LIL PEEP DIES AT 21…
LIL PEEP, RISING RAPPER WHO BLENDED EMO AND HIP-HOP, DIES AT 21
The world lost one of its most promising musical talents this morning, as hip-hop up-and-comer Lil Peep passed away. He was 21.
Rumors of the musician’s death began to spread on social media in the early hours of Thursday, Nov. 16, and a short time later, a UK rep for the star confirmed the news to The Guardian. A cause of death has not yet been made public.
After dropping his first mixtape Lil Peep Part One in 2015, Lil Peep (born Gustav Åhr) wasted no time in making his mark on the hip-hop world. Over the next two years, he would record and release three more mixtapes and several EPs, with each one garnering more attention than the last. The rapper’s debut full-length album Come Over When You’re Sober, Pt. 1 was just released in August, and when he finally unleashed it, the collection confirmed him to be a truly special voice in the genre, one which had no equal.
What separated Lil Peep from the crowd of new hip-hop talent was his inventive combination of emo lyrics with a style and beats typically associated with hip-hop. Music journalists were quick to label him an emo-rapper, but many who spent time with his music weren’t sure whether he was more of a genre-bending rock singer or a hip-hop star in the making with emo sensibilities. Either way, his signature sound was catching on in a major way, and many blogs and magazines featured him prominently and suggested that he was the next big thing.
Lil Peep was one of a number of new names in the hip-hop scene that came up by giving away their music on YouTube, streaming platforms like Spotify, and most importantly, SoundCloud. Many of the hottest new artists in hip-hop got their start by uploading songs and full collections to SoundCloud, and Lil Peep was one of the most recent to break out in a major way.
Stay tuned for more on this developing story.