Alphonse Pierre

Helio-Tropes

Alphonse Pierre is a music critic and journalist at Pitchfork. He joins us from home base in Canarsie, Brooklyn where an ice cream truck soundtracks our conversation about the Knicks and the 76ers round 1 playoff bloodbath. We talk about Ice Spice's timely verse on Cash Cobaine's "Fisherr" remix and how an independently released song can get ratcheted up with the help of a huge feature and some major label muscle. We talk about Tupac's estate issuing a cease and desist to Drake (when it's convenient) for the AI powered "Taylormade Freestyle," and just how much Future is too much sauce across multiple albums. He breaks down his review of rapper Xaviersobased's latest mixtape which received the coveted "Best New Music" status at Pitchfork, and why a healthy dose of outside influences on the internet coupled with real life uptown swagger make for a thrilling ride. We also get into the wild and emerging Milwaukee rap scene comprising unhinged twerk, slap, and low-end subgenres. All of which are underscored by the song of the moment, JP's "Bad Bitty," to go along with Alphonse's experience in the Wisconsin city's underbelly with several rappers including Munch Lauren and 414bigfrank. Of course we had to shake him down for his Top 5 songs right now (all of which came by way of SoundCloud links) as we proceed to bring you what you didn't know you needed on this special episode.