Photos by Cara Robbins — *Photos by* *Cara Robbins*

Within the landscape of rap music over the last four years, few names are more prolific in their influence on the culture than Pi’erre Bourne. After the young art school graduate broke out in 2017 with producer credits on the massively popular tracks “Magnolia” by Playboi Carti and “Gummo” by Tekahsi 6ix9ine, Bourne has gone on to produce tracks featuring artists such as Young Nudy, Lil Uzi Vert and Kanye West. Although he was known at the start of his career for his dreamy beats with spacey melodies over straightforward and satisfying trap beats, Pi’erre Bourne knew that he wanted to traverse production and expand into rapping as well.

Inspired by artists such as his own uncle and Kanye West, he released his first solo studio album, Life of Pi’erre 4 in June of 2019. On this project, Pi’erre introduces himself as a collection of dualities. He is humble yet prideful, a player yet a hopeless romantic. Sex and love is a strong theme throughout The Life of Pi’erre 4 with songs such as “Poof, “Guillotine,” and “Ballad” being the most played tracks on the album. He blurs the lines between singing and rapping for most of the album, his mellow voice accentuated by autotune. The production is light and airy in order to give the spotlight to Pi’erre’s bars and vocals. Here, we are introduced to Pi’erre Bourne’s love of similes and copious pop culture references in his writing. Some were clever and others were unhinged. No matter what came out of his mouth, however, there was no denying that Pi’erre Bourne was a talent with major potential to succeed as a solo artist and not just a producer. He had the beats, he had the voice, and he had a strong following that only grew after The Life of Pi’erre 4.

Almost two years exactly to the release of his first album, Pi’erre Bourne released his second project The Life of Pi’erre 5 on June 11th. The release of this album was teased with the release of the single “4U” some months prior with a music video attached as well. Despite Bourne’s rollout of the single being arguably overshadowed by Playboi Carti’s release of his music video for “Sky’ off of his album Whole Lotta Red, “4U'' was still able to reach many fans who enjoyed the bouncy sexy summer track and were eager to hear more from him. With The Life of Pi’erre 5, that is exactly what they got. TLOP5 has the familiar production that made Bourne famous, the entrancing rap cadence, and the creative lyrics fans have come to love even if they sound like they were written by someone in the middle of watching Hulu’s WuTang: An American Saga while hotboxing their room. However, what sets The Life of Pi’erre 5 apart from its predecessor is the inclusion of features from Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, and Sharc, higher intensity production, and a more diverse range of themes communicated over the course of the album.

Pi’erre knew we needed music for vaxxed summer 2021 and he delivered. The tracks are vibrant and exciting, filled with the energy and fun we are hoping to embody as the world finally opens back up to us.

The Life of Pi’erre 5 opens with a phone call with Bourne and his grandmother, who he made mentions of in his first album. She asks him when he is going to come visit her in South Carolina and asks him to help her get a car. “Not no new car” she says, “Something that costs maybe twenty-five, twenty-seven hundred dollars.” She then says that she just needs something to ride. Throughout their conversation, Pi’erre (aka Jordan as his grandmother calls him) talks about where he’s traveling, when he’s going to come see her, and then tells her he has to go but promises he’ll call her back. Although this intro is short and doesn’t feature any rapping, it works tremendously as a tool to establish the major theme of this album: The effects of fame on his relationships with others and his perception of himself. The tension between his nomadic life as a musician and his ties to his home, and in turn his past, are prevalent throughout the album.

