ENTERTAINMENT – His emo- and rock-influenced music attracted a large online audience.
11/16/2017 10:01 am ET Updated 4 days ago
By Ron Dicker
Lil Peep, a promising crossover rapper who recently released his first full-length album, died Wednesday night, just hours before he was to perform in Tucson, Arizona, according to reports. He was 21.
“I’ve been expecting this call for a year,” his manager, Chase Ortega, tweeted early Wednesday.
Lil Peep gained popularity through Soundcloud posts and his YouTube channel, which attracted viewers by the millions. He made much of his music in an apartment on Los Angeles’ Skid Row, The New York Times reported.
The Long Beach, New York, native, who was born Gustav Åhr, often sang about depression and drug use. The Guardian, citing his rep, Adam Grandmaison, reported Lil Peep was rushed to a hospital following a suspected overdose.
In a video the alt-rapper made before a scheduled gig Tuesday in El Paso, Texas, Lil Peep said he took six Xanax anti-anxiety pills. “I’m good, I’m not sick,” he added.
Lil Peep’s alternative hip-hop tracks contained emo and hard-rock influences, outlets noted. He once told the Times that his songwriting candor about his struggles connected him to fans. “They tell me that it saved their lives,” he said. “They say that I stopped them from committing suicide, which is a beautiful thing.”
His debut full-length album “Come Over When You’re Sober, Pt. 1” came out a few months ago, around the same time the rapper came out as bisexual. A PitchFork review described the album as “a 24-minute bender informally dedicated to destroying relationships and idling around in what he sees as this vain and absurd existence.”
His passing drew swift reaction.