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Lil Peepwas onto something.
Peeps lyricism was matter-of-fact and diaristic in its discomfort, and his handle on melody was bright and fey.
Sometimes, to listen is to watch someone hurtling toward oblivion.
Posthumous albums are a gift and a curse.
Like a horror-movie chase sequence, you see strength, vitality, and valiance in vain.
You see time running out, darkness closing in.
Elliott SmithsFrom a Basement on a Hillis a beautiful capstone on a career whose ambitions were still flowering.
Biggie closing outLife After Deathwith Youre Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You) feels like stunning, steely clairvoyance.
An unexpected death never sits right.
It invites us to reassess what we thought we knew about a person.
This habit maybe serves the living, but never the dead.
Lil Peeps sophomore album,Come Over When Youre Sober Pt.
2, is tough listening because it encases the artists triumph and tragedy in amber.
His skills were sharpening, but his ills were advancing.
Peeps honesty makes the two aspects of his life seem inseparable.
1s U Said (Sometimes life gets fucked up!
/ Thats why we get fucked up!
), but theres a lot of pain and dark portents to contend with to get there.
Just as disconcerting as the inevitability of loss that hauntsCome Over Pt.
The rock and rap foundations onCome Over Pt.
Runaway and IDGAF tout guitar licks ready-made for rock radio.
Rap-rock hybrids lack this subtlety.
Their aim is confrontation, shaking up norms by serving seemingly incongruous ingredients in the same cocktail.
(There is value in the practice.
See: Public Enemy teaming up with Anthrax or anything on Faith No MoresAngel Dust.)
Most modern emo rap treasures rock musics mood and method but is rather allergic to the instrumentation.
Come Over When Youre Sober Pt.
2is comfortable in its apparent contradictions.
Life Is Beautiful, the albums centerpiece, is a word about persevering through terrible circumstances.
But the songs presence here illustrates the mindfuck of an early death.
Life is a remix of an older Peep song; the original version closes outFeelz.
The lyric is unchanged across the two versions.
The difference is a brighter beat and a more lively vocal.
But now, the question in the refrain Isnt life beautiful?
seems wry, almost ironic.
Its not a valuable thought process.
The exchange got hot when it devolved into dishing about the reasons people think he is no longer living.
I just wish people would remember them for who they were, not what brought them down.
