Gustav Elijah Åhr (November 1, 1996 - November 15, 2017), known professionally as Lil Peep, was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He was known for being part of a "post-emo revival style of hip-hop".
Åhr died on November 15, 2017, from what is believed to have been an accidental fentanyl-Xanax overdose.
Video Lil Peep
Early life
Gustav Elijah Åhr was born on November 1, 1996, in Allentown, Pennsylvania to first grade teacher Liza Womack and college professor Karl Johan Åhr and grew up on Long Island, New York. His parents were both Harvard graduates who divorced when he was a teenager. He had Swedish, German and Irish ancestry.
Åhr attended Lindell Elementary School and then Long Beach High School in Lido Beach, New York, which he rarely attended in spite of good grades and was on the deans list for the time he attended. He later dropped out of the high school and took online courses to earn his diploma. Shortly thereafter, he began posting his music on YouTube and SoundCloud.
When Åhr was 17, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music, under the pseudonym Lil Peep. After moving to Los Angeles, Åhr attended Glendale Community College in Pasadena, California.
Maps Lil Peep
Career
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. The following year, Peep released two full-length mixtapes; Crybaby and Hellboy.
In May 2017, the band Mineral accused Peep of copyright infringement for including an unlicensed and uncredited sample of their song "LoveLetterTypewriter" in his "Hollywood Dreaming" track. Peep said that he was only trying to "show some love" with the sample. One month later, Peep announced his debut album, Come Over When You're Sober, via Instagram. The album was given the release date of August 11, 2017. After a slight delay, the album was released on August 15, 2017. Peep announced a Come Over When You're Sober tour to promote the album. The tour began on August 2, 2017, and was scheduled to end on November 17, 2017, but was cut short by two days due to his death.
Posthumous releases
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 twenty-four hours of his death as videographer Wiggy released the official video for "Sixteen Lines". On January 12, 2018, Marshmello officially released a collaboration entitled "Spotlight". The subsequent video for "Spotlight" was released on February 12, 2018. On January 15, 2018, Juicy J officially released "Got 'Em Like", which featured Lil Peep and Wiz Khalifa. On January 27, 2018, SoundCloud rapper Teddy released a song collaboration with Lil Peep entitled "Dreams & Nightmares".
In March 2018, Peep's archive was acquired by Columbia Records. A collaboration with rapper iLoveMakonnen titled "Sunlight on your Skin" is expected to be released on Makonnen's label Warner Bros.
Musical style
Lil Peep was described as a "cloud rapper", "SoundCloud rapper", and an "emo rapper" as well as lo-fi rap. New York Times music critic Jon Caramanica defined Peep as the Kurt Cobain of lo-fi rap and described his music as gloomy and diabolically melodic. Peep's music generally drew on both Southern rap and the angsty introspection of the rock subgenre post-hardcore. He said that he wanted to become the "New Kurt Cobain". AllMusic described his music as a blend of hip hop and rock influences along with trap, punk, and dream pop.
Peep's music contains lyrical themes regarding topics such as depression, drug use, past relationships, and suicidal thoughts. He had been described as the future of emo by Steven J. Horowitz of online magazine Pitchfork. Before the release of his first album, he mentioned Kurt Cobain, David Bowie, Frank Ocean and Riff Raff as inspirations, and wanted to be known as the "Kurt Cobain of Rap". His other musical influences include Gucci Mane, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Crystal Castles, Seshollowaterboyz, Rozz Dyliams, My Chemical Romance and Panic! at the Disco. His songs have sampled such artists as Blink-182, Pierce the Veil, Brand New, Radiohead, Underoath, Three Days Grace, Avenged Sevenfold, Slayer, The Postal Service, Oasis and The Microphones.
Personal life
In 2016, Åhr moved from Skid Row to his Echo Park apartment in Los Angeles where he recorded and produced the majority of his commercial work. At the time of his death, Åhr was residing in London with his friend and close collaborator, BEXEY.
Åhr played the trombone and tuba and expressed an interest in music and fashion from a young age. Åhr regularly referenced addictions to cocaine, ecstasy and Xanax in his lyrics and posts on social media, where he described himself as a "productive junkie" and advised his audience to avoid drug use. Åhr came out as bisexual in a Twitter post in August 2017.
Death
On November 15, 2017, Åhr 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. Foul play was not suspected, with his death believed to be from an overdose. 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 medications fentanyl and alprazolam. Blood tests tested positive for cannabis, cocaine and the painkiller Tramadol. Urine tests also showed the presence of multiple powerful opiates, including Hydrocodone, Hydromorphone (Dilaudid), Oxycodone and Oxymorphone. There was no alcohol in his system.
In a series of Instagram posts in the hours leading up to his death, Åhr claimed to have ingested psilocybin mushrooms and marijuana 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."
In the days after his death, a police report revealed that Åhr 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 Åhr a third time, he was unresponsive and not breathing. Åhr's manager performed CPR before medics arrived, though he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Peep's death was livestreamed on Snapchat by friend, Bexey Swan, who believed Peep was asleep.
Tributes
Numerous artists in the music industry paid tribute to Åhr following his death, including Diplo, Post Malone, Pete Wentz, Marshmello, Zane Lowe, A$AP Nast, Rich Brian, Playboi Carti, Ugly God, Lil Uzi Vert, Bella Thorne, Sam Smith, Lil Pump, Mark Ronson, Trippie Redd, and El-P. Jon Caramanica, a music critic for the New York Times, held a special remembrance podcast episode to honor Peep following his death which was released on November 22, 2017. Good Charlotte also honored Lil Peep, releasing a cover of "Awful Things", which was shown at his memorial in Long Beach, New York on December 2, 2017. Three Days Grace paid tribute by posting a video on Instagram and Twitter of a remix of Peep's song "Witchblades" featuring Lil Tracy. The remixed song's beat was a slowed down instrumental track of the band's song, "The Real You".
Discography
Studio albums
Mixtapes
- Lil Peep Part One (2015)
- Live Forever (2015)
- Crybaby (2016)
- Hellboy (2016)
Extended plays
- Garden (with Atoms) (2015)
- Mall Music (with Boy Froot) (2015)
- In the Bedroom, I Confess (with OmenXIII) (2015)
- Romeo's Regrets (with Bexey) (2015)
- Feelz (2015)
- California Girls (with Nedarb Nagrom) (2016)
- Elemental (with Schemaposse) (2016)
- Vertigo (with John Mello) (2016)
- Dead Broke (with ITSOKTOCRY) (2016)
- Teen Romance (2016)
- Castles (with Lil Tracy) (2016)
- Castles II (with Lil Tracy) (2017)
Singles
Guest appearances
Notes
References
Further reading
- "Emo rapper Lil Peep embodies sadboi aesthetic in new album". Rocky Mountain Collegian. September 7, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
Source of article : Wikipedia
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