Gustav Elijah Åhr (November 1, 1996 - November 15, 2017), better known as Lil Peep (often stylized as LiL PEEP), was an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and model. He was a member of the collective Gothboiclique, and arguably their most popular member.
Although Peep was an active artist for only three years, the extents of his acclaim and influence are vast. He is hailed as a pioneer of the "emo rap" scene within the mid-to-late 2010s "SoundCloud rap" movement, having a great influence on the subgenre's sound and cultural reach, which extended across numerous youth subcultures. At its most fundamental level, the subgenre fuses the hard beats of hip-hop and trap with the musicality and songwriting of emo.
He began releasing music on SoundCloud in 2014, deriving "Peep" for his stage name from a nickname his mother had given him when he was a baby. After amassing popularity on the platform for several mixtapes and collaborations with fellow rapper Lil Tracy, he broke out into the mainstream with his Hellboy mixtape, which led him to do his first US solo tour.
Peep had substance abuse issues due to his struggles with depression and bipolar disorder, which he often discussed in his music. On November 15, 2017, exactly two weeks after his 21st birthday and exactly three months after his debut album's release, Peep passed away from an accidental overdose of fentanyl and Xanax. Tributes poured in from his friends and family.
Columbia Records acquired his catalog in March 2018.
His work can be found on SoundCloud
, as well as on streaming services.
Discography (an asterisk denotes a posthumous release):
Mixtapes
- Lil Peep Part One (2015)
- Live Forever (2015)
- Crybaby (2016)
- Hellboy (2016)
Extended Plays
- Feelz (2015)
- In the Bedroom, I Confess (with OmenXIII) (2015)
- Garden (with Death+) (2015)
- Romeo's Regrets (with Bexey) (2015)
- Vertigo (with John Mello) (2015)
- California Girls (with Nedarb Nagrom) (2016)
- Elemental (with Jgrxxn & Ghostemane) (2016)
- Dead Broke (with ItsOKToCry) (2016)
- Teen Romance (with Lederrick) (2016)
- Castles (with Lil Tracy) (2016)
- Castles II (with Lil Tracy) (2017)
- Goth Angel Sinner (with Fish Narc) (2019)*
- Friends (with Yung Goth) (2021)*
- High Fashion (with Harry Fraud) (2021)*
Albums
- Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1 (2017)
- Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 2 (2018)*
Lil Peep's work contains examples of:
- Celebrity Song: "Gucci Mane".
- Dead Artists Are Better: Before his death he often came under mockery for his outrageous appearance, bad-taste musical style and drug addiction. After his death, he's widely recognised as the genuine innovator he was, as well as for his philosophy of identifying with and championing the downtrodden.
- Drugs Are Bad: Many of his lyrics reference his addiction to drugs including cocaine, ecstasy and Xanax. He tragically
died young of an accidental overdose. - Functional Addict: Described himself as a "functional addict", even if he told his audience to stay away from drugs. Then he overdosed on fentanyl and Xanax and died young.
- Genre Mashup: Given the history of previous attempts at mashing emo and rap, this naturally comes into play.
- High School: The video for 'Awful Things' is set in a high school.
- Rap Rock: His music fuses hip-hop and emo/pop-punk styles.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Just look at the picture above.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: In the music video for 'Awful Things', the romantic interest flashes red eyes. She's later shown getting close to another guy whilst looking like she's biting his neck.
- Sampling: Of acts like Brand New, Avenged Sevenfold, Underoath and Bright Eyes.
- Shirtless Scene: A lot of his live performances feature Lil Peep shirtless as well as music videos.
