Don’t sleep on Pi’erre Bourne.
The producer and rapper first grabbed the hip-hop world’s attention with his production on Playboi Carti’s 2017 debut mixtape. Since then, he’s worked with just about everybody who’s anybody in the current scene: 21 Savage, Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug, Juice WRLD (posthumously), Travis Scott, Drake and the artist formerly known as Kanye West.
While that’s an impressive list, Pi’erre said in an interview he still has a wish-list of people he’d like to work with: Beyoncé, Rihanna, Pharrell and Kendrick Lamar.
We see no reason why these dream collaborations can’t happen. This might sound bold but it’s true: Pi’erre’s career at this point resembles the early period of the biggest producer-turned-rapper ever. Ye, on his first album, memorably rapped about “doing five beats a day for three summers.” Pierre was knocking out 10 beats a day around the time he came up with the sounds that helped make Playboi Carti’s “Magnolia” a hit five years ago.
Often imitated, never duplicated, Pi’erre Bourne’s beats are built on a happy, trappy latticework of drum sounds, synths, flutes and vocals — all built from scratch and all distorted and tweaked in ways only Pi’erre’s brain can muster.
Then of course, there’s Pi’erre’s world-famous tagline, lifted from an old sketch on “The Jamie Foxx Show”: “Yo Pi’erre, you wanna come out here?”
Words don’t really do Pi’erre’s sound justice. The Fader called it “space-y and sparse, neon-chord blotted production.” We writers are doing our best. You’ll just need to hear it for yourselves.
Now’s your chance, Bellingham. Pi’erre Bourne takes the stage at the Wild Buffalo Wednesday night, May 4. Last we checked, tickets were still available.
Pi’erre Bourne is performing songs from his 2021 album “The Life of Pi’erre 5” on The Purple Tour, which stops at Wild Buffalo May 4. (Photo courtesy of SossHouse)
One MacBook and a microphone
Pi’erre might have made a name for himself making beats on his laptop, but his talents on the microphone shouldn’t be overlooked. He not only makes his own beats; he also writes his lyrics.
His delivery is rapid-fire and rhythmic, like a rapper’s, but he sings his bars rather than rapping them, often with a plaintive tremble that’s closer to Adele than Ice Cube.
Wish I could go back in time
Then I could save your life
Hop in the DeLorean
Yeah, I’m Marty McFly
DeLoreans aside, Pi’erre’s lyrics are studded with young-millennial pop culture references. (Pi’erre, real name Jordan Jenks, is 28.) He name-drops Lilo and Stitch, Spongebob and Patrick, “Dora the Explorer” and “Stranger Things,” to name a few. His favorite topics are the thin line between love and lust, and making sure neither gets in the way of working hard and stacking money as high as possible:
Yeah, as high as I can be
I can finally see
Ain’t no gravity
Yeah, you ain’t attached to me
The Wild Buffalo claims Pi’erre will appear with “special guests,” but even Pi’erre doesn’t know who those mystery guests might be. While it would be nice to see Sharc, Chavo or someone else signed to Pi’erre’s SossHouse record label, it sounds like none of them are available.
“It’s just me on the road performing,” Pi’erre said. “Right now everyone is in the studios working on upcoming albums.”
Even without Sharc, Pi’erre is sure to perform “Drunk and Nasty,” his song with the Atlanta emcee that went viral on TikTok and might be the most familiar to Bellingham’s college crowd.
Pi’erre Bourne fans can look forward to a new album that he told us will be coming out this summer or fall. And those who aren’t fans can check out what they’ve been missing next week at the Wild Buffalo.
Pi’erre Bourne and special guests will perform at 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 4 at the Wild Buffalo House of Music, 208 W. Holly St. Tickets are $25. Info: wildbuffalo.net.
