If you were scrolling through Instagram in early 2018, you might have missed the moment the trajectory of modern melodic rap shifted. Benny Blanco, a guy who already had a wall full of plaques from working with Rihanna and Katy Perry, was sitting in a car with a lawyer friend. The lawyer played a track that wasn't out yet. It was "Robbery."
Blanco's jaw didn't just drop—he obsessed. He spent the entire night hunting for the kid behind the voice. Back then, Juice WRLD had maybe 6,000 followers. He was just a teenager from Calumet Park with a SoundCloud account and a brain that moved faster than most fiber-optic cables.
When they finally linked up in Los Angeles, Juice didn't have a label. He didn't have a "team" of twenty people. He just had his talent. Most artists spend weeks, sometimes months, polishing a single hook. Juice WRLD? He changed the rules of the game the second he stepped into Benny’s studio.
The First Night and the One-Take Magic
The stories about Juice WRLD and Benny Blanco in the studio sound like urban legends, but they’ve been backed up by everyone who was in the room. Benny booked the studio himself. He turned on a beat.
Juice listened for maybe ten seconds and told him to stop the music.
📖 Related: Break It Off PinkPantheress: How a 90-Second Garage Flip Changed Everything
"I've heard enough," he said.
Benny was confused. Most rappers want to vibe with the beat for an hour, maybe write some bars in their Notes app. Juice just walked into the booth. He recorded a full song—top to bottom, verses, hook, bridge—in one single take. No paper. No pen. Just pure stream of consciousness.
When he finished, he didn't even want to hear it back. He just said, "Okay, let me go again."
He did this three times. Three entirely different songs over the same beat. He looked at Benny and said, "Pick the best one." Honestly, that kind of efficiency is unheard of in an industry where "perfection" usually means over-editing the soul out of a track. That first night alone, they supposedly knocked out about six songs. One of those was "Real Shit," a track that stayed in the vault for years.
👉 See also: Bob Hearts Abishola Season 4 Explained: The Move That Changed Everything
More Than Just "Roses" and "Graduation"
While "Roses" (featuring Brendon Urie) and "Graduation" are the hits most people point to when discussing the Juice WRLD and Benny Blanco partnership, their connection was deeper than just a few singles.
- Roses: This was a weird, beautiful collision of worlds. You had an emo-rap king and the lead singer of Panic! At The Disco on a beat produced by a pop mastermind. It shouldn't have worked, but it did. It's currently sitting at over 500 million streams on Spotify.
- Graduation: This one flipped the classic Vitamin C song on its head. The music video was a fever dream of 2019 cameos—everyone from Hailee Steinfeld to Lil Dicky. It felt like a celebration of Juice's meteoric rise.
- Real Shit: Released posthumously on what would have been Juice's 22nd birthday in 2020, this was actually the very first song they ever recorded together. It’s raw. It’s upbeat. It captures that specific "magic" Benny talks about in every interview.
The thing is, Juice didn't care about the industry politics. While labels were literally banging down the studio door that first night, trying to offer him millions of dollars and "butter him up," Juice was focused on the monitor. He just wanted to hear the next beat.
Why the Chemistry Worked
Benny Blanco is known for being a "song architect." He knows how to structure a hit. But with Juice, he didn't have to architect anything. He just had to facilitate.
Juice WRLD's freestyle ability wasn't just a party trick; it was his primary songwriting tool. He could feel the emotion of a chord progression and translate it into a melody instantly. Benny has gone on record saying he’s never seen anything like it in his entire career. And keep in mind, this is a man who has been in the room with Kanye, Ed Sheeran, and Justin Bieber.
✨ Don't miss: Black Bear by Andrew Belle: Why This Song Still Hits So Hard
There was a mutual respect there that transcended the producer-artist dynamic. They were friends. When "Real Shit" finally dropped in 2020, Benny shared old photos of them just laughing. He described Juice as one of the "kindest and most considerate" people he’d ever met.
The Lasting Influence on the "999" Legacy
Even years after Juice's passing, the music he made with Benny Blanco continues to resurface. Take "Lace It" featuring Eminem, which dropped late in 2023. It showed that even the unreleased vault had levels of depth we hadn't seen.
What most people get wrong is thinking these collaborations were just "business." In reality, Benny was one of the first major industry figures to bet on Juice before the Goodbye & Good Riddance era truly exploded. He saw the "999" vision when it was still just a local Chicago buzz.
What You Can Learn From Their Collaboration
If you're a creator, an artist, or just a fan trying to understand how the hits are made, the Juice and Benny era offers a few "real-world" takeaways:
- Speed is a superpower. Don't overthink your first instinct. Juice's best work came from his first 180 seconds with a beat.
- Trust your ears over the hype. Benny found Juice when he had almost no following. He didn't care about the numbers; he cared about how "Robbery" made him feel.
- Vulnerability sells. The reason their songs like "Roses" still chart today is because they don't hide behind "tough" personas. They lean into the messiness of being human.
To really appreciate the technical side of what they did, go back and listen to the "Real Shit" vocal takes if you can find them. The way he layers his own harmonies while freestyling is basically a masterclass in modern recording.
If you want to dive deeper into the technical side of how Benny Blanco produces these tracks, you should check out his breakdown sessions on YouTube or his recent podcast appearances where he actually plays the original demos. Seeing the "skeleton" of a song before it becomes a multi-platinum hit changes how you hear the final version.