Bouncing Around Ideas
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Compilation: Alive, Lively, The Beat, Booty, Bouncy, Sexual, Spiritual
Question: What is the first adjective that comes to mind when you think about New Orleans Bounce Music?
Katherine (Mississippi): Alive because the beat is fast paced. And also like the scenes you get when you watch bounce videos is very alive and very lively.
Tia (New Orleans Native): Lively because bounce music is pretty lively and you can’t just not feel anything when you hear bounce music, you always just have to get up and dance. Like you can’t just hear bounce music and stay against the wall.
Dylan (Southwest Louisiana): The beat you know like yah! Yah! Yah! and dancing. Honestly a lot of dancing. We call this twerking now. You tend to think that but uh, that’s what really comes to mind and New Orleans, New Orleans, for sure.
Oanh (New Orleans Native): I guess booty, uh you know, bounce music is uh for just moving your body.
Zaynah (New Orleans Native): Probably like bouncy, like it make you want to move. It make you want to dance. It’s like very lively. You know it’s like a confident type of sound and type of music and I think it makes everyone want to get on their feet and start to move around and do what you gotta do, you know.
Adyson (Texas): Sexual. Umm, the sex appeal in these songs were so heavy. I honestly felt like this was pushed down the throat of the audience. It reminds me of my first time moving to New Orleans because I have to go to school. Cause I’m from a small town in Texas, not a city a town in Texas. It is just completely different from that.
Destiny (New Orleans Native): It is very spirited. Its lively. Its passionate, its animated. Honestly, it’s a whole vibe for the city.
Question: When you hear Bounce Music, what memory does it evoke?
Katherine: Uhm, how Drake Nice for What had a hold on the summer of 2020. It was everywhere you could not escape it.
Tia: It reminds me of being at school during school dances and also it reminds me of when I was younger going to the skating rink on airline cause I remember they would always play different bounce music there so just memories.
Dylan: it definitely evokes a lot of dancing in the club. Uhm me being on bourbon when I would go and hearing that all the time um yeah it was you know great times great memories
Oanh: Uhm me myself, I don’t listen to bounce music I only listened to it, I guess for school purposes. I had to listen to it for some classes that I took. but I don’t usually listen to bounce music.
Zaynah: So when I hear about bounce music what type of memory does it evoke well when I think about a specific bounce song which was the Josephine bounce song that came out when I was in sixth or seventh grade I kinda think back to that time because it was really like if you really want to talk about cultural resets and took like that was really like a song that as on this scene that was a song that everyone enjoyed like the video I remember all of that I remember the jamboree that year that they do in new Orleans I think hat it brings back a time to like my youth and just a time where everything was cool everything was simple
Destiny: it would possibly be when I was about I wanna say about 8 years old or maybe even younger. I know it was before hurricane Katrina and like my cousins always knew how to dance how to dance to bunce music but I unfortunately did not and I was learning at the time the music just had me so excited and the addition of being around other people had me just so caught up that I wanted to learn how to dance so I tried and is specifically remember picking my skirt up and just moving around the room and just having so much fun while doing so. Another memory id just going to crawfish boils during mardi gras season and hearing the music and just seeing so many people so happy and just enjoying themselves all the time
Question: What are some of the influences you hear in New Orleans bounce music from other cultures and what are some that you can recognize that New Orleans bounce music has contributed to other cultures?
Katherine: really that call back part. Talking bout some person would say one verse and then would say that same verse. I see that tin bounce music and certain songs today and also in indigenous cultures
Tia: yeah like a lot of local lingo and like black experiences
Dylan: uhh I do tend to hear the samples from the beats that bounce beat, I see for instance how drake made one of his songs with it I seen some other artists do the same thing because it is very catchy it has your head bouncing right and so that’s one thing I noticed
Oanh: it speaks to the body, a lot of other cultures and New Orleans cultures we kinda try and feel spirits in our bodies and we are like or at least I learned this year in one of my classes that we are like a vessel for all of these emotions to come out
Adyson: some influences that I heard in these songs that were like huge not just because of New Orleans in the national black community is how we view black men and black women. Uhm (sigh) yes. I feel like women were so objectified. In most of the songs. Not all of them not all of them
Destiny: I feel like bounce music is really influenced by different African beats umm and also aby some of the Latin influences we have in New Orleans t self. I find that a lot of the dancing style s we do in dancing to bounce music kinda mirror the same dances that they do in Africa and also just the constant and consistent beat that sin the background. You hear that a lot in African songs and also Latin songs like they all have this consistent beat that they add layers upon to and then it just brings so much energy and enjoyment for other people listening
Question: Many people deride Bounce Music as being vulgar because of its lyrical nature and dance styles/ What is your response to this?
