Lil Peep

Gustav Elijah Åhr was born on November 1, 1996, in Allentown, Pennsylvania to first-grade teacher Liza Womack and college professor Karl Johan Åhr.[14] He had one sibling, Karl "Oskar" Åhr.[15] Åhr grew up on Long Island, New York.[16] His parents were both Harvard graduates who divorced when he was a teenager.[16][17] Åhr claimed to have Swedish citizenship on Twitter.[18]

Growing up, Åhr's father was absent,[19] with his father and mother divorcing formally when Åhr was 14.[20] He attended Lindell Elementary School and Long Beach High School in Lido Beach, New York, where he was often absent but received good grades[21] and made the dean's list.[22] He later dropped out of high school and took online courses to earn his diploma.[23] Shortly thereafter, he began posting his music on YouTube and SoundCloud.

At 17, Åhr got his first face tattoo, a broken heart below his left eye to help motivate him to make music.[24] He moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music under the stage name Lil Peep.[25] He said he moved to Los Angeles because living on Long Island depressed him.[19]

When Lil Peep was a teenager, he called himself a loner who made most of his friends online. Inspired by underground acts like Seshollowaterboyz and iLoveMakonnen,[26] Peep made music while residing in Long Island[27] under the pseudonym "Trap Goose"[20] and lived temporarily with childhood friend Brennan Savage until both decided to move to Los Angeles.[28]

Lil Peep left high school early to move to Los Angeles and meet up with online friends. He initially lived in Skid Row, Los Angeles, and dipped in and out of homelessness,[22] staying at Savage's apartment while Savage pursued a degree. The two eventually went separate ways[28] and Peep met Atlanta rapper and producer JGRXXN and Florida rappers Ghostemane and Craig Xen, living with them while forming the collective Schemaposse.[29] He originally met Craig Xen online and was introduced to JGRXXN who needed a singer.[30] Lil Peep also attempted to attend Glendale Community College during his first year living in Los Angeles.[14] In 2015, Lil Peep released his first mixtape, Lil Peep; Part One, which generated 4,000 plays in its first week. Shortly thereafter, he released his first extended play, Feelz, and another mixtape, Live Forever.[31][32]

Lil Peep (left) performing with Fat Nick in 2016

Lil Peep began to grow in popularity soon after, with the song "Star Shopping" (later released as a single following his death[33]) from Lil Peep; Part One making waves in underground hip-hop circles.[29] Lil Peep's popularity continued to grow after the release of the song "Beamer Boy", which led to him performing live for the first time with the rest of Schemaposse in March 2016 in Tucson, Arizona.[34] The following month, Schemaposse broke up and Lil Peep was no longer associated with a collective, though they remained on good terms.[35] Shortly after Schemaposse's breakup, Peep began to associate with Los Angeles-based rap collective Gothboiclique, featuring members of the group on his full-length mixtape Crybaby.[36] The group shared a squat in Skid Row with Peep and often shared beds.[24] Crybaby was recorded in three days with a $150 microphone. He did a majority of the mixing and mastering himself.[26] Crybaby was released in June 2016.[26] Later that month, First Access Entertainment (FAE) partnered with Lil Peep on a joint venture to invest in and advise him on his career.[37]

In addition to providing business guidance, co-founder/CEO Sarah Stennett was a friend who gave both moral and financial support, helping Peep realize his vision. In September 2016, Lil Peep released Hellboy.[38] Songs from Hellboy such as "Girls" and "OMFG" received millions of views and plays on SoundCloud and YouTube.[39] Hellboy's success led to Peep's first solo tour across the United States, the "Peep Show" tour, in April and May 2017.[40] In May 2017, the band Mineral accused Peep of copyright infringement for including an unlicensed and uncredited sample of their song "LoveLetterTypewriter" on his track "Hollywood Dreaming". Peep said that he was only trying to "show some love" with the sample.[41]

