Pi'erre Bourne Covers New Wave Transcendence Issue
When you think of the new era of rap in terms of production, you’d often think about bumping 808s sitting under spacey melodies – this is quite largely down to the unmistakable influence of one artist, Jordan Timothy Jenks, better known as Pi’erre Bourne. Ever since his major breakthrough producing for Playboi Carti in 2017 on his breakout hit single ‘Magnolia’, Pi’erre has inspired a whole generation of producers, with his influence seemingly everywhere in the rap game; from 808 patterns to hi-hats and replica Pi’erre Bourne sound packs, which have helped create a whole new wave of rap production.
Pi’erre Bourne is a Belizean-American that spent most of his formative years growing up in Durham, North Carolina to a military family from Queens, New York. He would often visit Queens New York to see his grandmother during the summer breaks, his surroundings during his time in New York lead to his interest in East Coast hip hop artists such as Dipset and G-Unit. Music is an art form that is not foreign to Pi’erre’s lineage because from a young age he was inspired by his uncle Dwight who was a rapper and graphic artist. Pi’erre first began making beats when he was in elementary school, using FL Studio on his uncle’s computer.
Pi’erre also followed his uncle’s footsteps by studying graphic design for a year before dropping out at 18. At this point, his love for music became more than a pass time as his uncle encouraged him to pursue his career in music. Pi’erre moved to Atlanta to study sound engineering at the SAE Institute. Pi’erre’s journey in the music industry began as a sound engineer for Epic Records in 2015. A year later he came into contact with artists such as Young Nudy and Trippie Redd after leaving Epic to cultivate his career on his own terms.
AMA
Creative Direction - Derrick Odafi, Farris Ashraf
Interviewer - Levi Wilson
Photographer - Farris Ashraf
Stylist - Sophia Alonge
Assistant Stylist - Palesa
Visual Director(s) - Derrick Odafi, Bijoux Chima
Special thanks to Soss House
At only 26, Pi'erre Bourne has made one of the most considerable impacts on the music scene in comparison to his age mates with multiple chart appearances, production for some of the most reputable artists in the game, one of the most distinct sounds and producer tag, and now, becoming a label owner with SossHouse, whilst still remaining relatively under the radar due to his low-key personality and work ethic. 2020 should be a year in which Pi’erre Bourne goes even further, as he hinted that his focus is on SossHouse, which inevitably means more projects being executively produced by him, giving him the chance to be known as so much more than a producer/rapper. As someone who has already done so much for the game and inspired so many, we get to see him take control and guide projects as an executive producer and hopefully, see a lot more music from the man himself.
However, you will be mistaken to think that Pi'erre has any plans of slowing down as the artist and super producer is hard at work on multiple projects, such as the last installment of the TLOP series and has recently been announced as the #1 producer on the Billboard Hot 100 producer list, officially making him the top producer in the music industry at this current time. Pi'erre's instrumentals are a highlight in the new chart-topping album LUV vs Rage 2 with songs such as 'Yessirskiii' ft 21 Savage and 'Wassup' ft Future. Pi'erre will also most definitely be involved in the new Playboi Carti project scheduled for release this year. Asking Pi'erre about his relationship with the Atlanta rapper, he states that at this point their bond has gone far beyond the parameters of music, over time they have become brothers.
Pi’erre’s distinct sound paved the way for the whole new scene; his spacey sound selection, instantly recognisable producer tag and signature thumping basslines have been integral to furthering the new trap scene we've seen coming out of Atlanta in the 2010s, the city which Pi'erre made his name. He has had a hand in producing some of the biggest trap songs of the last few years, with hits like ‘wokeuplikethis’, ‘Magnolia’ and ‘dothatshit!’ by Playboi Carti, ‘Gummo’ by 6ix9ine (a hugely controversial situation), ‘Watch’ by Travis Scott, in addition to his own breakout singles ‘Poof’, ‘Marie Curie’ and ‘Yo Pi'erre’.