Katherine: uhm I think that’s just people degrading black culture really. They say the same thing about rap music how it’s too violent to vulgar when really you just boil it down its really black people telling their stories or black people being careless well not careless just carefree
Tia: personally, I think it’s stupid when people try to deride bounce music because of its lyrical nature and dance styles because it’s just a way of expression people do it in other music I don’t see why with bounce music it would be any different. It’s just how people express themselves
Dylan: my response is, I mean every music cultures has they own thing. Every different genre have they own twist to it if you think about hard rock I mean they’re very violent (laugh) very heavy metal very violent its crazy right uhm you know having mosh pits and stuff so I mean it just its your preference it shouldn’t be judged I mean if you like it you like it
Oanh: I could see bounce music being vulgar like you know the dancing might be vulgar buts it’s a lot of booty shaking most of the time if I think about it. I think it’s also being normalized twerking and all of that
Zaynah: some people think that bounce music is vulgar and like the dancing is inappropriate and stuff like that I mean I could see how some people could perceive it that way and it definitely sometimes is vulgar but they got different types of bounce music though like they’ll have an original bounce song where people will be talking crazy or whatever but that just they’re experiences that’s how people express they art and stuff like that so I mean it’s not really my place to say certain things about what they see as art but I mean I like it but at the same time you have bounce song s that will just sample like a regular song and put a bounce beat over it so like that’s not you know it just depend on what song it is that could be considered something that vulgar or considered a normal song and even with the dancing and stuff like the shaking I feel like that’s just culture you could go back event o like the Africans and stuff like that that’s how they dance and a lot of people like to go back to African and black culture and make it seem like it’s inappropriate but it’s just you looking at it that way. It don’t matter how old you is you could be 5 years old shaking you could be 20 years old shaking you could be 80 years old shaking that’s just what we do we don’t look at it int hat type of way you know what I mean it’s just dance it’s just something thars fun to do that’s enjoyable to do and no one looks at it like its being sexualized
Adyson: Yes, I agree that because of the lyrics and the dance moves and the vulgar ones yes it was extremely vulgar and when I was watching videos I was questioning like where is the substance of the songs what is the point of this. That just, I think that just ties into the heavy push for the heavy theme of sexuality in these songs and New Orleans culture
Destiny: a lot of people kinda find bounce music unacceptable but I feel like a lot of times people have that pint of view just because they don’t understand it, it’s something they don’t experience on a day-to-day basis. So kinda the automatic reaction because of the vulgarity and some of the things that are said in the songs and some of the ways people dance to the songs a lot of times I find that people tend to automatically deem it as unacceptable its wrong or it’s against the norm uhm but I say in response to that I would wish that you would kind of see the way people react to it and just feel the energy from the dances and feel the energy from the music as people are enjoyable and you will kind of understand a little bit more about letting that vulgarity go accuse a times I find myself saying to like wow this is a little bit much but I’m still able to overlook that for the enjoyment of the music itself and also too I never believe in you know limiting peoples speech so when people wanna say things that I personally wouldn’t say I can’t keep you or limit that from having it
Question: What are some aspects of Bounce Music that you think is integral to the culture of New Orleans?
