“Perhaps if the new Rap culture was different, Juice WRLD may still be alive. Even if it comes back a drug overdose was not the cause of death, living a life of excess intoxication certainly contributed to another early demise of a young black man with a prosperous future.”
While at the pinnacle of his music career, music artist Juice WRLD has died. Yet another young rising black artist is gone. At this time, the reports say he suffered from cardiac arrest while at a Chicago airport. The autopsy is scheduled for Monday where the official cause of death will be determined.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports on the death of popular music artist Juice WRLD: “Chicago-born musician Juice WRLD died early Sunday after suffering cardiac arrest at Midway Airport. He had turned 21 just six days earlier.
Emergency crews responded about 2 a.m. to a private hangar at the airport, according to the Chicago Fire Department, Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Juice WRLD, whose real name is Jarad Anthony Higgins, was then rushed to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and pronounced dead at 3:14 a.m.”
The question everyone seems to have is, “did he die of natural causes or an overdose?”
At the end of the day we need to remember that we are talking about a human being who’s life had value. Whatever the results are doesn’t take away his achievements or impact he made on those around him.
However, the question is significant because there is a noticeable trend of young black artist dying from drug overdose or suffering from extreme drug addictions. This is what could be called the collateral damage of glorifying self-destructive habits in Rap and Hip Hop. Addiction and death.
A culture of heavy drug use has invaded the Hip-Hop universe, making it “cool” to be a junkie. Whether people want to hear it or not, Juice WRLD was an active participant of this ‘heavy drug use’ culture. In many of his songs the common theme is taking a lot of drugs to hide the pain, have fun, or getting real high just because. Would living that type of lifestyle have anything to do with a 21-year-old having a heart attack?
Some will say it is unfair of me to suggest that a drug overdose had anything to do with his death, especially since there is no evidence at this time suggesting this conclusion. But let’s be honest, what type of lifestyle did he promote and glorify? Is it possible he was doing at least half of the drugs he was talking about in every song? Have we not seen this type of situation before?
No disrespect is intended. I’m simply trying to shed light on a deadly culture of heavy drug use that has become the new norm in Hip-Hop and Rap.
We celebrate it by day, and die from it by night.
Perhaps if the new Rap culture was different, Juice WRLD may still be alive. Even if it comes back a drug overdose was not the cause of death, living a life of excess intoxication certainly contributed to another early demise of a young black man with a prosperous future.
If we plan to keep other young black artists like Juice WRLD alive, maybe we should only support a culture that doesn’t turn subscribers to the culture into drug addicts and junkies.
By doing that, being a successful black artist doesn’t require you to die.