Tracks that especially work to communicate Pi’erre Bourne reconciling with where he is now versus where he was are “YNS” and “Amen.“YNS” displays Pi’erre Bourne’s capacity for empathy as he raps about his life growing up in the hood and his formative experiences. He calls for the freedom of his friends who got caught up in the hustle and are now incarcerated. Bourne also takes a candid moment for self-reflection on the track as he talks of his success in comparison with his emotional pain and trauma from his upbringing. This self-reflection continues near the end of the album on the track “Amen.” On the somber track, Pierre raps about the pitfalls of his lifestyle. He raps that he is living “too fast and furious.” Although his money affords him many luxuries, it does not offer him peace of mind. Bourne describes stacks of money like a weight on his shoulders and hopes that no one hits his Achilles as he “runs up his bag.” It is clear that Bourne is afraid of losing what he has. This is emphasized by the usage of samples from his uncle’s own music on the track, a massive influence on Bourne’s artistry who passed away just weeks before TLOP5’s release. “Amen” is the most vulnerable track on what is otherwise a very “no thoughts just vibes” sort of project.

On the production side of things, Pi’erre Bourne experiments with a more intense and brooding sound than he did on the Life of Pi’erre 4. With TLOP4, the production was very formulaic: trap drums, distorted guitar or piano melody, and Pierre Bourne sing-rapping with moderate autotune. Although it was predictable, Bourne was able to captivate audiences by varying the style just enough with each track to make the album land as seamless instead of mind-numbing. On The Life of Pi’erre 5, however, Bourne allowed himself to expand on his sound with the inclusion of heavier bass and synths. The standout example of this “new sound” is found halfway through the album on track 8 “Sossboy 2.” The track opens with cacophonous bass under quick modulating electric drums and a Nosferatu-esque keyboard melody. The intro features Bourne’s uncle, his voice deep and heavily reverbed. Once the chorus hits, Bourne layers on one more sound: a spacey synth melody. This is the perfect lead-in to the verse of rap’s favorite extraterrestrial: Lil Uzi Vert. They are a truly dynamic pairing on this track. Pi’erre Bourne raps exclusively on this track in order to match the energy of Uzi. Even though Uzi does in fact wash Bourne rap-wise, the duo still created a track that I need to hear at a party as soon as possible.

Ladies, don’t worry, Pi’erre Bourne still wants to have sex with us. He makes sure to tell us with the tracks “Retroville'' and “Drunk and Nasty.” They follow each other in order on the album, which is fitting because they are both extremely horny, which is what the girls who loved TLOP4 came for. Although they both incorporate some of the heavier production aspects indicative of the midpoint of the album, they are airy enough to remind us of his work from 2019 that helped us girls romanticize then get over our toxic partners. “Retroville” is the more upbeat of the two, with the vampy keyboard on full display. Lyrically, the content of the chorus gives very much “Wet Dreamz” by J Cole energy but instead of going into detail about his lover from high school Pi’erre Bourne repeats the sound “Skrt” for sixteen bars before, in a moment of poignant wordplay, changing it to “Skirt” as indicated by the lyrics “Panties, bra/She takes it off.” “Drunk and Nasty” is a track that has been circulating the internet in its incomplete form for a year or two. As it was made around the same time as TLOP4, it sounds the most like a song that could have been on that project. However, he varies the final product from the draft by adding more verses, overlaid vocals, a feature from Sharc, and not one, but two pauses throughout the song. “Retroville” and “Drunk and Nasty” are just two examples of how Pi’erre Bourne was able to successfully merge the old with the new on TLOP5 in order to both appease current fans and help bring in new ones.

The Life of Pi’erre 5 is the first album to truly excite me this year. Pi’erre Bourne always produces hit after hit, whether he is doing it for himself or for someone else. Instead of backsliding after his first album like some rappers tend to do, Bourne was able to successfully grow his musical style and come back with a project that is undoubtedly better than the first. I believe that Pi’erre Bourne is often not afforded his flowers because his collaborators are more often than not more famous than he is, causing him to get outshined by the spotlight of others. However, I am certain that sooner rather than later, Pi’erre Bourne will get the acclaim he deserves. The Life of Pi’erre 5 is going to be my album for the summer, and if you like Trippie Redd, Young Nudy, or Playboi Carti, it should be yours, too.

Favorite Tracks

Sossboy 2 (feat. Lil Uzi Vert)

40 Clip

Drunk and Nasty (feat. Sharc)

Rating: 8

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