If you were lurking on SoundCloud back in 2016, you probably remember where you were when the white tee lyrics lil peep started blowing up. It wasn't just another song. Honestly, it felt like the birth of a whole new genre. You have Lil Peep, the Long Island kid with the pink hair and face tattoos, teaming up with Lil Tracy—who was still going by Yung Bruh at the time.
It was their very first collaboration.
The story goes that Tracy had just gotten out of jail and heard Peep give him a shout-out on the California Girls EP. He reached out to producer Nedarb Nagrom, they met up, and they recorded "White Tee" that same day. They didn't overthink it. They just made music.
Breaking Down the White Tee Lyrics Lil Peep Fans Love
The track starts with that iconic, ethereal sample. If it sounds familiar, that’s because Nedarb sampled “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service. It’s a classic indie track, but Peep and Tracy turned it into something much darker and more hypnotic.
Peep’s hook is simple, but it sticks in your head for days.
"I used to think I love you, now I know it ain't true / Now I know it's not you, fifty on my boxers."
It's that classic Peep vibe: raw, emotional, and a little bit flex-heavy. He’s talking about moving on from a girl while mentioning "fifty on my boxers," which is such a specific, weirdly relatable detail for that era of SoundCloud rap. He makes it look easy. He literally says, "I'll make it look easy, believe me, we Gucci."
Then Tracy comes in. His verse is faster, more energetic. He’s the "young punk bitch" in the club. He talks about connecting "like Wi-Fi" and having a gemstone switchblade. It’s colorful. It’s chaotic. It’s exactly what the mid-2010s underground scene was all about.
The Music Video and the One-Take Magic
You can't talk about the lyrics without talking about the video. It was shot by Killstation on a VHS camera in front of Brennan Savage’s garage in Pasadena. It was one take. Just Peep, Tracy, Nedarb, and the rest of the crew hanging out, smoking, and vibeing.
There’s no high-budget lighting. No professional makeup. Just a bunch of kids in white tees and flannels.
Tracy once told Pitchfork that the song started an "avalanche." He wasn't lying. The day after it dropped, the numbers started climbing—100k, 200k, 500k. People were obsessed with the chemistry between them. They were like the emo-rap version of Lennon and McCartney.
The Technical Side of the Sound
Nedarb’s production on this is actually pretty sophisticated for how "lo-fi" it sounds. He took the glitchy, electronic melody from The Postal Service and layered it with heavy 808s and crisp hi-hats.
Interestingly, Wicca Phase Springs Eternal was originally asked to be on the track. He turned it down. Why? Because he thought the sample was "too obvious." It’s funny looking back now, because that "obvious" sample is exactly what made the song so nostalgic for a generation of kids who grew up on 2000s indie rock.
Crybaby, the mixtape this song lives on, was recorded in about a month. Peep did most of the mixing and mastering himself in his bedroom. You can hear that DIY grit in the white tee lyrics lil peep delivers. There's a certain "honestly, I don't care" attitude to the vocal delivery that you just can't fake in a million-dollar studio.
Why It Still Matters in 2026
We’re a decade out from when this was recorded, and it still hits. It’s a time capsule.
- The Sample: It bridged the gap between emo/indie and trap.
- The Duo: It cemented Peep and Tracy as the definitive duo of GothBoiClique.
- The Lifestyle: It romanticized the "broke but fly" lifestyle of the underground.
When Peep sings about his switchblade and his white tee, he’s not just rapping. He’s building a world. It’s a world where you’re sad, you’re high, and you’re wearing a $5 t-shirt but you feel like you’re wearing Gucci.
Final Thoughts for the Fans
If you're trying to really understand the white tee lyrics lil peep wrote, you have to look at the context of the Crybaby era. This was before the major label deals. This was when they were all living in a squat in Skid Row or crashing on couches in Pasadena.
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Next Steps for You:
- Check the Samples: Go listen to "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service. Compare it to Nedarb's flip. It'll give you a whole new appreciation for the production.
- Watch the Documentary: If you haven't seen Everybody's Everything, do it. It covers this era of Peep's life in detail.
- Read the Credits: The estate of Gustav Ahr (Peep) has released official credits for Crybaby. It’s worth looking at to see how many people contributed to this "bedroom" project.
The song is short—only about two minutes and 12 seconds. But in that time, Peep and Tracy managed to define a subculture that is still influencing artists today.