LIL PEEP.

What is true creativity? Can anything truly be original if most of our ideas are based off of other ideas? In a world full of societal pressure and conformity, can we really say that original thought truly still exists somewhere? One of the greatest things about music is that it stays frozen in time and remains unaffected by the environment around it. A song can be played over and over again forever, and it doesn’t change.

I believe that the artist Little Peep has held up to these standards of originality as he created his own genre of “emo rap” and upheld his own personality throughout his fame. It is easy to give into the standards of what the music industry wants, but Peep constantly turned against what was normal and continued to do things that made him personally happy. For example, his style of brightly colored hair, face tattoos, red nail polish, and androgynous demeanor may seem bizarre for some, but this only contributes to his interesting character overall.

Lil Peep, or Gustav Elijah Åhr was born on November 1, 1996 in Allentown, Pennsylvania and grew up in Long Island, New York, and he later died on November 15, 2017 at age 21. Both of his parents were Harvard graduates who divorced when he was a teenager. His mother was an elementary school teacher and his father was a college history professor. During his childhood, Peep’s father was mostly absent and so his mother was someone that he often looked to for support (His nickname “Peep” was given to him by his mother when he was a kid). Additionally, he was not too fond of formal schooling and eventually dropped out of high school and pursued an online diploma. Growing up, Peep favored punk rock culture, smoking marijuana, and holding a negative attitude towards authority. At age 17, Peep got his first face tattoo of a broken heart in order to help motivate him to make music and be successful in it as he explained in one interview that “a tattoo on your face…is gonna stop you from getting a lot of jobs.”

Peep’s style of music is best described as lo-fi rap mixed with third-wave emo, trap, alternative rock, and pop punk. Common themes in his songs include depression, anxiety, drugs, sour relationships, girls, drug use, and his deepest negative thoughts. His music breaks barriers because of how blunt and raw it is, as Peep doesn’t hesitate to speak about his suicidal thoughts or anger against those who looked down upon him. For example, in his song “Cry Alone” he sings “I wanna burn my old high school into the ground/ I hate everybody in my hometown/ Tell the rich kids to look at me now.” Peep’s manner was absolutely controversial, vulnerable, and truly authentic, which is one of the main reasons behind his fame. 

One of my favorite songs by Peep is “Cobain” which is a simple, short, and catchy trap song that features Lil Tracy. This song has a moody and sappy exterior that is combined with elements of trap rap. Peep’s sad and self-pitying vocals flow about the song as trap beats accompany his aching lyrics. Some people say that Peep was destined to soon be the “Kurt Cobain” of this generation. Peep’s music isn’t necessarily pretty or should be taken as an example, but he presented himself how he wanted to and lived his own truth, whether it was as Gus or Lil Peep.