“A cowboy is a person that’s like pushing boundaries,” Shemar Pierre says.
The 25-year-old Philly artist is standing inside 365 Boxing Gym in North Philly preparing for his last show of 2023. He watches as a model named Londyn with a blonde mullet and a ruffled white and black dress stood in the middle of the ring atop an American flag. The crowd, which all signed waivers at the door, is silent as she re-applies makeup to mashed up clips from films of actors saying “I love you.”
Then, as the music slowly slips into the background even as it became increasingly louder, Pierre steps into the ring with a hood over his head, a bloody face, black eye, boxing shoes and a (fake) cigarette.
Pierre’s inspiration for this performance comes from Fight Club and other movies from that time, he says. “Life really be fighting back,” laughs.
The rest of the night included fans being selected to fight, an electric guitar performance by Mikey Universe, and boxing signs being held by members of the crowd.
This was all part of the final show of his Cowboy Circuit, a series of four shows to promote his 2023 album “All Cowboys Go To Heaven.” The project has a mix of familiar sounds like the Jersey beat that has been a staple in Philly clubs and the bass of New York drill matched with high-pitched bone chilling samples and the deepness of Pierre’s voice.
Each song is a story with heavy imagery and homage to the celebrities of the late 2000s with an unintentional touch of the Americana aesthetic of the early 2010s. It’s a pop culture clash. It’s all Shemar Pierre.
Of Pierre’s ability to craft entire narratives, one of the executive producers on his album “All Cowboys Go to Heaven,” Brandon Clark, said “It was about more than just the music for him, it was about world building, about the rollout, about the aesthetic that goes into the music.”
ENIGMA
Starting out as an animation major at Philadelphia University, later known as Thomas Jefferson University, Pierre became interested in the sounds that bring animation to life. There, he started experimenting with music. He knew that he wanted to perform.
“I wanted to create an art piece that could stand alone,” Pierre said.
He reached out to fashion designer Julia Silver about creating an art show out of his album release of a five-song project titled “ENIGMA.” The result was a choreographed fashion show that featured 12 models sporting Silver’s work, surrounding Pierre as he performed.
Except there was one problem: Pierre didn’t like his sound.
“I was kind of going through an identity crisis,” he says, describing how he would record tracks on his phone or on his studio mic, but also not knowing how he wanted to sound.
“I have a lot of bass in my voice and at the time I was fighting against that, trying to be really high.”
He was getting inspiration from some of his favorite artists like Tame Impala, Drain Gang and one of their breakout solo artists Ecco2k. But it simply wasn’t him.
It wasn’t until his next project, “NEXUS :: Discipline,” that he found a sound that would actually stick.
NEXUS :: Discipline
By this time, Pierre started delegating tasks and realized that he didn’t have to do this alone. He would work in actual studios with many producers, videographers and photographers from all over the country that would bring his dream to life all while they did work they enjoyed.
Filmmaker Alfie Muronda met pierre at an Almost Famous event this summer and they just clicked, “They say iron sharpens iron, he was already making good work before I was involved.” says Muronda.
Muronda, whose experience and background in film helped on the more technical sides, says Pierre, who has directed all of his music videos, typically has a plan and he just helps see them through.
In building a team, the group also formed a community, says Clark, who noted he, Pierre and other artists have become close.
The next obstacle was deciding on a title and getting people drawn in to listen to the album in the first place.
“The name has to be provocative enough for you to be like ‘What is this,’” Pierre says. Is this interesting enough for you to be like, ‘what is this,’ click on it and listen to it?”
And during this time, Pierre was finishing college, trying to meld all of his music interests into one being, and just overall struggling with the concept of discipline.
With “NEXUS :: Discipline,” listeners get their first taste of Pierre’s distinct voice, but it is not present throughout the entire project. Pierre says although he had the studio time and the people, he still was exploring his sound and also seeing what people wanted to hear.
“It was stronger. Now I was going to put out a body of work that would stand the test of time,” he said.
The samples in “NEXUS :: Discipline” are from viral videos, and the influences are heavy. “Ego Death” literally sounds like a deleted track off of “The Life of Pablo” by Kanye West. The second half of the album, specifically “Girls!” can’t hide its clear usage of the synthwave sound that brings a hopeful finish.
“The nexus is the point where all ideas come together,” Pierre said. “I consider myself the nexus.”
