Bounce music

Last updated

Bounce artist Big Freedia performing at New Orleans Jazz Fest 2014 Big Freedia at New Orleans Jazz Fest 2014 C.jpg
Bounce artist Big Freedia performing at New Orleans Jazz Fest 2014

Bounce music is a style of New Orleans hip hop music that is said to have originated as early as the late 1980s in the city's housing projects. [1] Popular bounce artists have included DJ Jubilee, Partners-N-Crime, Magnolia Shorty and Big Freedia.

Contents

Structure

Bounce is characterized by call-and-response-style party and Mardi Gras Indian chants and dance call-outs that are frequently hypersexual and controversial. These chants and call-outs are typically rapped over the "Triggerman beat", which is sampled from the songs "Drag Rap" by the Showboys and "Brown Beats" by Cameron Paul. [2] The original recording sampled by Paul was "Rock the Beat" by British rapper Derek B, produced by Simon Harris and released in early 1987 on the Music of Life British hip hop label in the UK. [3] The sound of bounce has primarily been shaped by the recycling and imitation of the Simon Harris produced "Drag Rap" beat: its opening chromatic tics, the intermittent shouting of the word "break", the use of whistling as an instrumental element (as occurs in the bridge), the vocoded "drag rap" vocal and its brief and repetitive melody and quick beat (which were produced with use of synthesizers and drum machines and are easily sampled or reproduced using like-sounding elements). [4] Typical of bounce music is the "shouting out" of or acknowledgment of geographical areas, neighborhoods and housing projects, particularly of the New Orleans area. [5]

History

As hip hop started to spread outward from its birthplace in the Bronx, one of the new localities that embraced and advanced the genre was New Orleans. Local producers and record label owners with past success in other black genres tried their hand at hip hop, but soon a new generation got involved. Kevin "MC T. Tucker" Ventry, one of the first bounce artists, captured the attention of the city in 1991 with his style of rap "defined by a preference for chanted refrains... and the use of several core samples to form the backing music", [6] two characteristics that came to signify bounce music. Take Fo' Records was the first record label to specialize in Bounce music. Take Fo’ launched the careers of several bounce artists, such as DJ Jubilee, Choppa, Baby Boy da Prince, 5th Ward Weebie, Katey Red, and Big Freedia. Other early bounce artists included DJ Jimi, Partners-N-Crime, Hot Boy Ronald, Juvenile, U.N.L.V. and Magnolia Shorty up until her death. The subgenre flourished in the city without much national recognition, but soon New Orleans’ artists would take over the country. In the second half of the 1990s, No Limit Records and Cash Money Records, led by Master P, Beats by the Pound and Birdman, Mannie Fresh respectively, took over. Those artists, while based in bounce music, certainly saw their ties to the art form “become progressively more tenuous as their national exposure and wealth increased.” [6]

Influence

Dancers performing at Creole Festival Mardi Gras Parade in 2017 Houston Creole Festival Mardi Gras Parade 2017 06.jpg
Dancers performing at Creole Festival Mardi Gras Parade in 2017

The genre maintains widespread popularity in New Orleans (the "Bounce capital of the world"), and the southern United States and has a more limited following outside the Deep South. New Orleans' music has a long tradition of gay and cross-dressing performers as truly a part of musical culture, giving bounce music a significant degree of overlap with LGBT hip hop. [7] [8]

Bounce, like crunk, Miami bass, Baltimore club and juke music, is a highly regional form of urban dance music, which has nevertheless influenced a variety of other rap subgenres and even emerged in the mainstream. Atlanta's crunk artists, such as Lil' Jon and the Ying Yang Twins, frequently incorporate bounce chants into their music (such as "Shake It Like A Salt Shaker") and slang (such as "twerk"). Mississippi native David Banner's hit "Like A Pimp" is constructed around a screwed up sample of the "Triggerman" beat. [9] The mixtapes of Three 6 Mafia's DJ Paul also prominently feature traditional bounce sampling. DJ Paul, a native of Memphis, TN, has, in fact, been one of the most prominent purveyors of bounce outside Louisiana, having incorporated its features into tracks produced for La Chat, Gangsta Boo and his own group, Three 6 Mafia. [10] Another significant mainstream record influenced by bounce music was Beyoncé's 2007 release "Get Me Bodied", [11] and more recently, "Formation". Other artists outside of the New Orleans area, such as: Mike Jones, Keezy Kilo, Hurricane Chris, Ying Yang Twins, Khia, City Girls, Big Unk, and Drake have also used elements of bounce in their music.

