Lil Peep

His death was observed as a great loss to 21st-century music.

"He could have been his generation's Kurt Cobain", a Rolling Stone profile stated.

Gustav Elijah Åhr (November 1, 1996 – November 15, 2017), known professionally as Lil Peep, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter.

He was a member of the emo rap collective GothBoiClique.

Gustav Elijah Åhr was born on November 1, 1996, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the second child of first grade teacher Liza Womack.

His maternal grandfather is John Womack, a former Harvard University professor of Latin American history and economics and a specialist on Emiliano Zapata, a leader of the early 20th century Mexican Revolution.

He moved to Long Beach, New York on Long Island before his fifth birthday.

He had one sibling, Karl "Oskar" Åhr.

His parents were both Harvard graduates.

His mother's family is from Oklahoma and his father is Swedish.

Åhr's Swedish citizenship was granted to him through his father in accordance with Swedish law which states that Swedish citizenship is granted automatically at birth to anyone with at least one Swedish parent.

Helping pioneer an emo revival-style of rap and rock music, Lil Peep has been credited as a leading figure of the mid–late 2010s emo rap scene and came to be an inspiration to outcasts and youth subcultures.

Åhr's parents separated in 2012 when he was 15.

He began experiencing anxiety around age 16 and, according to his mother, self-medicated with marijuana and Xanax.

Lil Peep had a close relationship with his mother, going so far as to tattoo her initials and birthday on his arm as his first tattoo at the age of 14.

Following his parents' split, he moved with his mother and older brother to Long Beach, New York, where he would eventually record "Lil Peep; Part One", Feelz, Vertigo, most of "California Girls", "Garden", "In the Bedroom I Confess", "Mall Music", "Romeo's Regrets", and several tracks that were released as singles, including "Star Shopping".

Åhr attended Lindell Elementary School, located just across the street from his mother's apartment in Long Beach.

Just a few days into Åhr's kindergarten year, the September 11 attacks took place with smoke plumes clearly visible from Åhr's kindergarten classroom.

In third grade, Åhr was placed in Long Beach's gifted and talented program.

Later, in middle school, he was placed in accelerated classes.

He played the trombone and tuba and expressed an interest in music and fashion from a young age.

Åhr attended Long Beach High School in Lido Beach, New York, which was directly impacted by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and caused the school to close for a few weeks.

When the school reopened, the faculty and administrators were more relaxed on the students, leading Åhr to enjoy his junior year of high school significantly more than the rest.

When Åhr returned to school the following year as a senior, there was a new administration that was unfamiliar with the student body and culture.

An exhausted Åhr was ready to drop out, but was assisted by a teacher named Maria Hartmann to finish school.

With the help of two other teachers whom Åhr knew and trusted, Åhr finished high school by completing his last two necessary courses, English and Social Studies.

Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to an American mother and a Swedish father and raised on Long Island, Åhr started releasing music on SoundCloud in 2013 under the name "Trap Goose", later changing his artist name to Lil Peep because his mother had called him "Peep" since he was a baby.

He graduated six months early in January 2014.

Later that January, Åhr was accepted into SUNY Old Westbury on Long Island, but declined to attend and instead enrolled as an out of state student at Glendale Community College in Pasadena, California.

He soon became popular on the platform with the release of his 2015 single "Star Shopping", and his popularity grew further with his release of mixtapes Lil Peep; Part One and Live Forever later that year.

In 2016, Lil Peep released his widely acclaimed mixtapes Crybaby and Hellboy, along with many other projects including California Girls and Vertigo.

Lil Peep's first live performance was February 12, 2016, in Tucson as member of Schemaposse.

Later that year, he toured briefly with Fat Nick, Mikey The Magician, and Smokepurpp.

In the spring of 2017, Lil Peep embarked on his first solo tour, performing to packed venues in three Russian cities, making his way across western Europe, and then across the United States.

Soon after the tour, Lil Peep moved to London, where he recorded his EP Goth Angel Sinner, and in August he released his debut studio album, Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1.

While his mixtapes explored emo, trap, lo-fi and alternative rock, his debut album was a transition into pop punk and rap rock.

On November 15, 2017, two weeks after his 21st birthday, Lil Peep died on his tour bus before a scheduled performance in Tucson, his second to last scheduled show on a 33-date tour of the United States.

The Pima County medical examiner's office, which conducted toxicology tests on Lil Peep, ruled his cause of death an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a powerful opioid, and Xanax, a benzodiazepine sedative.

His second album, Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 2, was released in 2018 and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200.

A documentary film about him, Everybody's Everything, was released in 2019.