Listen to Juice WRLD, Eminem and Benny Blanco’s haunting ode to addiction ‘Lace It’

A posthumous single featuring Juice WRLD has been released, along with a haunting verse from Eminem – listen to the track below.

• READ MORE: Juice WRLD, 1998-2019 – the NME obituary

Produced by Benny Blanco, the song features Juice WRLD (real name Jarad Anthony Higgins), who passed away in 2019 due to an accidental overdose of oxycodone and codeine. ‘Lace It’ sees the rapper repeatedly request to “lace it”: “Roll it up, lace it, pop a few to chase it/I’m in my own Matrix, none of this shit makes sense.”

The song also sees the legendary Eminem deliver a touching verse about his own struggles with addiction. “You pop some ecstasy first, it gets progressively worse,” he raps, “Try your best to reverse, unsuccessfully flirtin’ with certain death.”

Em finished his verse by shouting out several musicians who have since died due to accidental overdoses: Shock G, Lil Peep, ODB (Ol’ Dirty Bastard), Gangsta Boo, Pimp C, Prince, Michael Jackson, and finally Jarad himself. Take a listen below:

Back in February this year, it was announced that the final posthumous Juice WRLD album was in the works. Friend and Grade A Productions label head Lil Bibby wrote: “The Last Juice WRLD Album is in the works. Let’s celebrate the life of Juice. No more mourning, I want everyone that Juice loved while he was here to help celebrate, especially his fans who he loved!”

Since Juice’s death, two posthumous albums have been released: 2020’s ‘Legends Never Die‘, and 2021’s ‘Fighting Demons’. In a four-star review, NME said of the latter: ‘Fighting Demons’ shows the other side of Juice WRLD, which was never explored enough while he was live, so focused were his fans on the upbeat, high-octane Juice WRLD we saw on stage.

“The former NME cover star called himself the “codeine Cobain”, and ‘Fighting Demons’ is evidence of a nuanced, complex artist whose legacy is stunning in its richness.”