Crowd members participating and enjoying bounce music with American artist Big Freedia Twerking.jpg
Crowd members participating and enjoying bounce music with American artist Big Freedia

In 2009, John and Glenda "Goldie" Robert created, produced, and directed a TV show titled It's All Good In The Hood that spotlighted New Orleans Bounce music artists, including Big Freedia, 5th Ward Weebie, Vockah Redu, Choppa, and many more. John and Glenda Robert later co-produced the bounce documentary "Ya Heard Me" and wrote the book "Bounce Baby Bounce Bounce Bounce".

In 2010, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans featured an exhibition entitled "Where They At: New Orleans Hip-Hop and Bounce in Words and Pictures", examining bounce's origins, development, and influence. [11]

Bounce music plays a major role in the second season of HBO drama Tremé , which was broadcast in 2011 and is set in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The season's second episode, "Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky", features a performance by bounce artists Big Freedia and Sissy Nobby. [12] Bounce music, which had long been a staple in the city, also enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in Houston after Hurricane Katrina. [13]

Related Research Articles

Southern hip hop, also known as Southern rap, South Coast hip hop, or dirty south, is a blanket term for a regional genre of American hip hop music that emerged in the Southern United States, especially in Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Florida—often titled "The Big 5," five states which constitute the "Southern Network" in rap music.

Crunk is a subgenre of southern hip hop that emerged in the early 1990s and gained mainstream success during the early to mid 2000s. Crunk is often up-tempo and one of Southern hip hop's more nightclub-oriented subgenres. Distinguishing itself with other Southern hip hop subgenres, crunk is marked and characterized by its energetic accelerated musical tempo, club appeal, recurrent chants frequently executed in a call and response manner, multilayered synths, its pronounced reliance on resounding 808 basslines, and rudimentary musical arrangement. An archetypal crunk track frequently uses a dominant groove composed of a nuanced utilization of intricately multilayered keyboard synthesizers organized in a recurring pattern, seamlessly shifting from a lower to a higher pitch that encompasses the song's primary central rhythm, both in terms of its harmonic and melodic aspects. The main groove is then wrapped up with looped, stripped-down, and crisp 808 dance claps and manipulated snare rolls coupled and accompanied by a bassline of thumping 808 kick drums. The term "crunk" was also used throughout the 2000s as a blanket term to denote any style of Southern hip hop, a side effect of the genre's breakthrough to the mainstream. The word derives from its African-American Vernacular English past-participle form, "crunk", of the verb "to crank". It refers to being excited or high on drugs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mia X</span> American singer-songwriter

Mia Young, better known by her stage name Mia X, is an American rapper and songwriter from New Orleans. She enjoyed success in the local "bounce" scene of the early 1990s. She was the first female emcee to get a contract with rapper and entertainment magnate, Master P on his successful record label No Limit Records. She is known for collaborations with several No Limit Records artists, including Master P and Silkk the Shocker on the seminal albums, Ice Cream Man, Ghetto D and Charge It 2 Da Game.

Galactic is an American funk band from New Orleans, Louisiana.

504 Boyz were an American hip hop group from New Orleans, Louisiana, named for the New Orleans area code.

<i>Crunk Juice</i> 2004 studio album by Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz

Crunk Juice is the fifth and final studio album by American Southern hip hop group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz. It was released on November 16, 2004, under BME Recordings and TVT Records. The production was primarily handled by Lil Jon himself, who also collaborated in the executive production, alongside Bryan Leach, Rob McDowell, Emperor Searcy, Vince Phillips, the Neptunes and Rick Rubin. The album includes guest appearances from rappers and singers, like R. Kelly, Ludacris, Ice Cube, Usher, Bun B from UGK, Jadakiss, Nas, T.I., the Ying Yang Twins and Pharrell.

Take Fo' Records is an independent record label from New Orleans and the first to specialize in bounce music. The label is a subsidiary of Positive Black Talk, Inc., was founded in 1992 and operated by creative duo Earl J. Mackie and Henry F. Holden, until 2005. Prior to creating the record label, the duo teamed up to produce a cable access television program called Positive Black Talk, aiming at positive African American leadership in the New Orleans community. The television show changed its name to PBT and was later hosted by Mackie's younger cousin, Anthony Mackie, who was a student at NOCCA at the time. "It was just a 15-year-old black dude acting a fool," Anthony says of the early endeavor. After holding a fundraising concert for the program, Earl Mackie and Holden became intrigued by the music industry, so they decided to put together a girl group called Da' Sha Ra'. The newly formed group appeared frequently on the television program.

The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is an American orchestra based in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the only full-time, professional orchestra in the Gulf South. The orchestra performs at the Orpheum Theater.