Katherine: the community aspect of it, again with the videos not only are they lively like it’s also a large community of people they’re having fun which is also like a large part in the carefree part of New Orleans
Tia: its liveliness because with New Orleans being like the big easy and being known for the vibe of bourbon street. Bounce music plays a part of that and also black music well always featuring black artists and black people. It’s probably well-known that everything you love about New Orleans is because of black people
Oanh: I think like I said bounce music is just moving your body and I think that New Orleans people we have a lot of culture involved around that. I think we also liken made twerking a thing. I think that bounce music is kinda essential for twerking
Zaynah: imam say the dancing is very integral in New Orleans culture. Like when you see the boys and some girls they start to dip and stuff it’s about the footwork and you see that a lot in like second line dances and stuff like that. And I feel like bounce music brings everyone together. And I feel that New Orleans is very community based and its beings the community together and its about family. it’s about everybody feeling welcome and I think bounce music does that for people it makes everybody feel welcome and it makes everybody have a good time no matter how old you are it don’t matter girl or boy even like a boy that like shaking and people might be like oh I think that boy might be gay, but nobody is thinking like that because it is just about having fun and that’s what New Orleans is about having fun.
Question: There are several men in this e Bounce Videos dancing in a nontraditional masculine manner. Why do you think this is significant especial yet the LGBTQ+ community?
Katherine: I think also like the house music is like very similar to bounce music and how you get that community aspect of it. How you get like pose. How they have that ballroom scene and just like ballroom culture, house music and like bounce music really have the same feel and vibe to it.
Tia: I think this is great that there’s a lot of men in and nonbinary individuals who are dancing in a nontraditionally matter, I think this is significant to the LGBTQ+ community because often times they are not represented and if they are represented it is in a bad stereotypical representation and usually the people who make the bounce music determine what they want in it. The people who make bounce music determine the culture it’s not like the other wat around. So, I think it gives everyone a chance to express themselves how they want and just be unapologetically themselves and choose how they want to be expressed
Zaynah: I think that’s important to their community because kick I said earlier I feel like no matte what you like what you identify I feel like everybody can be a part of it. Lie you see dudes linked sass knobby or like big freesia I know like big freesia I don’t know what they identify as but I know har with like sass knobby Retha the still is like a gay male and stuff like that and you see straight me dapping me up and you know hanging out with them giving them respect cause its not about that at the end of the day cause anybody can be a part of that it doesn’t matter what you are, I feel like its inclusive to the lgbtq+ people . I feel like everybody get t along and I’m pretty sure there’s like deeper issues that it might not know about but on the surface it seems like you know they pretty much don’t care about stuff like that, and I feel like that’s a good thing because they don’t feel like they’re discriminated agents, or they don’t feel ashamed to do what they do because everybody does it
Adyson: Mum but you know regarding the black men and the nonbinary people dancing and shaming in nontraditional way. I still feel like it was detrimental to the lgbtq+ community because though wry have prided the movements its so heavily focused around the lgbtq+ community and not the black ones so umm I feel like were just digging ourselves into a deeper hole. I’m not saying those stereotypes are true but I’m saying that they’re painting themselves in a picture that people already have in their minds so like how are you going to fight for your rights If your like hurting yourself in a sense
Destiny: I would believe that bounce music is very very very significant to the lab community and in the New Orleans community itself specifically because most of the artists that are in New Orleans bounce music most of the people that create it most of the people that make it popular are the lgbtq community. So int hat being so I feel like in some type of way I kinda brings them some empowerment a source of empowerment and a source of connection to the other people in the New Orleans community that aren’t apart of the lgbtq community because men women children that are heterosocial can engage with people that are a part of that community and not have the contrasts or the issues of tolerance in that moment of just enjoying the music itself
Question: Bounce was born in New Orleans has developed with infusions of sounds and samples from several communities. As a New Orleans native, how do you feel about the recent appreciation for Bounce and its replication in popular rap?
