Juice Wrld

I, like many, grew up as an angsty teenager listening to Nirvana, Blink 182, Simple Plan and other grunge, emo and punk bands. It was a very distinct sound for its time, but like all types of music it had faded away, to make way for other genres to dominate. And hip-hop and trap was making the rounds and I was into that as well a few years ago. ⁣ ⁣ But the first time I heard Lucid Dreams by Juice, I had to do a double take. It was unlike anything I had heard before. It combined the emo elements of the bands I loved as a teenager with the trap beats that were popular today. Dare I say it, it was emo-trap. ⁣ ⁣ And even though there were many who were popular in this genre like Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Peep, Trippie Redd, XXXtentacion etc, I would say Juice took it to the mainstream. He made it cool to be sad again. ⁣ ⁣ I appreciate that he wrote most of his songs. A lot of the themes in his songs deal with an internal struggle, usually related to heartbreak, loss or his struggle with drug and alcohol addiction to cope with it. And he is self aware of it. ⁣ ⁣ Within a year, Juice Wrld just shot up to become a huge rapper and performer in the industry. He released super successful albums and went on to perform at a prime spot in Coachella .⁣ ⁣ And here I would like to mention that a huge factor behind his success was because of his producer Nick Mira. Who produced Lucid Dreams and gave Juice his first big hit. He went on to produce most of his best songs and is quite a huge name in the trap industry. ⁣ ⁣ Juice unfortunately passed away late last year due because he overdosed on Percocets while trying to hide drugs from the police. Honestly gone too soon. He was troubled, struggling and addicted and I wish we could have seen him overcome it and live his full life. ⁣ ⁣ Obviously drugs are bad and I don't promote their excessive use, especially in order to escape one's own struggles, but to be honest, most art stems through it, and that is the way of life. So we should appreciate what he left behind and learn from his struggles and mistakes. ⁣ ⁣ His legacy is carried on by his label Internet Money, and his protege's Lil Tecca, The kid Laroi, Trippie Redd. ⁣ ⁣ RIP Juice