WRLD’s fans might have known that Juice wanted his music to spread to wider audiences, even through unconventional means.
Two Juice WRLD skins had been added to Fortnite. One free from an event and the other can be bought from the item shop. The free skin known as the “Slayer Juice WRLD” skin has a more abstract and artistically based coloring that doesn’t coincide with a traditional realistic art style. He dons a white long sleeve shirt with the left side having a dark orange circle that within it reads “999.”
The second skin can be bought from the item shop is known simply as “Juice WRLD,” and it costs 1,800 V-Bucks, or roughly $14.39. Juice wears a studded black jacket decorated with little bits of imagery, including his signature “999.” Underneath is a light gray and lavender tie dye shirt, paired with black jeans and black combat boots. Players who go the extra mile and tackle the “WRLD Takeover Bundle” which costs 2,600 V-Bucks, or $20.79, can indulge in a style of his studded jacket skin which instead is encompassed with yellows, greens, pinks, purples and blues not only on his tie dye shirt but in streaks all over his decorative jacket, jeans and boots.
It also includes a unique “Studded Skull” back bling, “WRLD Keys” guitar for “Festival Mode” and Juice WRLD’s two songs “Lean Wit Me” and “Lucid Dreams” to play in Festival. A game mode that is based around music and rhythm gameplay mechanics in Fortnite much like the beloved “Guitar Hero” which Epic with no doubt added to capitalize on the popularity of rhythm games.
“I definitely love him, especially his main number, 999,” explains Joshua Velazquez, another fan of Juice’s work and message. “I saw tons of videos of him explaining that, like, you know, it’s basically just like the devil’s number [flipped upside down]. And just like anything that’s either, like you know, negative. And like anything that’s negative in your life, he just pretty much wants to flip it around and stuff like that. That’s the same way he did with the numbers, he’s flipping anything negative in people’s lives, and he’s trying to bring positive bits of life based on his music.”
It goes without saying that Juice may have been as symbolic and punctual with his thoughts and beliefs as he was with his lyrics in a simple, yet unique way. Juice has explained what Velazquez says in many interviews throughout his career.
Juice had no relationship with his father nor did he have any children, and he hadn’t yet been married as he only had a girlfriend at the time. As a result, all of his millions of dollars of wealth went to his mother as soon as he passed away. Juice WRLD’s music is owned by “Grade A Production,” and “Opus Music Group,” so as far as the public eye knows they make profit off of his music as it continues to be used, and his mother has gained substantial wealth from what Juice had previously amassed.
It may be up to the individual to interpret the morality of how his wealth has been divided and how his branding and music is being used, but it could potentially be argued that Juice was aware this sort of arrangement would happen.
“‘Oh, they’re just adding him or whatever to, like, make Fortnite have – more attention’ or whatever,” Velazquez expresses. “That’s what some people would probably think, you know? Since it was a popular game, a lot of – rappers and celebrities tend to play the game. And I feel like Juice WRLD was probably one of those people that enjoyed playing it. Because I remember there’s, other rappers that were playing the game. Like, was it Trippie Red or XXXTencion when he was alive? They tended to play with, like other YouTubers and stuff like that. So I feel like maybe when Juice WRLD was a fan of it. He kind of just played it as well. So that could be a reason. And I think Epic Games was, you know, sort of like realizing that –, they probably – wanted to show some sort of tribute to him. Stuff like that, I’d think.”
“The Party Never Ends” was Juice’s fifth and final studio album, meaning that his legacy may now finally be put to rest. One can never be so sure, however, given how companies ultimately desire profit, and people will always consume content which said companies know they would love, even if there is a tinge of disdain for continuing the release of his songs with a slow burn after his passing rather than releasing all of his unreleased music at once and putting it to rest. But it is widely claimed that there are no more songs to officially release, and as such it can be hopefully or sadly assumed that Juice WRLD’s symphony has now ended five years after his own.