The rapper, who has died at 21, got big off of raw, sad songs.
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Juice WRLDdiedat 21 of a reported seizure on Sunday, December 8, 2019.
This profile was reported in early March 2019.
The kitchen is stocked with boxes of Sprinkled Donut Crunch and Honey Bun cereal.
Juices friend Caesar pads into the kitchen in Gucci slippers to reheat some chicken Parmesan in the toaster.
After the fake-out, he plays us some of the actual new music, starting with new single Robbery.
His music combines several potent strains of teen alienation genres, recalling nothing so much as nu-metal.
Its angry, depressed, and self-conscious, but also hooky and soaring.
On his new album he moves beyond emo-rap, even venturing into upbeat pop.
Juice grapples with the change in the music, announcing that he doesnt want to die like his peers.
Its fans are also aging, and Juice himself is no longer a teenager either.
Im gonna still lead people through whatever theyre going through, he says.
And since Ive gone through it.
I could forever speak on it, no matter how I feel.
I could be happy and make a song for people thats dealing with depression.
I could be sad and make a song that will make people smile and be joyful.
As long as you felt those emotions, you might channel them back anytime.
you could think back and relate to it anytime.
As a part of learning the lesson, you keep that shit instilled in you.
As for the music, Its all about progression.
You cant be afraid to evolve.
The fans are mostly teens, with multicolored Manic Panic hair and cartoon-character backpacks.
Some of them are wearing all black and vaping, others have brought pizza.
Everyone looks like a potential Suicide Squad character.
Juices vehicle pulls up, and the crowd rushes in chanting, JUICE!
(I am so comparatively old that this makes me think about the O.J.
Simpson car chase), while still politely obeying the security instructions.
The van door opens in a cloud of weed smoke.
The billboard, depicting Juice WRLDs past and plausible future platinum records, is unveiled.
He answers questions one-on-one from the car so intimately its impossible to hear what is being said.
Some pass him blunts and vapes to hit, as everyone films and takes photos.
A Hollywood tour van passes by on Sunset and gawks at the scene.
Juice waves at them and smiles.
They all wave back.
Suits from Interscope all older white men lurk on the sidewalk and look at their phones.
Its a school night.
Back at the mansion, Juice is unwinding.
Friends come and go through the house, whose surfaces are stacked with leftover Postmates orders and weed paraphernalia.
A cute goth girl that is purportedly Juices girlfriend comes downstairs periodically with a large dog.
It feels much like a frat house, albeit a fancy one.
I sit down with him in a low-lit TV room off the kitchen to talk.
I ask him how he thinks today went.
It was my first time doing something like that.
He says, his voice a gravelly whisper.
It was good to interact with the fans more personally.
It was cool to have a smaller crowd for once cause I could interact one-on-one with people.
I was just, like, randomly responding to people.
I ask if he senses how deeply connected to him fans feel.
And it sucks, Im really socially awkward.
I aint used to be, but I am now.
His openness about feeling awkward is, of course, another point of connection for fans.
Im not the only one going through that.
But when you meet somebody else like that, yall dont even feel awkward.
Talking it out, in his music and real life, is of paramount importance to Juice WRLD.
With his platform, he feels a responsibility.
Mental health is something that has been neglected, especially in the black community.
He continues, Some people dont believe in mental-health care.
And they think the answer is some throw in of church.
Dont get me wrong, I venture to pray to God every day.
Im not saying any religion is right [or] any religion is wrong.
I got my own beliefs, you know.
Then he reveals that he is speaking from experience.
And I looked back at it and Im like,Wow, that was not okay.
Im in fifth grade.
What am I doing taking Vyvanse and Ritalin?
How is a fifth-grader supposed to act?
To relax he rides dirt bikes (in the desert) and watches anime.
Growing up, his parents played 80s music Queen, AC/DC, the Scorpions, the Who.
He cites his own influences as including Lil Wayne, Master P, Ozzy Osbourne, and Billy Idol.
A hard-rock sound could be in his future as well.
Ill almost definitely get a band together and see what happens.
Then he confides, What I found out just really killed the last little kid spirit in me.
So some of them come in and record at different times.
I thought bands were just a unit.
As in his lyrics, under all that isolation is someone who seems desperate to connect.
So the idea that he is heartbroken realizing that rock bands multitrack recordings is very touching.
He expounds, The fact that him and Thug and all these people fuck with me?
Like fucking Pharrell just DMd me.
I dont mean to sound gross, but yo, my music side nutted.
I couldnt even believe what I was reading.
He admires Pharrells longevity, and status as a style icon.
Juice is in a different place emotionally than he was making the first album.
you could hear it in my voice.
you’ve got the option to hear my demeanor.
Is that still gonna be the sound?
Honestly, I dont give a fuck.
Especially because the way I record, I freestyle everything.
If you think too much, youll start drawing blanks.
Youll start overthinking it.
Second-guessing a freestyle is the worst.
When youre going off the top youre supposed to just go.
Just let the music kind of take over and flow.
Once he reached the appropriate level of immersion, he let loose.
When I got to that point.
I recorded the album in four days.
And it was like, after that, then I wasnt self-conscious about dropping music no more.
I wasnt self-conscious about the album anymore.
I dont like that whole competing with myself thing, trying to top myself.
So just me realizing all those things, it kinda calmed my nerves about the new album.
I just know I poured my soul into it.
I say thatDeath Race for Lovedefinitely shows some different sides of him.
Yeah, and thats what the album should be about.
Its cool to have themes.
Its cool to have structure.
But at the same time, you create your own structure.
Theres a difference between madness and coordinated madness.
But its still my way.
Juice has real issues in his life besides girl trouble.
When I ask if he misses Chicago he says, Yeah and no.
Yeah because I miss the food; I miss my mom a lot.
He responds, I agree with you, but also I disagree.
They find out youre in town, thats gonna make them hot and thirsty for your blood.
So certain things about Chicago I miss, but I know I shouldnt be back there.
In one new song he mourns the drug-related recent deaths of several of his peers.
Those struggling, he maintains, need sympathy rather than judgment.
The way that you do that is not, I repeat, not, by pointing the finger.
Telling them that theyre stupid, theyre fucking up their life, whatever.
Telling them theyre a piece of shit for doing what theyre doing.
That is not the way at all.
And using that to help people push forward.
Not scold and drag people into they own mess.
He is wise beyond his years, especially when speaking about addiction issuesand mental health.
As an artist and human being, hes clearly a sensitive soul.
Yeah, for sure.
I aint even afraid to admit that shit.
