XXXTentacion's death has cast a dark shadow over the hip-hop world this week and artists across the world are grappling with his passing. Tuesday evening, Chicago artist Juice WRLD channeled his grief into two tribute songs for X and another recently fallen artist, Lil Peep.
Hours after previewing the song on social media, Juice uploaded a track called "legends" to SoundCloud. In a mournful tone, Juice sings, "This time it was so unexpected/Last time it was the drugs he was lacing/All legends fall in the making."
In a second song titled "rich and blind," he shares a similar sentiment, singing lines like, "It's funny how the blessed ones have the most curses/Heart falling to the floor if we lose another person."
Juice wrote "im lost :(" in the description of "rich and blind" on SoundCloud. The cover artwork for each song is a screenshot from a conversation that appears to include a message to Juice WRLD from XXXTentacion in March of 2018: "If you need anything ask me, I read good energy from you, make sure that's the only energy you put yourself around."
Juice WRLD's "Lucid Dreams" single currently sits at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, continuing an impressive recent streak from the 19-year-old rapper that included a $3 million deal with Interscope in March. During a recent interview with Complex, he spoke about his goals and explained, "I want people to be happy. I like making people happy with my music. I like giving people a good time with my music."
