Yet another death in the rap world tells us that the industry needs to do more and that we need to get active to demand industry intervention. The same sentiment applies to sports.
I’ve written extensively on these pages about the connection between rap and sports. The two endeavors share a big negative–stars dying too soon.
Courtesy: RD1videos
On Sunday, I woke up to the news of yet another death–Lucid Dreams singer and rapper Juice Wrld had passed at the age of just 21 years. He suffered a seizure after deplaning at Chicago’s Midway Airport.
This isn’t the first time that we’ve lost a rapper. Lil Peep, XXXTENTACION, Mac Miller, Smoke Dawg, Jimmy Wopo, Nipsey Hussle, Kevin Fret … it’s a long list. Rapper brothers and sisters, all dead, if not by drugs, then by gun violence.
Sadly, the sports industry is no different, most notably football. We’ve lost many brothers to the brain disease, CTE, including Mike Webster, Terry Long, and Andre Waters. More recently, we said goodbye to former Detroit Lions star, Charlie Rogers, who passed at the age of 38.
The rap and sports industries need to do more, reaching out to rappers and athletes before drugs, gun violence, or CTE takes their lives. In Juice’s case, he should’ve gotten counseling for depression before he turned to drugs.
Now, I admit that these deceased stars aren’t innocent victims. Each made choices that led to their deaths. Football players know the risks of playing a violent game. Baseball players, like Jose Fernandez, knew the risks of taking drugs and then piloting a boat. Lil Peep and Mac Miller took drugs willingly. XXXTENTACION knew that the streets were violent.
We can help by urging the various sports leagues and music industry to plan and undertake interventions. We can do that by making phone calls, sending e-mails, and writing letters. If we care, then we need to get active!
In the meantime, I dedicate this column to the memory of Juice Wrld. And to Interscope, if you’re reading this, I beg you not to release Juice Wrld’s music posthumously. He wouldn’t want that, and I won’t listen if you do.
We need to do more to help rappers and sports figures from dying early.
RIP, Juice Wrld!
