Lil Peep – Hellboy (Review)

Lil Peep has exploded on the scene in a major way this year and doesn’t show any signs of stopping. The 19-year old New York bred, L.A. living singer just released a 16 track project entitled Hellboy. I’ve heard several projects from Peep before and haven’t really been disappointed, but none at this length.

What makes Lil Peep dope is his alt-emo style singing over a diverse range of hip-hop beats. If you’re a member of the backwoods smoking and FTP dad hat wearing crowd, chances are good you’re already familiar with most of Hellboy‘s producers. Familiar friends such as Smokeasac, Yung Cortex, Nedarb, Cian P, and Dirty Vans come are here so you know what to expect sound wise.

While I was astounded to see Lil Peep with Xavier Wulf on “Drive By” I was underwhelmed with Xavier’s verse because he practically sounds asleep. This song sounds like an extra off his 2015 Project X mixtape. However that doesn’t mean I dislike the track. In fact I enjoyed it so much that it’s included on Palm of P A L M Vol. 7 among few others from Hellboy.

“OMFG” is pretty much your typical Lil Peep track with suicidal lyrics and all. If you don’t understand the emo aesthetic you can stop reading this review right here. This too is one of the more significant songs on the project.

With three feature spots on Hellboy, Lil Tracy plays a great supporting roll on here. Each verse of his complements Lil Peep’s nicely, adding some ratchet to the emo vibe. It’s like these are two scene kids shopping at Hot Topic. One might be into My Chemical Romance while the other is into Chief Keef. Although completely different, they’re still shopping at the same store and into the same culture.

“Fucked Up” serves as the break up track on Hellboy. I like the vocal distortion over the high hats and snares. Lil Peep sings some really nice melodies on “Gucci Mane,” which is an interesting name for a song which you can’t exactly classify as hip-hop. After that we have “Interlude” which serves it’s purpose pretty well.

Next is perhaps my favorite track off Hellboy, “Worlds Away.” This sounds like a modern take on a 90s teen movie track. If by chance you find Lil Peep’s singing stale midway through the mixtape, Kirb La Goop comes through on “Red Drop Shawty” with his iconic high pitched voice.

Now I could go on and tell you about how I feel about the remaining six tracks, or I could tell you this: There really isn’t a song off Hellboy I’m not a fan of. The lyrics about abusing drugs, having sex with many anonymous women and feeling sad do become stale at times, however Lil Peep’s sound is one that the game desperately needs. Hellboy rises from the ashes at 4.5/5 PALMs.

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