Steve 'Flash' JuonIt has been over half a decade since Lil Peep passed away and I’m still discovering new pieces of his catalogue even now. The “Friends” EP is one of the smallest pieces, but its posthumous release hints that Peep and Yunggoth had plans for a much larger project that was curtailed by Gustav’s demise. So who exactly is Yunggoth and what part does he play in Lil Peep’s story?
Goth seems to exist in the weird space of being semi-famous just by being in the circles of other semi-famous people. Here’s an explanation I think will get across my point — it would be like getting a TV show off being seen on two episodes of Vanderpump Rules, a show which itself only exists because of the success of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. If you’ve never seen either of the latter shows, why would you watch a show about a background character spun off from a spinoff? I knew there had to be more going on in Goth’s life than being friends with Peep and being some singer’s second ex-boyfriend. I kept digging… and boy did I ever find some dirt.
What I learned about Yunggoth gave a tint to songs like “Cocaine Shawty” they wouldn’t have otherwise been colored with. Suddenly he wasn’t famous for who he was friends with — he was infamous for who he wants to be friends with. One of my podcast co-hosts likes to say “where there’s smoke there’s fire” and there’s a whole lot of smoke no one wants involving Goth. I have to be at least say that AFAIK he’s never been tried or convicted for anything, so he may just have haters, but songs like “lick” are hard to take even without the accusations.
“Passed out with my bitch in the whip (in the whip)
Catch up lil’ bitch, you ain’t it (you ain’t)
You ain’t nothing but a bitch, and you know it”
This is just vulgar for the sake of being offensive, crass for the sake of being shocking, and it’s so blatant in the attempt that it fails to be either. It’s also delivered over an instrumental so lacking it might as well not exist at all, with a bored apathy from both performers suggesting they were completely loaded while recording it. Now again for the sake of argument sounding bored and stoned is a “style” these days, one which they could simply have been miming for their audience, but it’s entirely too convincing that they just didn’t give a fuck. With absolutely no disrespect meant to the late Gustav Åhr, I just don’t give one either. This is non-essential music and Goth is a non-essential artist.