Soon after the tour was done, Peep emigrated to London, England, during a disentanglement with Gothboiclique. There he began to associate with figures such as Atlanta rapper iLoveMakonnen and longtime friend Bexey (fka Bexey Swan), and recorded Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1 and Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 2, the EP Goth Angel Sinner and an untitled project with iLoveMakonnen.[42][43][44] Peep released his debut studio album, Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1, on August 15, 2017.[45] He also took his first world tour, starting in the UK in September[46] and moving to Germany before finishing in the United States in November, which was cut short by his death.[47]

Posthumous releases

Lil Peep in Holland performing his unreleased song "Moving On" from his upcoming Goth Angel Sinner EP[48]

After his death, Lil Peep's fanbase and popularity grew quickly, resulting in a significant increase in sales and streams of his music.[49] The single "Awful Things" from Come Over When You're Sober, Part One charted, becoming his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 79.

Due to Peep's prolific work rate, a number of songs and projects were completed prior to his death. The first official posthumous release arrived within 24 hours of his death, as Wiggy, a director of many of Peep's music videos, released the official video for the then-unreleased song "16 Lines".[50] On January 12, 2018, Marshmello officially released a collaboration titled "Spotlight".[51] The video for "Spotlight" was released on February 12, 2018. On January 15, 2018, rapper Juicy J released the song "Got 'Em Like", which featured Lil Peep and Wiz Khalifa.[52] On January 27, 2018, SoundCloud rapper Teddy released a song collaboration with Lil Peep, "Dreams & Nightmares".[53]

In March 2018, Peep's music archive was acquired by Columbia Records. On May 13, 2018, a posthumous single, "4 Gold Chains", featuring Clams Casino, was released as well as a music video.[54] A collaboration album between Peep and rapper iLoveMakonnen is expected to be released on Makonnen's label Warner Bros.[55] On August 17, 2018, Makonnen announced a new Lil Peep single, "Falling Down", a reworking of "Sunlight on Your Skin" that he recorded with Peep in the fall of 2017 in London. The new version features recently deceased rapper XXXTentacion, who recorded his verses following Peep's death.[56] The creation of the single was condemned by surviving members of GothBoiClique, who said there had been unresolved conflict between the two artists stemming from latter's history of violence towards women.[57] "Falling Down" was released on September 19, 2018, and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.[58] The original "Sunlight on Your Skin" was released on September 27, 2018.[59]

On October 14, 2018, Lil Peep's estate revealed that his first posthumous project, Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 2, was finished in September 2018 and Lil Peep's executive producer for the project, Smokeasac, confirmed that it was just awaiting approval from Peep's family.[60] On October 17, 2018, Lil Peep's estate confirmed that the lead single from Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 2, "Cry Alone", would be released on October 18, 2018.[61] Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 2 was released on November 9, 2018.[62] On November 1, 2018, the second single from the album, "Runaway", was officially released.[63] On November 7, 2018, the third single, "Life is Beautiful"—a remix of the track "Life" from the Feelz EP—was released.[64]

Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 2 debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 with 81,000 album-equivalent units (including 43,000 pure album sales), making it Lil Peep's first US top 10 album.[10][65]

On January 31, 2019, the first single from the upcoming collaboration album with ILoveMakonnen, "I've Been Waiting", featuring Fall Out Boy, was released.[66] The song was originally a demo by ILoveMakonnen; Peep then performed on it, spawning a partnership that created up to 20 songs. Fall Out Boy was added to the song after Peep's death.[67]

On March 10, 2019, the documentary Everybody's Everything, which chronicles Lil Peep's life, premiered at the SXSW Film Festival.[68] On November 1, 2019, the estate announced the release of the soundtrack to the documentary, which features both released and unreleased tracks.

