Lil Peep

An emblematic presence from the SoundCloud rap wave that ruled the middle and later stretches of the 2010s, Lil Peep forged a direct bond with listeners via a style that crossed genre lines and lyrics that openly confronted depression, addiction, and anxiety. Early mixtapes paired with notable guest spots stirred press interest in the rapper, his worldview, and his polarizing sound, which split opinions among audiences and critics alike. Supporters embraced him with intensity, and his audience swelled into the millions. Only one complete studio album reached the public during his lifetime: the concise 2017 debut Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1. Issued weeks before his death shortly after he turned 21, the eight-track project prompted widespread mourning, after which his estate issued finished recordings as singles and later as full projects such as 2019’s Everybody’s Everything. Early mixtapes also returned in commercial editions, among them 2016's Crybaby, which remained on the charts six years following the rapper’s passing.

Born Gustav Elijah Åhr in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1996, Lil Peep relocated with his family to Long Beach, New York, at age four. As a teenager he started producing music and took the name Lil Peep from a maternal nickname. Self-recorded tracks began appearing on SoundCloud in May 2015, first with the Feelz EP and then with the same-year mixtapes Lil Peep, Pt. 1 and Live Forever. His work drew notice through brooding, candid verses as well as unconventional samples and structural choices. The 2016 breakthrough releases Crybaby and Hellboy pushed further into distinctive territory by weaving punk- and emo-derived guitar lines and melodies into the mix. In 2017 he issued two Castles EPs alongside Lil Tracy, who later appeared on the official debut LP Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1, which included the singles "The Brightside" and "Awful Things."

Peep was found dead in his tour bus on November 15, 2017. Unreleased material surfaced soon afterward, with singles such as "Spotlight," the Clams Casino-produced "4 Gold Chains," and the XXXTentacion collaboration "Falling Down" preceding the November 2018 arrival of Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 2. Additional leaks occurred throughout 2019 alongside a feature-length documentary on the rapper’s life titled Everybody’s Everything. Ahead of the film’s debut, the three-song project GOTH ANGEL SINNER surfaced, followed by a longer soundtrack album also called Everybody’s Everything that incorporated those tracks. Commercial reissues of earlier mixtapes and EPs joined the new material, eventually surpassing 15 billion streams across platforms. Crybaby continued its chart run, entering the Billboard Top 100 in June 2023.