Lil Peep, also stylized LIL PEEP is ba deceased American rapper, singer and a model who died of an overdose in 2017.
He was the biggest influence ever regarding emo style in the hip hop world.
Early years
He was born as Gustav Elijah Åhr on November 1, 1996, in a place called Allentown, situated in the state of Pennsylvania, in the United States. You can see by his name that he was a combination of many nations and therefore had a distinct look.
His mother was a teacher of first graders and her name was Liza Womack. His father also worked in education and was named Karl Johann Åhr. They were obviously pretty educated, but this didn’t help them provide a happy life for their son.
Gustav wasn’t an only child since he had a brother named Karl „Oskar“ Åhr. Brothers grew up on Long Island situated on the East Coast of the United States, in New York. They were pretty close, but they eventually started to grow apart.
His parents had high education and both went to Harvard when they initially met and started their relationship. Gustav loves his parents but there are a lot of unsolved issues regarding their relationship.
His surname Åhr comes from his father’s side because he was of German and Swedish descent. This is an interesting fact that only true fans used to know.
His mother was Irish so he was very passionate, as she was. he once announced on Twitter that he also holds Swedish citizenship. He was never too good at all of the languages but he did try to come up with better pronounciation when he tried to learn it.
Gustav had a troubled childhood due to the fact that his parents had a lot of marital problems which eventually ended in their divorce when he was a teenager of 14. This was a really hard thing for him to go through, especially since he was insecure about himself.
He was often depressed because of it and found help in drugs which helped him forget about the situation at home. He grew into bigger drugs and eventually overdosed, which was a huge tragedy and all of his fans were very sad about this.
He was a student at Long Beach High School settled in Lido Beach in New York. He often skipped school but nevertheless, he always had good grades. He was also on the deans’ list all the time he went to high school. He was a pretty smart kid, but never found himself really going to school.
After a while, he decided to totally drop out of the school and take courses online which brought him his diploma. Many of his friends said that it always felt as if he was pressured to go to school and he seemed to enjoy it more when he was at home.
He was very creative and made music all through high school. After dropping out he started putting his tracks both on Youtube and on his Soundcloud account.
He always dressed up differently and was a big lover of tattoos. He got his first face tattoo when he was only 17 years old. The tattoo was situated under his left eye and the motive was a broken heart. He is very known for his face tattoos and was made fun of a lot on the internet because of it. Some suspect that his death was a suicide and that it was due to all of the combinating factors.
Career development
Eventually, he decided to move to Los Angeles where he believed he could make a career in hip hop. He changed his stage name into Lil Peep and relocated to L.A., stating that life on Long Island was very depressing for him.
He didn’t have many friends in the real world so it wasn’t hard for him to leave Long Island and move to Los Angeles. Therefore he decided to spend more time with himself and find his happiness.
He had a lot of friends online and it seemed to be enough for him. He was always inspired by underground artists such as Seshollowaterboyz, a hip hop collective from L.A. and iloveMakonnen, a rapper and a singer. He wanted to become a big artist one day, but soon found out that fame isn’t really what makes you happy.
He moved to Los Angeles with his best friend from childhood named Brennan Savage who aimed a good education in L.A. They wanted to create better lives for themselves and eventually provide more for their families.
College, Lil Peep called himself „Trap Goose” while making music in Long Island. When they came to Los Angeles they weren’t alone because he had many online friends with whom he met and who helped him to settle into a new city.
He first lived in Skidrow but after Brennan finished his education and gained a degree so they separated and Lil Peep lost a home. Lil Peep connected with JGRXXN, a producer from Memphis and with Craig Xen, who let him live with them. This was a big step forward for him.
They had an idea of forming a collective named Schemaposse. Lil Peep decided to join Glendale Community College when he came to Los Angeles but it worked for him only his first year there.
It was in 2015 that he succeeded to release his first mixtape titled „Lil Peep Part One” which was generally well received. It was followed by another mixtape „Live Forever” and an EP named „Feelz”.
His popularity started growing, especially after the release of a song titled „Star Shopping“ which made waves in the hip-hop underground world.
After the release of „Beamer Boy,” everybody heard about him and his music. The success of this song caused him to perform live for the first time in his career with Schemaposse.
The collective was soon disbanded. He started collaborating with another rap group named „Goth biclique” and even featured the group on his following mixtape titled „Crybaby”.
He released this mixtape in the summer of 2016 and mixed and mastered it by himself. An entertainment company „First Access Ent.” offered him a business offer and they became partners who invested in him and advised him due to his career decision.
The CEO of the company was Sarah Stennett, who became a good friend of Lil Peep and was a big moral support for him, not only financial.
