Photo: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock
Plus the eerie connection his death has to other artists.
By Alice Kelly — Written on Dec 16, 2021
Juice WRLD’s life, career and tragic death will be explored in a HBO documentary that was released on December 16.
“Juice WRLD: Into The Abyss” sits down with some of the people closest to the rapper, whose real name is Jarad Anthony Higgins, as they recall his final moments.
The rapper, who died in hospital after suffering a seizure in Chicago's Midway Airport following a flight from California, shocked the world and devastated fans with his 2019 passing.
However, some fans suspect the rapper may have predicted his own death.
Did Juice WRLD predict his own death?
The theory that the rapper predicted his untimely passing comes from song lyrics and a cryptic tweet he shared shortly before his death.
Juice WRLD rapped about dying at 21.
In his hit song “Legends,” Juice WRLD anticipates the legacy he will leave behind when he dies.
"What's the 27 club? / We ain't making it past 21," he raps. "I been going through paranoia / So I always gotta keep a gun / Damn, that's the world we live in now / Yeah, hold on, just hear me out."
Juice WRLD was aged 21 when he died less than a week after his birthday. The song also references drugs and their dangers.
The rapper’s official cause of death, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office, was an accidental overdose of codeine and oxycodone.
The 27 club refers to the “club” of famous people who died at the age of 27. However, in recent years, Juice WRLD and others have joined a new “club” of stars who die young.
Rappers like Lil Peep and XXXTENTACION also died at the age of 21.
Juice WRLD also raps: "They tell me I'ma be a legend / I don't want that title now / ‘Cause all the legends seem to die out / What the f--ck is this ‘bout?"
Juice WRLD tweeted about ‘going down’ days before he died.
The rapper posted a prophetic tweet on December 1, 2019 in which he again referred to his legendary status.
“This life is yours do what tf you want do great things,” he wrote, “You’ll be bigger than ‘juice wrld’ will ever be, and he’s going down as a legend.”
Here the Chicago native appears to predict leaving behind a legacy, regardless of whether he knew he would be leaving this legacy behind so soon.
His hit "Lucid Dreams" became a viral TikTok challenge that also eerily predicted the manner of his death.
Users of the video sharing platform spent a decent amount of 2019 one-upping each other as part of the #LucidDreamsChallenge.
For the challenge, users would fake seizures with his 2018 single in the background, complete with artificially induced foaming at the mouth.
This, tragically, would foreshadow the way in which Juice WRLD died.
Juice WRLD’s death also has a chilling connection to John Lennon.
The Beatles' John Lennon was assassinated in the Dakota, his New York residence, on December 8, 1980 — exactly 39 years to the exact day Juice WRLD died in Chicago.
This would be notable enough in itself, but again, the rapper’s own words bare mentioning.
In the lyrics of his 2017 single "All Girls Are The Same," Juice WRLD wrote:
“All this jealousy and agony that I sit in / I'm a jealous boy, really feel like John Lennon.”
Of course, he is referring to Lennon’s romantic side but it does seem like a wild coincidence that he would end up having another similarity to the Beatle.
Drug use is reported to have led to Juice WRLD’s death.
The rapper and his entourage had been in police custody at the Chicago airport after law enforcement alleged received a tip that they were carrying guns and drugs on the plane.
Once Juice WRLD’s seizures began, police reportedly asked his girlfriend, Ally Lotti if he had any known medical issues or had taken drugs.
"She replied that Higgins did not have any medical conditions, but that he 'takes Percocet and has a drug problem,'" the Chicago Tribune reports, noting that percocet contains acetaminophen and oxycodone.
Despite an agent administering two doses of emergency treatment Narcan to counteract a suspected opioid overdose, Juice regained consciousness only briefly, and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital at 3:14 a.m.
In January 2020, a medical examiner stated the rapper died as a result of toxic levels of oxycodone and codeine present in his system.
Alice Kelly is a senior news and entertainment editor for YourTango. Based out of Brooklyn, New York, her work covers all things social justice, pop culture, and human interest. Keep up with her Twitter for more.