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The Juice WRLD documentary, Into the Abyss.

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As far as a true documentary, like in the traditional sense, it's missing a lot.

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It's more or less following my tour, seeing his demise into the abyss.

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It didn't even feel like a full-on documentary because I honestly wanted to learn more about him.

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Yeah, the documentary starts with him just freestyling.

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It's like a finished product.

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And I think that's part of where it lacks the story.

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Like there's no arc of him.

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You only see the down part.

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I would like to have seen more of the development of him as an artist.

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But in its own way, it had a kind of directness and reality to it.

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On this episode of Hip Hop Movie Club,

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we tell you why this documentary was a flawed

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but a deeply poignant cautionary tale,

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we get a grasp of just how big of a star Juice WRLD was,

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and how he was the inspirational voice who helped a generation,

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but tragically couldn't help himself.

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I'm DynoWright, filmmaker, designer, longtime hip hop fan.

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I'm JB, 80s and 90s nostalgia junkie, longtime hip hop fan.

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I'm Boogie, a DJ, longtime hip hop fan.

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Documentary follows Juice WRLD, the late Juice WRLD on tour, mostly from September to

November: 2019

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The whole thing just will serve as like a powerful warning about the consequences of

untreated mental health issues and substance dependency.

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I even questioned some of the

motives behind putting this out, like

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was it fan service?

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Was it a money grab?

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Feel like I was watching an almost two hour “Say No to Drugs” ad and it's tragic.

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You can see it coming.

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He was popping his Percocet pills like they were like M&M's and just popping them like 40

a day at sometimes.

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Yeah, that's the thing for this film.

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It shows how the people around him enabled his addiction to keep the machine going.

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And they failed to help him, even though there were hints of it.

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Ally Lotti wanted him not to drink so much lean.

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the average person would need like one ounce to get a nice

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feeling out of it.

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And he's doing like four ounces of it.

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I read afterwards that his mom wanted to get him into professional help, but, and it was

supposedly booked, but it was too late.

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It's a shame to see his flame go out at such a young age because he did have

talent.

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The clips of him freestyling and everybody was talking about how he would go into the studio and just off the top of his head do a song and do like

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multiple takes of it and say, you guys pick the best one.

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And he would do that for every track

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that he was doing.

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And that kind of work ethic, man, that's, that is to be commended.

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Every generation seems to a voice.

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For me, it was Kurt Cobain.

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But this current generation, it was Juice WRLD, billions of streams worth.

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You need music at that time of your life to get you through.

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What I was impressed by though was the amount of people in the crowds when he would

perform.

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75,000 people at a show? He’s doing these kinds of numbers.

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Yeah.

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It's sometimes hard to get a sense of the scale, but he was huge.

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Billions of streams.

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That's like Taylor Swift numbers.

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His numbers were definitely competing with those the big names the big heavyweights he was

competing with them

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And one of the most impressive things,

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It was almost like an accidental superstar.

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He did not have the machine behind him, like the marketing machine that a lot of other artists have.

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It's a tragedy.

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His artistic expression got him through life, but it didn't preserve it.

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You need more than just that.

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Man can't live on art alone.

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There's been other instances of this where you see the reflections within the music is

almost like a plea for help where he's constantly talking about his substance abuse and

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needing this to get by.

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And one of the big examples that comes to my mind is Chester Bennington from Linkin Park.

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I tried so hard, I get so far, but in the end nothing really matters.

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Talking about pain a lot, loneliness.

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So many songs are like a plea for help and that's his artistic expression.

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And unfortunately, his depression led to a suicide and it’s just a shame.

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I think the most recent one for me was Amy Winehouse.

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She had a song, tried to make me go to rehab.

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But I said, no, no, no.

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was like, she, you know, couldn't shake it.

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His openness and vulnerability in his music was impressive.

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Lucid Dreams, over a billion views on YouTube and that is a haunting refrain.

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Like, still see your shadows in my room.

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And then talking about, I love you and I hate you and replacing the girl.

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Yeah, it resonates with a lot of people going through a breakup or other emotional times.

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And he resonated well.

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Like he did a lot of good for a lot of people and you know, he had a whole future ahead of

him.

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The fact that he was able to help some people through some dark periods is to be commended.

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And it's hard just to see that, because he's helping them get through things, but you know, it's not necessarily helping himself.

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that's the dramatic irony or the duality of it is he inspiring millions while struggling

himself.

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He's given these a lot of younger folks an outlet.

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He was on talk shows talking about specifically the African American community, how

sometimes it's difficult to express your feelings or talk about mental health issues and

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have people take it more seriously.

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So that was a positive that hopefully came out of this.

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BooGie, for Juice WRLD Into the Abyss, would you bring this funky flick back or

leave it in the vault?

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This is a tough one because personally I would want to leave it in the vault and it's just

because I don't feel like I want to go through watching him go through these go through

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that again just knowing where it was headed but I think that if I knew a younger person I

was going through something I would show it to them and watch it with them and just kind

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of say hey you kind of like you know help them see if I can help them seek professional

help by saying look this is what could happen.

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But for me personally, I don't think I'd want to just watch it, but watch it again unless

I had to to help someone.

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So I'm going to leave it in the vault but I won't fully lock it.

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I'll leave it there just in case.

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Yeah.

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Alright.

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DynoWright for Juice WRLD into the Abyss.

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Bring that funky flick back or leave it in the vault.

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I will bring this funky flick back, but it really was a flawed film.

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It wasn't a satisfying documentary besides all of the slow motion dying.

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But it is, does serve as a good cautionary tale.

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And so in that it has its utility.

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So I'll bring this funky flick back, but.

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Yeah, I agree with BooGie.

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I don't know if I'd watch this again myself.

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It's rough.

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Yeah, bring funky flick back with an asterisk.

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I was like, oh could you just please like stabilize this camera, please?

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They have the technology.

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It existed in 2019.

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Just to stabilize the shot.

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ahhh

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It didn't have to be so herky jerky.

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I know.

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And I had a lot of questions about the providence of this footage, but bring this funky

flick back, guess.

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Yeah, definitely a tough one.

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uh I'm going to bring it, bring the funky flick back.

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But again, with the asterisk, just because it has the redeeming value of a cautionary

tale.

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If it can help people, it's worthwhile to leave it out there.

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Thank you for tuning in to Hip Hop Movie Club, the show for serious hip hop fans who want

to deepen their cultural knowledge.

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I'm DynoWright, filmmaker, designer, longtime hip hop fan.

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I recommend Tobi Lou, a Chicago rapper who also attended Homewood Flossmoor High School

like Juice WRLD.

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Especially if you're a fan of Adventure Time, check out the video for Buff Baby.

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I'm JB, 80s and 90s nostalgia junkie, long time Hip-Hop fan.

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And while I wasn't too familiar with Juice WRLD's catalog, I've acquired a taste for some

emo rap, especially the stylings of Kid Cudi, introduced to me by my son.

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In fact, Kid Cudi was his first concert a few years back, which I took him to, along with

some friends.

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I really enjoyed it and I've become a fan.

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Nice.

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I like some Kid Cudi, though.

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Yeah.

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And I'm Boogie, a DJ, long time hip hop fan.

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And like my shirt says, it was all a dream.

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Y'all know the rest.

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If you need free crisis counseling, you can text LF999 to 741-741 to reach the Crisis Text Line or go to LiveFree999.org for more resources.

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And remember, don't hate, intermediate.

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help others out that may need it.

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Yep.

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Yep.

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Don't stay silent.