Rap Blog: Pi’erre Bourne’s return to form

Rap Blog is a weekly showcase of a standout rap song.

For a super-niche subset of the hip-hop community, the greatest consecutive 3 album solo run of the 2020s belongs not to Future or Kanye, but to Pi’erre Bourne for The Life of Pi’erre 4 (Deluxe), The Life of Pi’erre 5, and Good Movie. I’m not saying I subscribe to this, but I get it.

The two years since his last solo project have been tough even for Pi’erre Bourne’s more casual fans. 2023’s stopgap Grails EP was ridiculously beautiful but did little to tide over rabid demand, even as Pi’erre dropped six different collaborative mixtapes over the course of the year (I’d personally recommend Born Seditionary with Kura and Sharc Wave with Sharc). As much flak as Bourne’s groan-inducing punchlines may catch online, it’s evident his fans can’t get enough.

“Blocs!” should erase any lingering frustration. The first single off Pi’erre’s oft-delayed LP Made In Paris finds the rapper-producer in a comfortable pocket, scrawling melodies over near-monotone flows for emphasis. “I got a lil Remy gotta lil Henny aye / She wanna pull up but girl I just be busy aye,” he croons on the first verse. But “Blocs!” is no mere return to form: from the depth of the low end to the backing chorus of adlibbing and harmonizing Pi’erres, it’s clear that Bourne is locked in rather than coasting. “I got your house on me it’s on my neck / I won’t be in my feelings,” he smirks on the hook to the Instagram-exclusive track.

Forgoing DSPs is a little annoying even when Drake and Playboi Carti do it, but after an extended drought punctuated by various artists splitting from Bourne’s Sosshouse imprint and the man himself routinely posting about label hurdles on social media, Pi’erre fans will take what we can get. Lately, he’s more optimistic online, posting about MIP and a sequel to Sli’merre his 2019 mixtape with Young Nudy. I’ll believe it when I see it, but until then at least we have five minutes of “Blocs!”