[JACQUES] Long Island rapper Lil Peep is bridging the gap between early 2000's
Emo rock and the feels gripping mainstream Hip-Hop today.
The sounds on Peep’s debut album, 'Come Over When You’re Sober Pt. 1,'
take influences from the trap beats of Metro Boomin...
And the lyrical raw teenage angst of emo bands like Taking Back Sunday
To create what people are calling ‘emo rap’
Peep isn’t the only rapper putting their inner pain on wax today - Lil Uzi Vert’s
“Xo Tour Llif3” dealt with the loss of his girlfriend Brittany.
Young Thug’s 'Beautiful Thugger Girl' was full of emotion, Future’s “HNDRXX,“
one of his most vulnerable bodies of work, topped the charts and Trippie Redd’s
“Love Scars” contains the tortured heartbreaking angst that was a staple of emo rock.
However, what makes Lil Peep’s music unique
is his ability to effortlessly straddle both worlds of emo rock and hip hop;
leading critics to place him at the forefront of the new wave of ‘emo rap’.
Peep himself does not necessarily want to hold this title but he does own that
he’s influenced by emo rock bands.
In an interview with Pitchfork he said quote.
[JACQUES] Emo, or emotive hardcore, is a subgenre of rock music that first began in the late
80's with bands like Embrace and Rites of Spring.
Their songs were filled with emotionally vulnerable lyrics.
[JACQUES] The sub-genre had its heyday in the early to mid 2000's when bands like
Dashboard Confessional, Panic! At the Disco, Paramore
and others delivered music that evoked teen angst, heartbreak and
tortured anxiety in a visceral way.
Linkin Park was one of the most popular bands to combine emo rock with rap
through the voice of the late Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda.
Emo fell out of vogue towards the end of the decade but at around this time
rappers like Kanye West, Kid Cudi and Drake began putting their own heartbreak on wax
letting their feels kick in the door of mainstream hip-hop.
While Kanye took emotive rap to the mainstream,
It had already been a staple of the underground for years.
Lil Peep began making waves on Soundcloud
with his 2016 mixtape releases ‘crybaby’ and ‘Hellboy’.
His early music borrowed heavily from the emo rock bands he cites as influences.
Lil Peep is one of the latest entries in the long line of rap and rock crossover
but this merging of emo and trap surely stands out.
However what is yet to be seen is whether this sub-genre is here to stay or
will peter out the way emo rock did in the late 2000s.
I’m Jacques Morel with Genius News
bringing you the meaning and knowledge behind the music.
Peace!