Tia: it depends on how the person does it, if it’s like if they saw bounce eMusic and they listen to it and were like this is cool. I want to do a bounce inspired song. If they like got some person I then got somebody from New Orleans they talked to them they were like hay I got his bounce song and then they did it like that then yeah but sometimes you can tell when people like use bounce music, but they don’t of a good job li personally I don’t think nice for what was that great of a remix like it was kidnap bad so bad that to the poking that people made bounce remixes of a song that was supposed to be a bounce song SOOO. I think the main point with is jest that rheid needs to be a greater emphasis on the appreciation if you appreciative something you would take the time to learn about it. So, I feel like it can work for the most part, but you just have to really appreciate it and do the research.
Zaynah: The way I feel about people like that using bounce music. I feel that it’s a 50/50 thing for me. I feel like the first Ime I hear did it didn’t feel like real bounce music to me. I feel like it was ripping off a lot of people like Mannie fresh old stuff or like chopper and me,. You know like they were just sampling stuff. They weren’t working with the real people only like I know drake was really working with some. He really work with Black n Mild on in my feelings in believe,. I think that was a good thing to like work with them. At the same time, I feel like a lot of people be like ripping off a lot of old bounce stuff and I feel like they should want to work with more like real bounce artists and like real bounce producers to like five them that light and give them that shine. You know what it mean cause I see like a lot of these bounce artists still working these regular jobs while people getting millions of dollars off of our music and stuff and it’s like all we could be more than that, New Orleans as a community could come up and we need to demand that people start respecting us and they need to start using us if they want to start appreciating or appropriating or anything they want to do with our culture. When you reach out and you want to incorporate New Orleans in that a lot of the times and give us our flowers and stuff like that I don’t really have a problem with it but if feel like as long as bounce artists and stuff is struggling and all making so much money off of our music and stuff I don’t really like that.
Destiny: Okay SOOO me personally, I would say that I am excited that bounce music is starting to make its move towards larger platforms it started to be noticed by lots of people that have not noticed it before or seen the value in it before, but I would like to say that um. In a way that its kind of frustrating to see being that it am a New Orleans native to find that it only becoming popular that are not from here and people that have not been privy to it for a long period of time. I’d say people like Megan thee stallion. She would possibly know because evince music has spread to places like Texas and I appreciate ether kinda stepping up. Not only appreciating the music for what it is. Not only utilizing the music for its popularity and using it for her own sound but also including people that have been an integral part of developing this music over the years. So, I think I commend her and that she has been able to bring an artist on set with her. Have her in the video and also have her on the song and gang her credit for that. But artists like the city girls and drake, I kinda find some frustrations with it just because I don’t find that thy tend to kind of branch out of the sissy knobby of bounce music or not sissy knobby. Branch out of the I will say that artists like drake tend to not Brach out of the dig freesia of bounce and in New Orleans threes so many different artists there’s so many difference styles of boubous. There’s so many different songs. I wish that these autists would study a little bit more and also include the artists int the music videos at the concerts or shows and then give them their credits.
Question: What are some things that your width those who were not raised listening to Bounce Music would understand bout it?
Tia: Mainly that it’s just a different genre of music. It’s just liked any other genre of music like rap rock any other one. It just I mean I don’t know it doesn’t seem that different cause me being from New Orleans we always listening to bounce music or whatever so I don’t know I guess if people could get pass what the lyrics and the dancing. If people could just appreciate that it is music and it means so much to New Orleans especially black people in New Orleans. It is a part of our culture
Zaynah: Because like I said. It brings people together; it’s just really a fun type of music and I would wish people wouldn’t think it was so bad because I know like a lot of people that’s not from here all the gentrification and stuff that’s going on. They don’t really like the bounce music and party buses and stuff like that well maybe they should just be like well let me not move her or something like that because it’s never gon stop
Destiny: that’s it’s a lot more than just the vulgarity. Umm like I said earlier it rend to find people only focus in on the cuss word s or the sexual innuendos or the dancing and they miss just how free a lot of people in this city are. How that aspect of that is what gives us a lot of empowerment for some people for some people it’s just small. I think that’s honestly the heart of New Orleans, beyond mar-mardi gras which a lot of people come here fore and everything else. Bounce music is something that really kinda influences people to be themselves.
Zaynah: Bounce Music is New Orleans.
Destiny: Period.
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