Rap star Juice Wrld, frequent Las Vegas headliner, dies at 21

Juice Wrld, an emerging superstar in the hip-hop industry who three times performed in Las Vegas this year, died Sunday in Chicago. The music star had just turned 21 on Dec. 2.

The artist whose legal name is Jarad Anthony Higgins suffered a seizure at Midway Airport in Chicago early Sunday morning after a flight from Los Angeles. According to celeb website TMZ, the performer collapsed while walking through the airport. The original post says Juice Wrld was alive when paramedics arrived, but died at a Chicago hospital shortly after.

Juice Wrld performed during the final day of Day N Vegas music festival on Nov. 3 at Las Vegas Festival Grounds. He was also in the lineup for the iHeartRadio Music Festival’s Day Stage at the Festival Grounds in September, and headlined on May 3 at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Two days before his show at Hard Rock Hotel, Juice Wrld was named the top new artist at this the Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The Chicago MC released hit singles “All Girls Are The Same” in 2018, and his “Lucid Dreams” hit No 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

The rapper and songwriter was known to create dark moods in brooding performances. A sample from “Dark Place,” ‘Lost in a dark place/Trapped in the crawl space. In my mind I get lost in/I wake up in a coffin.”

R-J music writer Jason Bracelin wrote of his appearance at Day N Vegas that the then-20-year-old entertainer “frequently rhymes about partying too much, but no rapper — maybe ever — sounds less celebratory about said partying than Juice Wrld, his doleful singing voice making almost everything sound like a lament.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.