Emo rapper Lil Peep has been confirmed dead, Wednesday night, November 15th 2017 at the age of 21 in Arizona.
Manager Chase Ortega initially broke this news to the public tweeting; “Ive been expecting this call for a year.” Sarah Stennett who works for First Access Entertainment, a company who has previous worked with Peep later confirmed this, she commented; “I do not believe Peep wanted to die. He had big goals and dreams for the future…”
Early Life
Gustav Ahr (his legal name) was born November 1st 1996 in Long Beach, Long Island. Releasing his first mixtape Lil Peep Part One, (a huge success that generated over 4,000 views) which was closely followed by Feelz and Live Forever.
In 2016 Peep released Crybaby along with his other mixtape Hellboy which skyrocketed his fame and popularity on social media, predominantly Youtube and Soundcloud.
This year Lil Peep released his first debut album Come Over When You’re Sober which was announced via his Instagram page.
His music style brought with it emo, melancholy and gloomy tones with lyrics containing themes about suicide, drugs and relationship struggles. Vocals ranged from rapping, singing as well as occasional screaming in some of his oder songs to convey emotion and messages to his fans.
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Peep stated in a variety of interviews that his musical style was influenced by a variety of bands and musicians such as My Chemical Romance, Gucci Mane and Taking Back Sunday.
This can also be reflected and seen by his style which usually sported flamboyant and unique clothing from well known brands like Gucci, Bape, however Peep told GQ magazine that his favourite place to buy clothes is actually gas stations; “Gas stations, dude! I love fast stations. Last stations have some of the sickest clothes ever. T-shirts, hats, everything. I love getting T-shirts and hats at gas stations and wearing it with fucking Balmain jeans and Louboutin red bottoms.”
His hair was also an iconic trait of the young rapper, from pink to purple, to black and recently shaving his head Peep’s fashion was unique, possibly eccentric but his own.
Another obvious quirk to his fashion persona was the vast array of statement tattoos which helped to define his style, they included “Daddy” along his chest and “Crybaby” above his eyebrow. In a video for GQ Peep went into some detail regarding his tattoos and some of the reasoning behind them which you can watch here;
His first tattoo was his mothers birthday along with her initials so that she “wouldn’t get mad” at him for getting tattoos.
Death
Today millions of fans from around the world have paid tribute to his passing on Twitter, Instagram Facebook and other social media platforms. A number of his close friends and fellow musicians have shared their condolences and heartbreaking messages including comments from Lil Yachty, Juicy J, Travis Barker, Lil Pump and many more.
Due to his death being connected with substance abuse this has also resulted in increased talk about the concerns of drug abuse by young adults. This is obviously a very important step and will hopefully help those in difficult situations regarding drugs to feel that they can talk to people about their issues, or potentially get help. However one of the main issues is that we live in a society and culture where mental health disorders such ad depression are romanticized and almost coveted in a sick and twisted artistic sense, along with drug use being portrayed to be cool and the it thing to do. Mental health disorders aren’t a joke. Drug abuse is not cool.
Opinion
I also feel that the issues surrounding the romanticism of mental health becomes an issue when analysing Peep’s persona in terms of interviews and preliminarily song lyrics. Peep friends and fans knew of his constant struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts, he frequently tweeted about his pain along with frequent depressing Instagram post captions. However was this all seen to be part of his character? His personality? Listening back to songs such as “The Way I See Things” really allows you to appreciate and realise the level of his depression and negative thoughts.
Peep’s music inspired hundreds of fans, allowing them to connect with the music and relate to similar feelings and struggles. Although he may be gone he will definitely not be forgotten.
Rest in peace Peep.
Fronk's Blog 
Chester Bennington please!
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