He released „Hellboy“ in 2016 and it received enormous attention online. It was clicked and viewed in millions both on Youtube and on Soundcloud.
He became so popular that he had to go on a tour as a solo artist and not as a part of any group as he did before.
His tour was named „The Peep Show” tour and it lasted from April to May 2017.
After finishing his tour he started having troubles with his hip hop collective based Gothboiclique sp he emigrated to England.
He came to London where he got acquainted with another artist such as IloveMakonner and Bexley Swan.
There he recorded „Come Over When You’re Sober“ Pt 1 and Pt 2. He also released an EP named „Goth Angel Sinner“.
His first studio album „Come Over When You’re Sober, Pt.1″ was released in the summer of 2017 and he went to a world tour after it was released.
The tour started in England and was finished in the US but unfortunately, it was finished earlier because of his death.
After he tragicallčy died his fanbase grew rapidly and his albums increased sales significantly. He was streamed more than ever and his single released posthumous „Awful Things“ came to the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Lil Peep had numerous tracks completed and unreleased since he was a huge workaholic.
Only 24 hours after his death a director of Peep’s videos named Wiggy released a video for his unreleased song titled „16 lines“.
In January 2018 Marshmello also released his work made in collaboration with Lil Peep which was titled „Spotlight“. The video was released one month after.
It was the same month when another known rapper Juicy J released his single „Got Em’ Like” with Lil Peep as a guest on the track. Teddy also released his song collab in January. It was titled „Dreams & Nightmares”.
In March the same year, Columbia Records became the owners of his music archive. They released his „4 Gold Chains” featured by Clams Casino in May 2018 and made a video for it too.
In the summer the same year iLove Makonnen released „Falling Down“ with Lil Peep. This single went up to No. 13 on Hot 100 Billboard list.
Lil Peep’s family approved the release of his „Come Over When You’re Sober, Pt.2″ in 2018 which came to No 4. on Billboard 200 Chart with over 80 k albums sold. That meant that the album entered the Top 10 in the USA.
In January 2019 another single made with iLoveMakonnen was released and it was titled „I’ve Been Waiting“. It was featured by Fall Out Boy.
In March 2019 a documentary named „Everybody’s Everything” was premiered at the South by Southwest music and film festival. It was a movie about Lil Peep’s life.
Li Peep wasn’t just a rapper but also a model and a fashion icon. He modeled for the streetwear label named VLONE and modeled for Balmain fashion group at Paris Fashion Week.
He was considered a trendsetter and he developed his own clothing line No Smoking” which was about to be released at the time of his death.
He was considered to be an emo rapper who made gloomy music and was similar to Kurt Cobain in his work.
He even once stated that he wanted to be Kurt Cobain. His lyrics were grim and included terms of drugs, alcohol, suicidal thoughts and depression which was not common in the world of hip hop.
He stated that he was always inspired by Gucci Mane, Kurt Cobain, and David Bowie.
He died on November 15, 2017. He was found on his tour bus by his manager who was shocked by his discovery.
It seemed that he died of an overdose, especially because he posted on Instagram a few hours earlier, claiming that he took psilocybin mushrooms, Xanax and cannabis.
He died in his sleep after taking all of these drugs. Although his manager gave him CPR he was dead too long to have success in it.
His death was posted on Instagram, not intentionally, since his friend Bexey posted his photo of sleeping on Instagram and he was already dead at that time.
The blood tests after the obduction also discovered cocaine and oxycodone in his system.
He was honored after death by several artists. He was mentioned during the 60th Grammy Award in January 2018.
He was cremated in New York and his ashes were taken to his grandfather’s garden where they were laid to rest.
The memorial was held in Long Beach and gathered family, friends and a large fanbase. Another memorial was held in London the same day.
A known group „The 1975“ gave tribute to Lil Peep through their song „Love It If We Made It“.
Personal life
As for his personal life, he stated that he was bisexual. At the time he dated Bella Thorne, an actress, and a singer. After her, he dated Arzaylea Rodriguez, an Instagram influencer, who met him on his tour.
Lil Peep was very close to his mother and had her birthday and initial tattooed on his arm.
He knew how to play tuba and trombone.
It was known that he had problems with his depression and anxiety which grew as he became more popular. He also had a bipolar disorder so his everyday struggles were extremely hard.
Lil Peep consumed many drugs and cocaine and Xanax were his favorites.
Quick summary
Full name: Gustav Elijah Åhr
Date of birth: November 1, 1996
Birthplace: Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States
Age: 23
Profession: Rapper, songwriter, producer, model
Height: 185 cm
Weight: 74 kgs
Net Worth: $1 million