In April 2019, "Gym Class" and "Star Shopping", two Lil Peep singles that were originally released in March 2016 and August 2015 respectively, were re-released onto all streaming platforms by the Lil Peep estate.[69] The 2016 EP Vertigo was subsequently released by the estate to streaming platforms on March 5, 2020.[70]

Lil Peep had been into fashion since his teenage years and during the last months of his life he modelled for Vlone, and was invited to and attended several fashion shows such as Balmain men's show at Paris Fashion Week and Moncler Gamme Bleu MFW Mens Spring Summer show in Milan.[71][72][73] Nico Amarca of Hypebeast said “even though Peep's brand of trendy sits on a far more niche spectrum than most modern-day tastemakers, something that largely attributed to his success. In a time where genuine individuality is becoming increasingly obsolete, Peep was the tattoo-covered, Manic Panic-hued mall rat the creative world needed to disrupt its ever-growing homogeny."[74] Rapper Playboi Carti described Lil Peep as a "trendsetter".[74]

In late 2018, it was announced that a Lil Peep clothing line was being created called "No Smoking" (stylized as "NO SMOK!NG") which was developed before Lil Peep's death.[75]

Lil Peep was described as making lo-fi rap,[79] being an "emo-trap heart throb"[80] and an "emo rapper".[81][82] Music journalists often compared Lil Peep to singer-songwriter and guitarist Kurt Cobain.[83] New York Times music critic Jon Caramanica defined Peep as the Kurt Cobain of lo-fi rap, describing his music as gloomy and diabolically melodic.[84] Lil Peep himself encouraged the connection and persona in his musical and lyrical content, saying that he wanted to become the "New Kurt Cobain".[83][16] According to Angus Harrison from The Guardian, Lil Peep was "repurposing Kurt Cobain for bedroom diarists who are more used to rap than they are guitars."[85]

AllMusic described Lil Peep's music as a blend of hip hop and rock influences along with trap, punk, and dream pop.[86] His songs generally drew on the triple-time hi-hats of Southern rap and the angsty introspection of post-hardcore.[85] He combined elements of emo and pop punk into rap music, bringing a fresh take on the genre.[87] This resulted in him being described as the "future of emo" by Steven J. Horowitz of online magazine Pitchfork.[87]

As an burgeoning artist, Lil Peep gained a significant amount of traction in the alternative hip-hop scene, establishing a better platform for himself to speak to fans about topics of his concern such as mental health.[88] His lyrical themes include topics such as depression, drug use, past relationships, and suicidal thoughts and meshes together third-wave emo, alternative rock, pop-punk and dream pop with trap music and hip-hop.[86] A close friend and the executive producer of Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1 said that Peep "wanted give a voice to people that suffer from anxiety and depression, people who have been abused, bullied, and the people who were misunderstood like him. He had demons of his own and he faced those demons by creating music."[27]

On November 15, 2017, exactly two weeks (14 days) after his 21st birthday, Lil Peep was found dead on his tour bus when his manager went to check on him in preparation for that night's performance at a Tucson, Arizona venue.[89] Foul play was not suspected,[90] with his death believed to be from an overdose.[91] In a series of Instagram posts in the hours leading up to his death, Lil Peep claimed to have ingested psilocybin mushrooms and cannabis concentrate. In another, he claimed to have consumed six Xanax pills following a video depicting his attempts to drop an unidentified pill into his mouth several times before successfully swallowing one and shaking a full prescription bottle. A subsequent post was captioned "When I die, you'll love me."[92] In the days after his death, a police report revealed that Lil Peep had taken a nap around 5:45 p.m. before the concert. His manager checked on him twice and found him sleeping and breathing fine, but was unable to wake him. When the manager checked on Lil Peep a third time, he was unresponsive and not breathing. Lil Peep's manager performed CPR before medics arrived, though he was pronounced dead at the scene.[93] Lil Peep's death was recorded on Instagram by his friend Bexey Swan, who believed Lil Peep was asleep.[94] On December 8, the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner released details from a toxicology report, certifying the cause of death was an accidental overdose due to the effects of the pain medication fentanyl and the benzodiazepine alprazolam.[95] Blood tests were positive for cannabis, cocaine and the painkiller Tramadol. Urine tests also showed the presence of multiple powerful opioids, including hydrocodone, hydromorphone (dilaudid), oxycodone and oxymorphone. There was no alcohol in his system.[1]

Before he died of an accidental overdose in 2017, Lil Peep was said to possess the potential to take SoundCloud rap into the pop mainstream.[105]

