Terrence Malick to tap into the spirituality of SoundCloud rap as producer on upcoming Lil Peep documentary

In a superficial sense, there couldn’t be a starker divide between artists like Terrence Malick and Lil Peep. The former is the reclusive 74-year old filmmaker behind spiritual American epics like Badlands and The Thin Red Line, while the latter was a young, face-tattooed rapper who injected an earnest sentimentality into rap songs suffused with pop-punk touchstones before dying of an accidental drug overdose last year. The New York Times reports, however, that Malick is a friend of Peep’s family, and, as such, has signed on t0 be an executive producer of a coming documentary on the rapper.

That story’s not as sexy as Malick stumbling upon Peep’s SoundCloud page and subsequently bellowing “U Said” verses, but he could very well have have an interest in the rapper’s new music. Lil Peep’s posthumous Come Over When You’re Sober, Pt. 2 is slated for release next week, and The Times reports that more rhymes could emerge in a soundtrack accompaniment to the documentary, including collaborations with iLoveMakonnen, Diplo, and Harry Fraud.

Malick’s interest in modern music has been on the rise as of late. In 2017, he released the uneven Song To Song, which navigated a romance set against the Austin music scene and featured cameos from Iggy Pop and Patti Smith.