Lil Peep – “High Fashion” review

This is a brand new posthumous EP from Long Island, New York rapper, singer/songwriter & model Lil Peep. Blowing up in late 2016 with the release of his 4th mixtape Hellboy & then following it with his debut album Come Over When You’re Sober last summer, I can see why it connected with a couple of my friends even though I found both of them to be underwhelming. Unfortunately though, Lil Peep passed away just 2 weeks after his 21st birthday of an accidental fentanyl–xanax overdose right before a show in Tucson, Arizona. The rights of his unreleased music were then given to Columbia Records, who dropped a sequel to the full-length debut showing some improvements compared to his early work. But with Harry Fraud announcing High Fashion earlier this week, he & Columbia have managed to put it out there for the public.

“Choose” is a great opener to the EP accompanied by a pillowy instrumental & Peep calling out a woman who’s lying about being in love with him while the penultimate track “Old Me” follows it up with an acoustic cut chillingly looks back on the person that he used to be prior to his untimely death. Finally, the closer “Living Rooms” sends off the EP with a slow guitar ballad venting about the drug addiction that costed him his life.

I was immediately drawn in when I saw Harry Fraud was involved & at the end of the day, I think High Fashion is amongst some of the best material of Peep’s career. Much like Tierra Whack’s new EP RAP?, I feel like it could’ve used at least a couple more songs but I’m not totally sure if I can blame that on anyone because who knows if they have any more material together? Nonetheless, both parties compliment reach other well.

Score: 3.5/5

Lil Peep – “Come Over When You’re Sober 2” review

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Lil Peep was a 21 year old rapper & singer from Long Island, New York who blew up in late 2016 with the release of his 4th mixtape Hellboy & then following it with his debut album Come Over When You’re Sober last summer. Both projects were too melodramatic for my tastes, but I could see why it connected with a couple of my friends. But unfortunately, Lil Peep passed away last year just 2 weeks after his 21st birthday of an accidental fentanyl–xanax overdose right before a show in Tucson, Arizona. The rights of his unreleased music were then given to Columbia Records, who are now delivering the long-awaited follow-up to Come Over When You’re Sober a week after what would’ve been Peep’s 22nd birthday & a week before the 1 year anniversary of his untimely death.

The album kicks off with “Broken Smile (My All)”, where Peep vents about his hopes of getting back with this girl over a dark trap beat from his in-house producer smokeasac. The next track “Runaway” talks about getting away from fake people over a cloudy trap beat instrumental while the song “Sex with My Ex” truly lives up to it’s title with the instrumental containing a prominent guitar along with a heavy bass-line & rattling hi-hats. It’s ok. The track “Cry Alone” is a surprisingly solid alt rock ballad about loneliness & while the song “Leanin'” has a pretty acoustic instrumental with a cloudy backing, it’s legitimately upsetting to hear Lil Peep recalling a time where he survived what eventually killed him.

The track “16 Lines” is a drab explanation about how cocaine made him feel better over a murky instrumental with some down-tune guitar strumming while the song “Life is Beautiful” is probably his best song yet. It’s a completely unexpected positivity anthem & the hypnotic instrumental enhances the feeling of it. The track “Hate Me” has a nice bass guitar with some faint skittering hi-hats in background, but the take on his girl going off on him while he’s on the road is too melodramatic. The song “I.D.G.A.F. (I Don’t Give A Fuck)” continues the theme of the previous joint by talking about how he’s not gonna answer her calls, but it’s just boring & the instrumental doesn’t help either. The penultimate track “White Girl” is a chilling ballad about this girl who wants him back now that he’s famous over a trap beat with some sinister guitar licking & then the closer “Fingers” foresees his own death over a trap/alt rock fusion. As for the 2 bonus tracks: “Falling Down” with XXXTENTACION seems like a cash grab for the label since both Peep & X are no longer with us while the original version of that same song with iLoveMakonnen is just plain awkward.

This was honestly better than I had anticipated, but it’s still decent. I do hear an improvement on Lil Peep’s vocals, but only half of the melodrama of his last 2 projects are still present through his lyrics. The production’s just as decent as the last album too with the few incorporations of rock elements on here being the most creative move, but there are some points where the beats tend to be too overproduced. The fans will definitely love this more than me but if this is the last we’ll ever hear from the kid, then it’s a real shame we never got to hear him fully evolve as an artist because the potential of that is clearly shown on here a lot more. May he Rest In Peace.

Score: 3/5

Lil Peep – “Come Over When You’re Sober” review

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Almost a year after the release of his terrible breakout mixtape Hellboy, New York SoundCloud rapper Lil Peep is now delivering his debut full-length album. The album opens up with “Benz Truck (Гелик)”, where Lil Peep is pretty much singing comatosely about not letting his newfound fame change him over an ominous trap instrumental. The next track “Save That Shit” sounds underwritten, as he’s just basically copied & pasted the same lyrics about relationship issues over & over but at least the acoustic/trap fused beat is decent. The song “Awful Things” continues into the whole bad relationship topic over a psychedelic guitar with some snares, but it just sounds like he’s just yelling at me rather than pouring his heart out. Especially during the hook. Oh & as for the sole feature from Peep’s fellow GothBoiClique member Lil Tracy that pops up on here: Yeah, it doesn’t do any justice whatsoever. The track “U Said” has beat switch up during the 2nd half that’s actually not too bad, but the lyrics about popping pills to escape the pain that Lil Peep is going through just comes off as corny. Especially with the line about him wishing he didn’t have a heart so he couldn’t love his girl. The song “Better Off (Dying)” talks about how he’s not gonna make it over a spacey trap instrumental & his vocals on here are probably the most laughable on the entire project. The penultimate track “The Brightside” is a cloudy guitar-ballad where Peep realizing that his ex wasn’t the right one for him, but it’s just sappy. The closer “Problems” reflects about his ex & how she acts like he’s now to her, but he just sounds so atonal that it’s painful. Although Pitchfork recently calling him “the future of emo”, I don’t think this makes the case for it at all. In fact, this is almost as bad as Hellboy was. Sure the production has slightly improved, but the singing is just as awful & the lyrics are as equally melodramatically corny than before. I’m not saying Lil Peep isn’t depressed, he might be. I’m saying if you want an emo release in 2017 that has legitimate emotion, this is not worth your time. I’m sure the upcoming World’s a Beautiful Place & I’m No Longer Afraid to Die album Always Foreign has all of that covered for us

Score: 0.5/5