Regarding his death, in January 2018 John Jeremiah Sullivan of GQ wrote, "When Lil Peep died late last year, he left behind an outsized legacy."[106] Rolling Stone journalist Elias Leight concurred similarly and wrote that Lil Peep's "rise to stardom was powered by relentless drive."[107] Before dying at the age of 21, the rapper earned legions of fans in a short time by combining hip-hop and emo with a magnetic persona.[108] Although he did not claim so himself, Lil Peep made a style of music that has been since regarded "emo rap."[109][85] By 2017, a rising trend on the Billboard Hot 100 was this form of slow, woozy rap music containing lyrics preoccupied with drugs and emotionally open while still marked by posturing.[109][108] The 2017 single “Awful Things” from his debut album provided a hint at his crossover potential.[108] Lil Peep injected the catchy yelping and self-loathing sensibilities of emo and pop punk, right at the moment when a revival of those scenes in popular music appeared to be imminent.[108] One January 9, 2017, Pitchfork hailed Lil Peep as "the future of emo."[87] A profile on his artistry was written by Billboard editor Steven Horowitz.[87] The lengthy article resulted in an influx of think pieces centered around Lil Peep amongst writers, with music publications such as Noisey discussing his role within the broader emo genre. Though it allowed Peep to gather attention from a wide audience beyond his SoundCloud base, the piece polarized readers, some whom protested applying the "future of emo" label to the young rapper in the headline.[109][87]

However, Lil Peep has since become regarded being an integral part of a "post-emo revival style of hip hop and rock",[110][111][112][113] and had been described as "arguably the biggest emo icon of the past few years"[114] Known for his more emo and punk rock approach to his craft, adding problems that he dealt with such as depressing themes reflecting on nihilism, heartbreak, and drug usage into his work, Lil Peep's reputation was to be considered different. He incorporated a "resurgence of rap rock" with his adaption of using hard guitar rifts into his music and being a part of the emergence of emo rap. He is commonly cited as an inspiration for upcoming "emo rappers" even as his music was considered by many as 'underground'.[115]

During his short career, Lil Peep changed the future of his genre by playing a key role in opening up an important conversation about mental health in rap music.[87] Lil Peep gained a significant amount of traction within the alternative hip-hop scene, establishing a better platform for himself to speak to fans about topics of his concern such as mental health.[88] He wrote poignant songs that explored the heavy subject matter, making him the poster child of Generation Z angst as well as an inspiration to outcasts and youth subcultures drawn together by the internet.[116] The rapper managed to amass a cult following consisting of young fans who related to his refreshingly candid songs about issues such as mental health and substance abuse.[87] Lil Peep became a social media sensation thanks to a thread of emotional songs that often referenced drug use, depression and suicide. In the days leading up to his death, these subjects appeared to be referenced by the singer to his 1.2 million followers in a series of dark Instagram posts.[117] Prior to his demise, fans of Lil Peep thanked him for creating music that reportedly helped their depression and saved them from suicide.[83][118] His music offered solidarity, empathy and understanding created through the immediacy of rap which reportedly had a lifesaving effect.[83] One fan said she met Lil Peep at a previous show and imparted that she admired him because he was "not afraid to talk about depression or his struggles with suicide."[119] The morning after his death, she told The Arizona Republic, "He was somebody I looked up to. He was always so happy and nice to everybody. I feel like he's like a brother. We've gone through a lot of the same stuff. I feel like I'm close to him even though I don't know him. To have him notice me like that felt really good."[119]