T-Shirt, Jehu-Cal
Two Piece,KaWakey
Cap, Loso
Rings, Feather Pendants
T-Shirt, Jehu-Cal
Cap, Artists Own
Jewelry, Artist’s Own
So Pi’erre, We understand you spent most of your time growing up in between Columbia, South Carolina and Queens, New York, what were the main differences growing up?
Pierre: New York in general has more things to do, it’s easier to travel - public transport isn’t frowned upon, you’re not lame for being on the bus or train, but down south in Columbia, getting a license is like.. the thing. So you can drive, pick up your friends, go to parties and go get food and stuff like that. That was the difference, in Columbia everyone was stressed about getting their license… immediately, so you had some sense of freedom. In New York, you have freedom with your two feet. Just walk and go do stuff, so I preferred staying in New York because of that.
It was probably a better musical environment as well right?
Pi’erre: Not even, music didn’t work out for me until I moved to Atlanta. As far as just opening my mind and seeing that the world doesn’t stop for you - that’s what New York showed me. Down south, in the states, the way of life is slower so you don’t really see things progress without you. In New York you see everybody is on their way to something. In South Carolina it’s like, a lot of people wait a bit longer than someone else from up north.
The theme of the new New Wave issue is Transcendence, what’s your relation to that word, as someone who has transcended from a producer to someone who is a whole lot more than that now?
Pi’erre: Sometimes just give everybody else time to wake up, I’ve been doing the same thing for years, people who pay attention to me, might just pay attention to one thing. Whereas people who take a liking to me see that he does this and that. It’s a process, but it’s not something that discourages me, people are starting to gravitate towards that.
You also worked with Kanye West on Jesus Is King, what was that experience like?
Pi’erre: Damn. I mean, it’s like any process of working with any other artist - I go play my beats and hope for the best...that’s about it. Everybody on the internet made it seem like it was a weird time, that’s probably the easiest album I was able to work on because we all were on the same page, we’re making an album for Jesus. That was something I never got to do before. That was cool.
Puffer,Cream, Brick Lane
Yellow Jacket, EJDER
Cap, Artists Own
Two Piece, Norse Projets
Pi'erre Bourne has recently released a 12 song project with one of his artist's Jelly, full of his signature sound as Jelly raps on records such as 'Gang', 'Patience' and 'In The Night'. This is a testament to Pi'erre's impressive work ethic after completing his European tour, which saw him visit sold-out shows in Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon and 2 shows in London on the same day. We also caught up with Pi'erre earlier that day to execute our shoot with his aimed at highlighting UK street culture. Through our conversations with Pi'erre, we found him to be a mellow and level headed individual that is as normal as can be, being such a global superstar Pi'erre takes everything one step at a time and is grateful for his success but always hungry for more.
With millions of monthly listeners overall streaming platforms, Pi'erre has built a fanbase that loves his vocal perspective on music. with uncountable collaborations with major artists in the industry, on his music, Pi'erre keeps things to himself to showcase his song making abilities which he cultivated during his time at EPIC Records.
He also recently released a visual for his TLOP 4 record 'Try Again', which is a stand out on the project. Pi'erre has also carved a visual lane for himself with videos consisting on a heavy amount of visual effects and retro/futuristic juxtaposition.
“Sometimes just give everybody else time to wake up, I’ve been doing the same thing for years, people who pay attention to me, might just pay attention to one thing.”
Tracksuit, Jehu-Cal Till Forever Two Piece
Cap, Loso
Rings, Feather Pendants
his TLOP mixtape series has elevated him beyond just the beats. He has crafted his own distinct vocal sound now, with a softer tone to a lot of the scene and quite a different subject matter to other artists - his music is less about drugs and the trap lifestyle, instead of with a lot more references to films and love, which is a breath of fresh air and sets him apart from a lot of the current scene. It is safe to say that Pi'erre has transcended the producer label and is making an impact as an artist/cultural figure. With his graphic design background, it would be no surprise to see Pi'erre branch out into other creative ventures. Read our full interview with Pi'erre in the digital magazine link below.