Gustav Åhr (November 1, 1996 – November 15, 2017), better known by his stage name Lil Peep, was an American singer and rapper.

His songs "White Wine", "Benz Truck", and "The Way I See Things" have each gained over 4 million views on YouTube.

Early life

Gustav Åhr was born on November 1, 1996 in Long Island, New York. He was raised in Long Beach, New York. His mother, Liza, is a first grade teacher in Long Island. She is of German and Irish descent, while Åhr's father is of German and Swedish descent. After dropping out of Long Beach High School, Åhr began taking online computer courses and earned his diploma. He soon began making music and posting it on YouTube and SoundCloud.

Career

Beginnings (2015–2017)

In 2015, Åhr released his first mixtape, Lil Peep Part One to limited success, generating 4,000 plays in its first week. The same year he released his first extended play Feelz and another mixtape, Live Forever.

In 2016, Åhr released his two breakthrough mixtapes: Crybaby in June and Hellboy in September.

In May 2017, the band Mineral accused Åhr of plagiarism after his song "Hollywood Dreaming" contained an unlicensed and uncredited sample of the song "LoveLetterTypewriter" off of Mineral's 1998 album EndSerenading. Åhr said that he was only trying to "show some love" with the sample.

Come Over When You're Sober (2017)

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.

Åhr announced a Come Over When You're Sober tour to promote his debut album, Come Over When You're Sober. The tour began on August 2, 2017 and was scheduled to end on November 17, 2017.

Music videos

On June 8, 2017, Lil Peep uploaded the music video for his song "Benz Truck", shot and directed by Mezzy, Wiggy and Joseph Breese, with VFX from Sus Boy. Shortly after, in August 18, 2017, he uploaded a music video for the song "Awful Things". Prior to this, Lil Peep had recorded nine videos independently for "Backseat", "Girls", "White Wine", "Gym Class", "Beamerboy", "Drugz", "Live Forever", "California World", "Your Eyes" and "White Tee". On July 27, 2017 Lil Peep uploaded his music video for the song "The Brightside", which also serves as the second single from his debut album 'Come Over When You're Sober (Part I)'.

Musical style

Lil Peep is described as a "Soundcloud rapper" and his musical style as being lo-fi rap and emo-trap. NYT has defined Åhr as lo-fi rap's "Kurt Cobain" and said his music is gloomy and diabolically melodic. Åhr's music generally draws on both southern US rap and the angsty introspection of the rock subgenre post-hardcore.

Åhr’s music contains lyrical themes regarding topics such as suicide, past relationships, drug use, and witchcraft. He has been described as "the future of emo" by Steven J. Horowitz of online magazine Pitchfork. His musical influences include Gucci Mane, Riff Raff, 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.]

Personal life

As of 2017, Åhr resided in London. He was a member of the collective Gothboiclique and was formerly a member of Schemaposse.

Åhr played the trombone and tuba.

Åhr was known for habitual substance abuse, particularly his addictions to cocaine, ecstasy, and Xanax, a theme he regularly referenced in his lyrics and posts on social media. In one Instagram post, Åhr proclaimed himself as a "productive junkie" and said "don't do drugs". He was also vocal in his music and in interviews about his close relationship with his mother.

Åhr came out as bisexual in August 2017 on the social media platform Twitter.

Death

In November 2017, Åhr's close friend, Adam "Adam22" Grandmaison, reported on Twitter that Åhr was in the hospital due to an overdose of heroin combined with fentanyl. Following the report of his hospitalization, Åhr's manager, Chase Ortega, revealed that Åhr had died as a result of his overdose. He was pronounced dead on November 15.

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)
• Vertigo (2016)
• California Girls (with Nedarb Nagrom) (2016)
• Teen Romance (2016)
• Castles (with Lil Tracy) (2016)
• Castles II (with Lil Tracy) (2017)