Gustav Elijah Åhr (November 1, 1996 – November 15, 2017), known professionally as Lil Peep (often stylized as LiL PEEP or lil peep), was an American rapper, singer, songwriter and model. The child of Harvard graduates who divorced when he was a teenager, Gustav channeled working class themes into music compositions despite an affluent background. He was a member of the emo rap collective GothBoiClique. Helping pioneer an emo revival style of rap and rock music, Lil Peep has been credited as the leading figure of the mid–late 2010s emo rap scene and came to be an inspiration to outcasts and youth subcultures.
Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and raised on Long Island, New York, Lil Peep started releasing music on SoundCloud in 2014, using the pseudonym Lil Peep because his mother had called him "Peep" since he was a child. He soon became popular on the platform for his collaborations with Lil Tracy and several mixtapes: Lil Peep; Part One (2015), Live Forever (2015), Crybaby (2016) and Hellboy (2016); the latter's success led him to his first solo tour across the United States.
Soon after the tour, Lil Peep emigrated to London, where he recorded his debut studio album. While his mixtapes explored emo, trap, lo-fi and alternative rock, his debut album Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1 (2017) was a transition into pop punk and rap rock. His second album Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 2 (2018) was a commercial and critical success, debuting at number four on the Billboard 200. The documentary film about him, Everybody's Everything, was released in 2019.
Lil Peep had substance abuse issues due to his mental health conditions, including depression and bipolar disorder, which often influenced the thematic content of his music. On the day of a scheduled performance at a Tucson, Arizona venue on November 15, 2017, two weeks after his 21st birthday, he died. The Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner certified the cause of death as an accidental overdose of fentanyl and Xanax.
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