Juice WRLD
photo: lexiou wescudi · cc by-sa 2.0 ↗Jarad Anthony Higgins, born in 1998 in the Chicago area, fused hip-hop with the melodic melancholy of 2000s emo and pop-punk to become a defining figure of emo rap before his death in 2019 at age twenty-one. His diamond-certified breakout 'Lucid Dreams' (2018) and the album 'Goodbye & Good Riddance' turned his freestyle-driven, guitar-loop songwriting into a template for a generation of melodic rappers.
Juice WRLD named Kid Cudi among his top influences; Cudi's humming, melodic, openly depressive style of rapping-and-singing helped put emotional vulnerability at the center of hip-hop, and Juice built his sound on that same fusion.
listen forThrow on Kid Cudi's 'Day 'n' Nite' and then Juice WRLD's 'Robbery' — both let a lonely, hummed melody carry the weight while the lyric turns inward toward isolation.
Juice WRLD, also from the Chicago area, repeatedly cited Chief Keef as a foundational influence; Keef's flat, chant-like, half-sung drill delivery is an audible ancestor of Juice's own melody-first, singsong phrasing.
listen forPlay Chief Keef's 'Love Sosa' and then Juice WRLD's 'Lean Wit Me' — hear the same hypnotic, chanted melodic cadence riding the beat, even as Juice bends it toward addiction and vulnerability.
Juice WRLD listed Future among his top five influences; Future's heavily Auto-Tuned, melodic take on trap — turning slurred, sung melody and drugged melancholy into hooks — is a clear model for Juice's own emotive, melody-drenched delivery.
listen forSet Future's 'Mask Off' against Juice WRLD's 'All Girls Are the Same' — both drape an Auto-Tuned, melodic vocal over a minor-key loop, sounding numbed and heartsick at once.