Lil Peep’s individual brand of emo rap music, has already generated millions of views on YouTube. Originally coming from New York, he has created a following that reaches far and wide, to London, and specifically Russia.
NF: How is success measured for an artist in modern times?
LP: For most artists, money, but not for me.
NF: How is it measured for you?
LP: My effect on the audience.
NF: Is there a specific effect you mean?
LP: Yeah, saving people’s lives and shit like that. Like how my life was saved by music; so I’m saving other people’s lives with music.
NF: How did music save your life?
LP: [I was] just very depressed, and listened to a lot music, and I just lost myself in the music. You should watch ‘Baby Driver’, that’s kind of me.
NF: And you talk about a lot of those themes in your music. You talk about depression and suicide. Is that your way of venting?
LP: Yeah, totally.
NF: Like therapy?
LP: Yeah, it’s like therapy. And tattoos.
NF: Are you independent or with a label?
LP: I’m independent.
NF: Are you trying to stay that way?
LP: Yeah, we’ll see what happens.
NF: What are the advantages of being independent?
LP: It’s lit.
NF: Do you think artists need labels?
LP: Nah.
NF: When did you realise music could be a career?
LP: When I started making money off of merchandise. So I started selling T-shirts, and then started getting a couple thousand a month off of T-shirts.
NF: More than you’d make from the music?
LP: Oh no, that’s part of the music, you know? Because it says Lil Peep on the shirt.
NF: ‘Come Over When You’re Sober’ is going to be your debut album…
LP: Yep, debut album. It’s my best work yet, it blew my mind, it’s so good. I wasn’t expecting it to be so good. It’s fucking amazing. I think it’s going to blow everyone’s mind.
NF: Can you explain the title to me?
LP: So it goes either both ways, it’s just about relationships where, people get fucked up and say shit they don’t mean and it’s like, ‘Alright, come over when you’re sober’. It’s from either a girls or a boys, or a girls and a boys, and a boys and a boys, or a girls and a girls perspective. Whatever the fuck, just come over when you’re sober. You know what I mean? Like, I wanna talk to you when you’re in your right state on mind.
NF: What separates this from your previous work?
LP: The effort, the quality. It’s just, I don’t know how to explain it, it’s just more polished. It sounds like something that could be on the radio. My old music was very edgy, edgy, edgy. It’s still very edgy, believe me. But it’s a new sound; it’s a newer sound. It’s a Lil new Peep.
NF: Do you classify your music as a specific genre?
LP: There’s no genre for it right now, no. But, I’d say alternative rock.
NF: Do you think it’s still hip-hop?
LP: It’s hip-hop, but it’s alternative rock man.
NF: But do you think what you do is a part of Hip-Hop culture?
LP: Oh yeah, yeah, of course. Well it’s a mix of the two, so I don’t know what to call it. I don’t know which one it leans more towards. It’s like Linkin Park, like what the fuck do you call that?
NF: How important is your image?
LP: Very important, I’m working on it every day. So, you can’t leave me alone in a room with a buzzer. Because last night I was in the bathroom. I seen this buzzer, and I started shaving my beard you know? I left the moustache there, ‘That’s cool’, and then I just went [mimics shaving off eyebrows].
NF: And you just shaved off your eyebrows, yesterday?
LP: I just shaved my eyebrows off yesterday, yeah, yeah.
NF: Have you done that before?
LP: Never my eyebrows before, but I’ve had a meltdown, like right before I came to London. I’m here kind of like, to keep myself under control. It’s a better environment for me over here, around good people. There’s less, you know, leeches. I call them leeches because they like to leech off you, you know what I mean? And, just use you for what you have. [There’s] a lot of that in LA. There’s a lot of real people in LA too, a lot of my best friends live in LA, but there’s hundreds and hundreds of people who I never want to see again.
NF: Have you been over here a few times?
LP: So, first time I came here was in April, on tour. I fell in love with it. I was staying in Camden. It was fucking wild. I love Camden, it’s dope. So I fell in love with it then, I stayed for five days, played a dope-ass show. This dude’s one of my best friends, his best friend is one of my best friends. So, I’m surrounded by good people, in a good environment. I came back, I told him the first day. I was here on tour, we met on the first day, and I was like, ‘Yo, I’ma move here’. [He said] ‘No you’re not’.
NF: And now you’re here?
LP: I moved here. I live here.
NF: So you’re living here now?
LP: Yeah, yeah.
NF: How long?
LP: My whole life.
NF: But so far?
LP: I’ve been here for like a month and a half.
NF: Can you tell me the most interesting thing about you, that nobody will know?
LP: The most interesting thing about me is that, I still kind of go by old-school, punk, New York hardcore culture. That’s how I live. I have horrible hygiene, I’m disgusting, I don’t shower, I don’t fucking brush my teeth, but girls love me.
NF: What’s your greatest achievement or highlight so far?
LP: My greatest achievement or highlight so far was performing in Moscow I think. In front of like, 4,000-something people. That was my first show ever, and it was in Moscow, Russia. And we sold it out, it was ridiculous.
NF: So when you did your first-ever show, they already knew your music?
LP: Well, Russia is my biggest fanbase. Most of my fans are in Russia. They know every word and they don’t even know what they’re saying. I feel like Justin Bieber when I’m out there.
NF: What is your ultimate goal?
LP: My ultimate goal is to change the world, make some money, donate to charity, save people’s lives, help people cope with shit that they’re going through, through music, and just have a positive effect on people.
The debut Lil Peep album ‘Come Over When You’re Sober’ is out now.
Word: Novar FLIP
Photopher: Eva Pentel
Creative Director: PM Creative
Stylist: Kirubel Belay
Makeup artist: Madeleine Goldsmith
