Juice WRLD’s mother Carmella Wallace has said that fans who leak the late rapper’s music are being “disrespectful”.

Speaking to XXL about fans who leak tracks online, Wallace explained how she “understand they loved him” and his music but that “there’s a proper way to do it”.

“Let us give you our best,” she said. “Leaked music is not necessarily cleaned up music. It’s just leaked, it’s not finished. It’s a bit disrespectful to him to leak his music like that.”

She went on to add that she knows leaked music is “not going anywhere. We can just do our part and put out good music. He made a lot of good music.”

On Soundcloud, there are numerous playlists of leaked Juice WRLD tracks that are updated daily, many with over a hundred unreleased songs.

Juice WRLD (real name Jarad Higgins) died in 2019 from an accidental drug overdose. His label Grade A Productions releasing music from the rapper. In December, the second posthumous Juice WRLD album ‘Fighting Demons‘ was released by his estate to mark the second anniversary of his death.

In a four-star review of the record, NME wrote: “It is a rare thing: a posthumous album, crafted with care, that deepens an artist’s narrative.”

It followed on from ‘Legends Never Die’ which was released July 2020.

Earlier this month, HBO released a documentary covering Higgins’ rise as Juice WRLD, titled Into The Abyss. In addition to his trailblazing rap career, the film touched on Higgins’ struggles with mental illness, and how during his short time in the spotlight, he became “a therapist for millions of kids” and “a voice of that generation”.

Following the death of Higgins, Wallace set up a charitable youth fund to help young people facing mental health challenges.

Speaking about Live Free 999 in a recent interview, she said the aims of the organisation were to “ just normalise the conversation around mental health”, and “take the stigma away from” seeking help for mental illness.

Live Free 999 operates a free and confidential, 24/7 crisis text line, “where if they need help, they have someone to talk to, where they are not being judged,” said Wallace.

“I think people just need to feel comfortable about talking about themselves not being OK and that’s a good avenue,” she continued. “We have seen such great numbers in the African-American male community responding to that text crisis line and so, it’s a big deal.”

For help and advice on mental health:

• Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians (CALL MUSIC MINDS MATTER ON: 0808 802 8008)
• CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably
• Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues (CALL: 0800 030 6789)
• YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing
• Time To Change – Let’s end mental health discrimination
• The Samaritans – Confidential support 24 hours a day