Craig Stephen Lawson, known professionally as KLC, is an American record producer, DJ, and drummer. He found fame as a member of No Limit Records' in-house production team Beats by the Pound. Since leaving the label, he has been a member of the Medicine Men and has his own record label Overdose Entertainment aka Overdose Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnolia Shorty</span> American rapper (1982–2010)

Renetta Yemika Lowe-Bridgewater, known by the stage name Magnolia Shorty, was an American rapper in the New Orleans–based bounce music scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Freedia</span> American rapper (born 1978)

Freddie Ross Jr., better known by his stage name Big Freedia, is an American rapper and performer known for his work in the New Orleans genre of hip hop called bounce music. Freedia has been credited with helping popularize the genre, which had been largely underground since developing in the early 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twerking</span> Type of dance primarily involving the buttocks

Twerking is a type of dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving throwing or thrusting the hips back or shaking the buttocks, often in a low squatting stance. It is individually performed chiefly but not exclusively by women.

Jerome Temple, professionally known as DJ Jubilee, is an American rapper from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Nesby Phips is a producer, rapper and visual artist from New Orleans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boyfriend (musician)</span> American rapper (born 1988)

Suzannah Elizabeth Powell is an American singer, songwriter, producer, rapper, and performance artist, best known by her stage name Boyfriend. Raised in Nashville, she found her persona upon moving to New Orleans. Boyfriend coined the term "rap-cabaret", a nod to the emphasis on performance in her music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicky da B</span> American rapper

Nickesse Trimaine Toney, known by his stage name Nicky Da B, was an American rapper specializing in the regional genre of bounce music. He released an album in 2012 titled Please Don't Forget Da B, and his single with the artist Diplo that year, Express Yourself, was one of the year's largest viral successes, featuring in a Doritos commercial during Super Bowl XLVII. He was also known for his role in popularizing the dance phenomenon of twerking.

The Triggerman beat, also known as Triggaman, is a one-bar drum loop that originated from sampling "Drag Rap" by the Showboys and "Brown Beats" by Cameron Paul. The one-bar drum loop and bells was known to be used in bounce music, having been used in hundreds of records. The beat has been influential in recent hip hop music, including Juvenile's "Back That Azz Up", David Banner's "Like a Pimp", T.I. and Lil Wayne's "Ball", Drake's "Nice for What" and "In My Feelings", and also "Go Crazy" by Chris Brown and Young Thug.

Terrelle Gallo is an American bounce artist from New Orleans, known for his hit songs, "Consequences" and "Gitty Up". Gallo is credited as one of the main pioneers of bounce music.

Katey Red is a bounce artist and M.C. from New Orleans. Red is most known for being one of the first transgender rappers in bounce music and is credited with creating the sissy bounce genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twerk (song)</span> 2019 single by City Girls featuring Cardi B

"Twerk" is a song by American hip hop duo City Girls featuring American rapper Cardi B, from the duo's debut album Girl Code (2018). It was released to US rhythmic contemporary radio on January 8, 2019, as the album's lead single. Filmed in Miami, the song's music video was released the same month. "Twerk" is a New Orleans bounce-inspired song, which heavily samples Choppa's "Choppa Style". It also samples the popular Triggerman beat, which is prominent among the New Orleans bounce scene. It peaked at number 29 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

References

  1. Miller, Matt (June 10, 2008). "Dirty Decade: Rap Music and the U.S. South, 1997–2007". Southern Spaces.
  2. Bonisteel, Sara (August 28, 2006). "Bounce 101: A Primer to the New Orleans Sound" . FOX News.
  3. Twinkle and Glisten (April 29, 2008). "Bounce Blueprints 2". Twinkle and Glisten.
  4. Serwer, Jesse (November 28, 2007). "What is it? Bounce" Archived December 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine . XLR8R.
  5. Dee, Jonathan (July 22, 2010). "New Orleans's Gender-Bending Rap". The New York Times .
  6. 1 2 Miller, Matt (2012). Bounce: Rap Music and Local Identity in New Orleans. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
  7. McDonnell, John (September 29, 2008). "Scene and heard: Bounce and 'sissy rap'". The Guardian. London.
  8. Dee, Jonathan (July 22, 2010). "New Orleans's Gender-Bending Rap". The New York Times.
  9. Carmichael, Rodney (July 16, 2008). "David Banner: Power moves". Creative Loafing. Archived from the original on October 15, 2008. Retrieved October 14, 2008.
  10. "About DJ Paul". MTV. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  11. 1 2 Spera, Keith (July 19, 2010). "Ogden exhibit chronicles the originators of New Orleans 'bounce' rap". Times-Picayune .
  12. Walker, Dave (May 15, 2011). "NOLA hip-hop explained: 'Treme' music consultant Alison Fensterstock breaks down bounce music". Times-Picayune.
  13. Walker, Dave (May 15, 2011). "Hurricane Katrina: New Orleans Bounce Music in Houston". Times-Picayune. C2K Entertainment which consisted of Sam Skully and Trakaddick created a new beat with the hot track "Roll Call" and the newer form of bounce music was created and is a more uptempo beat with a constant repeated chant, which is mixed by the bounce DJs.