Juice WRLD’s “Legends” Lyrics Meaning

We all know of young artists who passed away prematurely. The passing of two of these individuals in particular, Lil Peep (1996-2017) and XXXTentacion (1998-2018), are what prompted Juice WRLD to write “Legends”. And in it he is tackling the subject of the death of such “legends”.

These “legends” are those like the aforementioned who were on top of their game and adored by fans but left us prematurely. And Juice perceives an irony, if you will, in this situation. Or looked at differently, he questions why such beloved individuals always seem to be the ones who “die out”.

And overall he is taking a philosophical approach to this query.  For instance he acknowledges in the chorus that this is one question that has him stumped. But whereas he knows he may not be up to the task, the reason he decided to speak on this particular topic is because he feels “ain’t nobody else saying” anything. Or put differently, no one else seems to be analyzing the aforementioned subject with a frank, unapologetic and intimate approach.  Thus the rapper is compelled to do so himself.

And in trying to answer this question, he does recognize the factors which did indeed take the lives of Peep and X. For instance he mentions “the drugs he was lacing”. Lacing is basically a colloquialism for taking a drug and mixing it with an even more-powerful drug to increase the intoxicating effect. And such potentially-deadly mixtures seem to be what took Lil Peep’s life.

Then in the first verse Juice WRLD states that he “gotta keep a gun”.  The implication is that he would possess such as a self-defense mechanism, for XXXTentacion passed away due to being gunned down by haters on the street.  Indeed Juice goes on to state “that’s the world we live in now”.  And overall he acknowledges that his generation, the “demon youth”, have a lot of different issues to deal with.

Now in hindsight, the most-interesting part of “Legends” is the first couple of lines of the first verse. Here, what would end up being a prophetic statement is premised by Juice WRLD given a shoutout to the “27 Club”. The 27 Club is an informal name given to an unrelated group of entertainers – from different disciplines and throughout the decades – who have died prematurely at the age of 27.

But here is where things get astonishing. Juice WRLD goes on to say that in contrast, “we ain’t making it past 21”. Now making it, succinctly put, is a metaphor for living. So basically what he’s saying is ‘we ain’t living past 21’.  This is of course another allusion to Lip Peep and X, who respectively passed away at the ages of 21 and 20. But as you, the reader, probably already know, Juice WRLD himself went on to die at the age of 21.  So considering that he said “we”, he accurately included himself amongst those who didn’t ‘make it past 21’. And this song was dropped almost a year and-a-half before he actually died.

So conclusively, even when you read about the history of this song, it can be argued that its thesis sentiment is Juice being concerned about his own mortality in light of all that’s going on around him, both in the streets in general and with his peers in particular. Yes, he is in fact memorializing X and Lil Peep. But he also recognized that he himself was amongst the titular “legends”. As such, his wild lifestyle combined with the realities of being a rich and famous musician made him a candidate to experience a premature death also.

UPDATE: Juice WRLD Passes Away

Juice WRLD, an up-and-coming rapper from Chicago, suddenly passed away on 8 December 2019. This occurrence happened in Midway International Airport, which is located in his hometown. The flight he was on had just landed from California. And what had happened is that while making it through Midway, Juice had a seizure.

This seizure was apparently due to him going under cardiac arrest. And as of now, just a a few hours after the incident, the official cause of his heart failing has yet to be ascertained. However, according to reports it was most likely the result of drug abuse on the part of the rapper. Indeed Juice WRLD was commonly perceived as an advocate of taking different types of illicit drugs. And he is known to have been living this type of dangerous lifestyle since his early teens or apparently even before that.

But that being said, upon suddenly falling ill he was promptly rushed to a nearby hospital. And at the time he was still conscious. But reportedly there was blood coming forth from his mouth. And it was at the hospital, whose location has yet to be revealed, where it is said the artist actually passed away. So rest in peace to Juice WRLD, who had just made it to 21 years of age on 2 December 2019 and was apparently still in the midst of celebrating the occasion.

About Juice WRLD

Perhaps describing Juice WRLD as an “up-and-coming” rapper is not the best adjective. For despite he still being in the early stages of his career, he was already a well-established musician. For instance, Billboard dubbed him the “Top New Artist” of 2019. And his last album, 2019’s “Death Race for Love”, reached number 1 on the Billboard 200.

Juice WRLD is survived by his mom. Not much is known about her, as she has opted to stay out of the public spotlight. But Juice has acknowledged her in the past as being the one who actually raised him. It also seems as if he didn’t leave behind any children.  but his girlfriend is known to be a young lady by the name of Ally Lotti, who is basically an Instagram celebrity. And if nothing else, it would appear that Juice was truly in love with Ally.

Moreover in looking for a bright side in this sad, completely-unexpected situation, now that Juice WRLD has moved on, his record sales will likely skyrocket, and the related funds can be funneled to his family. But for those who truly loved him, this will be a bittersweet consolation.

When was “Legends” released?

“Legends” was released by Interscope Records and Grade A Productions on 19 June 2018. It is part of Juice WRLD’s seventh EP, which is entitled “Too Soon..”

Writing and Production Credits

This song was produced by the musical duo known as Take A Daytrip.  This pair consists of David Biral and Denzel Baptiste. And these two also co-wrote “Legends” along with Juice WRLD himself.