Born inAllentown, Pennsylvania, to an American mother and aSwedishfather and raised onLong Island, Åhr started producing and releasing music onSoundCloudin 2013 under the nameTrap Goose,[6]later changing hisstage nameto Lil Peep because his mother had called him "Peep" since he was a baby.[7]Two years later, in 2015, he emerged as an immensely popular musician on the platform following the release of his single "Star Shopping", and his popularity grew further with his release of mixtapesLil Peep; Part OneandLive Foreverlater that year. In 2016, Lil Peep released his widely acclaimed mixtapesCrybabyandHellboy. He also participated in collaborative musical projects, leading to the release ofCalifornia GirlsandVertigo.
Lil Peep's first live performance was as a member of Schemaposse on February 12, 2016, in Tucson, Arizona. Later that year, he toured briefly with Fat Nick, Smokepurpp, and others. In the spring of 2017, Lil Peep embarked on his first solo tour, performing to packed venues in three Russian cities, making his way across western Europe, and then across the United States. Soon after the tour, Lil Peep moved to London, where he recorded his EP Goth Angel Sinner, and in August he released his debut studio album, Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1.[8]
On November 15, 2017, two weeks after his 21st birthday, Lil Peep died on his tour bus before a scheduled performance in Tucson, his second to last scheduled show on a 33-date tour of the United States. The Pima County medical examiner's office, which conducted toxicologytests on Lil Peep, ruled his cause of death an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a powerful opioid, and Xanax, a benzodiazepinesedative. His death was observed as a great loss to 21st-century music. "He could have been his generation's Kurt Cobain", a Rolling Stone profile stated.[11][12]
He had one sibling, Karl "Oskar" Åhr.[14][15] His parents were both Harvard graduates.[15][16] His mother's family is from Oklahoma and his father is Swedish.[17][18] Åhr's Swedish citizenship was granted to him through his father in accordance with Swedish law, which automatically grants Swedish citizenship at birth to anyone with at least one Swedish parent.[19]
In February 2016, he relocated to Los Angeles to begin a music career, performing for the first time under the stage name Lil Peep.[30] He moved to Los Angeles, he later explained, because living on Long Island depressed him.[27]
Lil Peep (left) performing with Fat Nick in San Antonio in November 2016Lil Peep performing in Los Angeles in May 2017Lil Peep performing in Amsterdam in October 2017[31]Lil Peep performing in October 2017
In Los Angeles, Lil Peep initially lived in Skid Row, where he dipped in and out of homelessness,[32]staying at Savage's apartment while Savage pursued a degree. The two eventually went separate ways,[25] and Peep met Atlanta rapper and producer JGRXXN, Florida rapper Ghostemane and Houston rapper Craig Xen, living with them while forming the collective Schemaposse.[33] He originally met Craig Xen online and was introduced to JGRXXN, who needed a singer.[34] Lil Peep also attended Glendale Community College during his first year in Los Angeles.[20]
In 2015, Peep released his first extended play, Feelz. This was followed by his debut mixtape Lil Peep; Part One, which generated 4,000 plays in its first week. Shortly thereafter, he released a follow-up mixtape, Live Forever.[35][36] Feelz was described by Peeps close friends as sounding reminiscent of Dylan Ross, an artist who Lil Peep studied and was inspired by.[37][38]
In fall of 2015, Lil Peep began to grow in popularity, garnered by the popularity of songs such as "Star Shopping", later released as a single posthumously,[39] and made waves in underground hip hop circles.[33] Lil Peep's popularity continued to rise after the release of the song "Beamer Boy", which led to him performing live for the first time with the rest of Schemaposse in February 2016 in Tucson, Arizona.[40] In April, Schemaposse broke up and Lil Peep was no longer associated with a collective, though they remained on good terms.[41] 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.[42]The group shared a squat in Skid Row with Peep and often shared beds.[29]Crybaby was recorded over the span of one month and was completed hours before its original release on SoundCloud in June 2016. Peep completed a majority of the mixing and mastering himself.[22] In August, First Access Entertainment (FAE) partnered with Lil Peep on a joint venture to invest in and advise him on his career.[43]
In September 2016, Lil Peep released his fourth and final solo mixtape, Hellboy.[44] Songs from Hellboy such as "Girls" and "OMFG" received millions of views and plays on SoundCloud and YouTube.[45]Hellboy's success led to Peep's first solo tour across the United States and Europe in the spring of 2017, which included performances in Russia and the UK for the first time in his career.[46] 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.[47]
Soon after the tour was completed, Peep was involved in a disentanglement with Gothboiclique, and emigrated to London, England, where he associated Atlanta rapper iLoveMakonnen and longtime friend Bexey, 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 Diamonds with iLoveMakonnen.[48][49][50] Peep released his debut studio album, Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1, on August 15, 2017.[51]Shortly thereafter he embarked on his second world tour, beginning in the UK in September[52]and moving to Germany before finishing in the United States in November, which was cut short by his death.[53]
Posthumous releases
After his death, Lil Peep's fanbase and popularity grew quickly, resulting in a significant increase in sales and streams of his music.[54] 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".[55] On January 12, 2018, Marshmelloofficially released a collaboration titled "Spotlight".[56] 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.[57]On January 27, 2018, SoundCloud rapper Teddy released a song collaboration with Lil Peep, "Dreams & Nightmares".[58]
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.[59] A collaboration album between Peep and rapper iLoveMakonnen is expected to be released on Makonnen's label Warner Bros.[60] 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.[61] The creation of the single was condemned by some surviving members of GothBoiClique, who said there had been unresolved conflict between the two artists stemming from latter's alleged history of violencetowards women.[62] This was disputed by other close friends of Lil Peep.[63] "Falling Down" was released on September 19, 2018, and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.[64] The original "Sunlight on Your Skin" was released on September 27, 2018.[65]
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.[66] 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.[67]Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 2 was released on November 9, 2018.[68] On November 1, 2018, the second single from the album, "Runaway", was officially released.[69] On November 7, 2018, the third single, "Life is Beautiful"—a remix of the track "Life" from the Feelz EP—was released.[70]
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][71]
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