📍Homewood, IL, USA
1998 – 2017“I was born Jarad Anthony Higgins in Chicago in December 1998, and grew up in the south suburbs of the city. My parents divorced when I was about three, and my mother raised my older brother and me on her own; she was very religious and strict, and she didn't let me listen to hip-hop. I played in Calumet Park, and later we moved to Homewood, a quiet, leafy suburb south of Chicago with old houses and tree-lined streets. I discovered rock and pop music through video games like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Guitar Hero, which introduced me to Billy Idol, Blink-182, Black Sabbath, Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco. I began playing piano at four, teaching myself from YouTube until my mother could pay for lessons, and I learned the drums, guitar and trumpet too. At Homewood-Flossmoor High School, in my sophomore year, I started rapping, freestyling over beats and recording songs on my phone, and posting them on SoundCloud. I could freestyle for an hour straight, mixing rap with the melodies and emotions of the rock music I loved. I graduated from Homewood-Flossmoor in 2017, and that year my songs Lucid Dreams and All Girls Are the Same spread across the internet. My debut album, Goodbye & Good Riddance, made me one of the biggest new voices of my generation, singing honestly about anxiety, heartbreak and struggle. My mother started the Live Free 999 Fund, supporting young people with mental health and addiction, and Homewood remembers the kid who freestyled for hours.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today