New York, NY (Top40 Charts) New details have emerged in the death of Lil Peep. Peep, whose captivating debut studio album Come Over When You're
Sober Pt. 1 was released back in August, died Nov. 15 in Tucson on one of the final dates of his 2017 North American tour. No official cause of death has been announced. The local Medical Examiner's Office, however, told the Associated Press last week that the suspected cause of death is a drug overdose. He was 21.
Biography:
Gustav Åhr (November 1, 1996 - November 15, 2017), known by his stage name Lil Peep, was an American rapper and singer. He was cited as one of the primary artists responsible for the post-emo revival with his style of hip hop, which came to be known as emo hip hop. He died at age 21 of a drug overdose.
Gustav Åhr was born on November 1, 1996, in Pennsylvania and grew up on Long Island, New York. His parents were both Harvard graduates who divorced when he was a teenager. Åhr's mother is a first grade teacher and his father is a college professor.
Åhr attended Long Beach High School in Lido Beach, New York, which he rarely attended in spite of good grades. 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.
In 2015, Åhr 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.
In 2016, Åhr released two full-length mixtapes; Crybaby and Hellboy.
In May 2017, the band Mineral accused Åhr of copyright infringement for including an unlicensed and uncredited sample of their song "LoveLetterTypewriter" in his "Hollywood Dreaming" track. Åhr said that he was only trying to "show some love" with the sample.
On June 2, 2017, Åhr 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.
Åhr 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.
Lil Peep was described as a "SoundCloud rapper", and his musical style is considered emo hip hop, also stated as "emo-trap", as well as lo-fi rap. New York Times music critic Jon Caramanica defined Åhr as the Kurt Cobain of lo-fi rap and described his music as gloomy and diabolically melodic. Åhr'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".
Åhr's music contains lyrical themes regarding topics such as suicide, past relationships, drug use and witchcraft. 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
David Bowie,
Frank Ocean and
Riff Raff as inspirations. 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
Brand New, Radiohead, Underoath, Avenged Sevenfold, Slayer, The Postal Service,
Oasis and The Microphones.
Åhr gathered a large cult fanbase and regularly sold out large venues. Åhr's music, described as a fusion between hip hop and emo, helped introduce underground hip hop to styles that were more confessional.
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. 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 not to do drugs. Åhr came out as bisexual in a Twitter post in August 2017.
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.
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."
Numerous artists in the music industry paid tribute to Åhr following his death, including Diplo, Post Malone, Pete Wentz, Marshmello, Zane Lowe, ASAP Nast, Rich Chigga, Riff Raff, Ty Dolla Sign, Lil B,
Travis Barker, Lil Yachty, Lil Pump, iLoveMakonnen, Juicy J, Bella Thorne, Sam Smith, Mark Ronson, Charli XCX, Lil Ugly Mane, El-P, and Alice Glass.
Discography
Albums
• Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1 (2017)
Mixtapes
• Lil Peep Part One (2015)
• Live Forever (2015)
• Crybaby (2016)
• Hellboy (2016)
Extended plays
• Feelz (2015)
