Juice WRLD’s mother, Carmella Wallace, has released a statement four days after the death of her son.
On Thursday, Wallace opened up about her son’s use of drugs and his addiction. Juice WRLD, whose real name is Jarad Anthony Higgins, died on Dec. 8 following a seizure.
“We loved Jarad with all of our hearts and cannot believe our time with him has been cut short,” she told TMZ in a statement.
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“As he often addressed in his music and to his fans, Jarad battled with prescription drug dependency.
“Addiction knows no boundaries, and its impact goes beyond the person fighting it.”
The rapper’s family wants his story to be a warning to other artists in the music industry who might be struggling with addiction.
“Jarad was a son, brother, grandson, friend and so much more to so many people who wanted more than anything to see him defeat addiction,” Wallace said.
“We hope the conversations he started in his music and his legacy will help others win their battles, as that is what he wanted more than anything. We know that Jarad’s legacy of love, joy and emotional honesty will live on.”
READ MORE: Chicago rapper Juice WRLD dead at 21 — reports
The 21-year-old rapper’s cause of death remains inconclusive following an autopsy.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office announced in a statement on Monday that additional studies are required to establish the cause and manner of his death.
Cardiac pathology, neuropathology, toxicology and histology testing still need to be done to determine the cause of death, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Juice WRLD died early Sunday after a “medical emergency” at Chicago’s Midway International Airport.
He was pronounced dead at a hospital around 3:15 a.m. and taken to the medical examiner’s office several hours later, according to spokeswoman Natalia Derevyanny.
Police said there were no signs of foul play and that those who were aboard an aircraft with the rapper at the time were co-operating with authorities.
During a search in a private hangar, a drug-sniffing dog made a “positive alert” on luggage carts that were loaded with bags from the plane, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Monday.
Inside, they found multiple bags of suspected marijuana, several bottles of prescription cough syrup, three guns, metal-piercing bullets and a high-capacity ammunition magazine, he said.
Juice WRLD went into convulsions during the search, and one of the agents administered Narcan after the rapper’s girlfriend said he had been taking Percocet, Guglielmi said.
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Juice WRLD launched his career on SoundCloud before rising to the top of the charts with his single Lucid Dreams, which features Sting’s 1993 hit Shape of My Heart.
Lucid Dreams went six times platinum and reached No. 2 on the all-genre Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts.
— With files from the Associated Press
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