Last week, Pi’erre Bourne released the long-awaited fifth installment to his acclaimed The Life Of Pi’erre series, The Life Of Pi’erre 5. With 16 tracks and features from superstars like Lil Uzi Vert and Playboi Carti, will Pi’erre be able to deliver another trap classic?
Through the hour of running time, Bourne only proves that he’s further evolved as an artist. His vocals sound amazing, and the coating and layers within the instrumentals sound only more pristine. His previous record, The Life Of Pi’erre 4‘s main strength came from its free-flowing seamless song transitions, and here, this trend only continues, but the variation and changes from beat to beat are crafted through a way more intricate lense. There are really no similarities between the softly angelic “Amen” and the spacey synth-heavy “Grocceries,” but the 27-year-old somehow finds a way to tie them together through his sonic genius. The art behind this come’s each track’s closing minute. In these spurts, Pi’erre smoothly layers in the sound of the next song and starts to water down the track’s core instrumental until the following song’s full baseline is in place. Throughout, this formula proves its greatness and adds to the overall glamor and aesthetic of Pi’erre’s world.
At the heart of this charismatic experience is Pi’erre Bourne, the rapper. While his lyrical and microphone dominating skills are near to nonexistent, Bourne uses his vocal range and creative audio filters to captivate the listener for the entire hour. Nearly everything the trap titan says is mindless and meaningless, but the way his edited yet passionate vocals flow over beats like the tripped-out “Butterfly,” and tropical “Biology” is so transcending it feels like a page ripped out of his good friend Playboi Carti’s playbook. Speaking of Carti, he came to play on “Switching Lanes” as he and Pi’erre tore things up with their free-flowing verses, collaborative hook, and tangent vocal schemes. As good as this iconic duo’s performances were, the highlight of the track was its action-packed outro which samples the Mister Softee ice cream song and concludes with some warping synths. As far as the other features go, Lil Uzi brings out Bourne’s scary side on the intense “Sossboy 2,” and Sharc remains fairly passive as Pi’erre flirts and fantasizes on the smooth “Drunk And Nasty”. As far as the other standouts go, “HULU,” “42,” “40 Clip,” and “Retroville” masterfully capture everything this records about and all Pi’erre strives at doing.
Aside from a few tracks that fall on the weaker side of the spectrum, TLOP5 is pretty much perfect in its execution. Pi’erre Bourne shows off his instrumental genius and has loads of fun along the way. When it comes to trap records, there has not been a project that’s embedded with so much character, charm, and sonic precision this entire year. Going forward, I’m not sure what Pi’eree has in the works next, but I’m sure it will only strengthen his already revered status.
Rating: 7.2/10
Pros:
- Great production
- Free-flowing fun tracklist
- Pi’errre tests his vocal ability to new levels
- Captures on the pinnacle of what fun trap music is
Cons:
- Some tracks feel plain and unneeded
- Content and subject matter is rancid
Written By: Mr. Fantastic
