Rapper Juice Wrld dies at 21 after suffering seizure

A rapper who just completed a sold-out Australian tour died after suffering a seizure on arrival at his home city Chicago, just days after turning 21.

Juice Wrld, the fast-rising young American rapper best known for his 2018 hit Lucid Dreams, died shortly after suffering a seizure at Chicago's Midway Airport on Sunday (local time).

The rapper, born Jarad A Higgins, was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after.

Born and raised in Chicago, Juice had enjoyed a rapid ascension since he first began posting his songs to SoundCloud as a teenager in 2015, working in a style that blended elements of emo and rock with hip-hop.

His independently-released 2017 track Lucid Dreams proved to be a career-maker, rising steadily until an official single release in 2018 broke him on to the pop charts, where the song would peak at number two.

Signing to Interscope Records in early 2018, Juice released his debut album, Goodbye & Good Riddance, almost immediately after, which was certified platinum before the end of the year, and contained yet another number two single in All Girls Are the Same.

His busy year continued with a summer in memoriam EP dedicated to late fellow SoundCloud rappers XXXTentacion and Lil Peep; a collaborative album with Future, Wrld on Drugs, which reached number two on the album chart in October; and an original song on the soundtrack for the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Juice released his second album, Death Race for Love, earlier this year. It was his first effort to reach number one on the album chart.

Also this year, he toured Europe with Nicki Minaj on a co-headlining bill, and featured on fellow American rapper Travis Scott’s album AstroWorld last year.

Tributes have flooded social media since news of his death emerged.

“Cannot believe Juice WRLD has passed man wowwww I’m heartbroken,” one supporter wrote to Twitter.

Just four days ago, he shared a photo of himself on a boat cruising Sydney Harbour with the caption: ‘Yesterday was my actual bday I’m celebrating all week doe 999 s***’.

The post has since attracted more than 417,000 comments and has been liked by 3.7 million people.

“This world ain’t fair, rest easy king,” someone wrote in a comment.

“You were different and that was everything. The real ones know your full potential. Rest easy king,” another said.

- with Reuters

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