Growing up with a religious single mother, the rapper born Jarad Higgins wasn’t allowed to listen to hip-hop, so instead he started his musical education with rock and pop acts like Billy Idol, Fall Out Boy and Blink-182. Later, when Higgins was recording his first songs under the name JuicetheKidd, he used a cell phone to create the music and upload it to SoundCloud. Those early limitations helped shape the artist that Juice Wrld has become, with a sound influenced as heavily by hard rock and emo as it is by superstar rappers like Chief Keef and Tupac Shakur.

Some have dubbed Juice Wrld’s music “emo-rap,” thanks to its emotionally confessional lyrics and incorporation of substantial rock elements. Whatever you want to call it, songs like “Lucid Dreams,” “All Girls Are the Same” and “Wasted” have blown up online and on the radio, making the 20-year-old Juice Wrld one of hip-hop’s major rising stars. His second studio album, Death Race for Love, debuted at the top of the Billboard charts in March, led by singles “Robbery” and “Hear Me Calling.” He’s come a long way from discovering new artists via video games, but those origins make his music what it is today.

Hard Rock Hotel, 8 p.m. May 3, starting at $39.50 plus tax and fee. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster