In a day and age where late rappers are becoming a norm, we are seeing more and more of the release of posthumous work (i.e. work released after death.) A few prolific rappers stand out in this conversation, including Lil Peep, XXXTENTACION and Mac Miller.
All at the height of their success when they passed. It’s truly unfortunate we couldn’t see the further development of these artists especially when they were so ambiguous in their work and so promising.
Often when these artists die there is still a plethora of music left behind, yet to be released. In the case of Lil Peep, the rising emo rap star, there was an immense amount of work unreleased. The label partnered with frequent collaborators of Lil Peep to bring about projects that the fans could accept. Following the release of the polished Come Over When You’re Sober collection, label heads, with input from Peep’s mom decided to release the more raw and authentic Everybody’s Everything. Which doubled as a soundtrack to the documentary on his life.
A lot of controversy was stirred when the label continued to release music under Peep’s name but rest assured his mother Liza was behind it every step of the way. Saying:
“What do you do when a young artist dies long before his time, leaving behind a legacy of finished and unfinished work, and a legion of heartbroken fans?”
– Liza Womack
It seems like the honorable thing to do to honor the late artist and put out a body of work that most closely emulates what the artist in mention would have wanted.
Like stated before, this isn’t without its controversy as the bodies that distribute this late work are often met with backlash. Like when the BMW that XXXTENTACION died in was on display at an album event.
This begs the question of if an artists’ legacy is best left alone. Of course the family and friends of the artist have an idea of what the artists would have wanted in a project, single releases, etc. but the artist isn’t there to provide input.
Prior to his death, Mac Miller was busy at work on a follow up to his album Swimming. The album featured production from one producer named Jon Briar who later went on to finish the album keeping in mind the vision Miller had for it.
Again, it is nice to still get new material from an artist after their death but it often spurs a slew of questions about how exactly these releases are being handled. It seems that the ones in charge of these releases put immense thought into the given project before releasing but without the touch of the artists in question something is somewhat lacking.
That being said, you can’t please everyone. Especially on the internet. Someone will always have an opinion. Admittedly it is nice to see songs that didn’t have a proper release get one finally and for unfinished projects to see the light of day but the motives of the people at hand are often in question.
Sorry to say, these artists are gone and all we have left of them is the music. If we can continue their legacy going even for a short time, then maybe the details don’t matter so much.
Artistic Apathy 