The death of Lil Peep left an impact on several of his musical contemporaries.[120] Lil Uzi Vert offered tribute by sharing on Twitter an edited version of one of the final photos Lil Peep had shared online.[120] The news of Lil Peep's tragic passing greatly affected Lil Uzi Vert, who shortly tweeted, "We would love 2 stop ..... but do you really care cause we been on xanax all fucking year. ... Rip buddy I 100% understand and I don't fault u."[120] The prescription pills Xanax has since become an epidemic in the hip hop realm, particularly among the current SoundCloud generation.[121] The SoundCloud rap scene Lil Peep originated from is notorious for its drug use, with artists often abusing prescription pills such as Xanax which have since become a go-to metaphor in their lyrics.[122] In an assessment of the reactions, many were hopeful Lil Peep's death has served as a wake-up call for the community regarding drug abuse.[121] After offering his thoughts, Lil Uzi Vert indicated he was looking to do something for himself in response to Lil Peep's untimely passing.[121] Lil Uzi Vert also seemed to make attempts to detox, and the following Thursday tweeted an update saying he was sober for the day and already shaking.[120]

Lil Peep's growing fanbase enjoyed his refreshing candor about struggles with his sexuality in addition to depression, heartbreak, drug use.[127] Lil Peep came out as bisexual in a Twitter post on August 8, 2017.[129][130][87] He took to Twitter to open up about this aspect of his personal life to his fans.[88] Lil Peep simply stated, “yes i'm bi sexual.”[87] Some time later, he followed up the post by asking his fans if any of them wanted a kiss.[87][88] After coming out as bisexual, he would regularly confront homophobes on Twitter.[131] He was also known collaborations with iLoveMakonnen, an openly gay recording artist whose music also blurs the line between rap and rock.[131]

Lil Peep came out around the time he and actress and singer Bella Thorne begin dating in September 2017.[87][132] Shortly after the release of his debut studio album, the two were spotted kissing. They briefly dated, before Thorne became involved with rapper Mod Sun.[87] While on the Come Over When You're Sober tour, Lil Peep had met and started dating Instagram influencer Arzaylea Rodriguez around the time of his death in November.[133]

Lil Peep actively talked about his issues with depression, anxiety and substance abuse and stated that he had bipolar disorder.[19] Alongside drug use, Lil Peep struggled with suicidal impulses which date back to his adolescent years.[118] On the track “OMFG” from his breakthrough mixtape Hellboy, Lil Peep talked about wanting to kill himself.[128] During an interview, he was asked if he was suicidal. Lil Peep replied, "Yeah, it is serious. I suffer from depression and some days I wake up and I'm like, Fuck, I wish I didn't wake up. That was part of why I moved to California, trying to get away from the place that was doing that to me, and the people I was around."[128] He continued, "I realized it was just myself—it's a chemical imbalance in my brain. Some days I'll be very down and out, but you won't be able to tell, really, because I don't express that side of myself on social media. That's the side of myself that I express through music. That's my channel for letting all that shit out."[128] He claims the frankness with which he spoke about difficulties in his life led to an intense connection with his fans through his music. In an interview with The Times, Lil Peep stated, "They tell me that it saved their lives. They say that I stopped them from committing suicide, which is a beautiful thing. ... It's great for me to hear. It helps. It boosts me, because music saved my life as well."[118] Lil Peep was not medicated for depression. While those around him insisted, he didn't want to, and opted to just like smoking marijuana and whatever other drug came my way.[128] In his final interview before his death with Zane Lowe, Peep confessed that his depression was getting worse saying "Things just get worse. Things already get worse and worse and worse every day."[134] Lil Peep regularly referenced addictions to cocaine, ecstasy and Xanax in his lyrics and posts on social media.[135] where he described himself as a "productive junkie" and advised his audience to avoid drug use.[136]

Lil Peep had a close relationship with his mother, going so far as to tattoo her initials and birthday on his arm as his first tattoo at the age of fourteen.[6] He played the trombone and tuba[137] and expressed an interest in music and fashion from a young age. At the time of his death, Lil Peep was residing in Portobello Road, London with his friend and close collaborator, Bexey[138][19] and Smokeasac. The move was provoked by Peep's need to escape his circumstances and his then-collective GOTHBOICLIQUE.[43]

Lil Peep may have been a fan of the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils, as he can be seen wearing a shirt bearing their logo on the cover of his mixtape, Hellboy.[78]

• Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1 (2017)
• Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 2 (2018)

• "Emo rapper Lil Peep embodies sadboi aesthetic in new album". Rocky Mountain Collegian. September 7, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.