Voice Post: The Singing Bones

http://desosquichante.blogspot.com/

Ellipses abound on The Singing Bones, a blog run by Blogger user ana-b. A collector of rare 45s, her posts highlight a single record and usually include a brief history of it as well as ana-b’s personal feelings or thoughts on it - and on just about whatever she feels like ranting about. Scrolling through the blog, I’ve learned about weekend trips she’s taken, what the weather was like on various days she was posting, and her thoughts on the show Treme (and they are not good). At times, the reader has to remind themselves that this is, in fact, a music blog, and it seems ana-b has to check herself as well now and again. In a post from August 2012 titled They don’t want to see me with you…., ana-b begins by talking about the morning’s forecast (“80 mph winds with gusts up to 100, then slowing back down a bit” in case you were wondering). She jokingly calls this good news, particularly in comparison to the previous night’s forecast, and says, in a parenthetical aside, “at this point, I’ll take whatever I can get.” The post then goes on and on about the weather - how much flooding she thinks there will be and such - and what she thinks the aftermath will be like (she’s pretty optimistic because her friends have “a portable generator and are well stocked with food, water, and 14 different varieties of alcohol”). Only the final few sentences refer to the record in the big photo at the top of the post.

All of these ventures into areas only vaguely related to the record at hand, or sometimes completely unrelated to it, create for a very casual, rambling tone throughout the blog. Even when ana-b stays more on focus, however, this tone is maintained through her lax use of grammar. As I mentioned before, this blog contains ellipses galore. Every single post title ends with five periods, and nearly every post ends with her regular sign off: “Hope ya'll enjoy......” Sprinkled in between are more superfluous uses of ellipses, and like you’ve seen, ana-b is not afraid to surpass the accepted three periods. Frequent parenthetical asides, some of which are just a question mark or exclamation point (see “Baby, I need you…..” ), and sentence fragments also contribute to the relaxed, colloquial tone of the blog.

Ana-b’s diction, too, helps create this tone. In “Baby, I need you…..”  for example, we see her start many sentences with “Well…” In writing this is often unnecessary, but it is how one would speak, so that’s how ana-b writes it. She is not looking to filter or edit herself whatsoever. Her use of slang establishes her voice as being not only casual, but also distinctly southern. Most notably, her frequent use of “y’all” makes it clear she is a New Orleans-native (if you couldn’t already tell from the “I Love NOLA” banner at the top of her homepage). Similarly, in “Baby, I need you…..” we see her substitute “ya” for “you.”

When you read this blog, it really sounds like you’re talking to a neighbor or a friend. I could hear a southern female voice in my head as I read through ana-b’s blog posts. The words flow the way they would from one’s mouth, and the distinctive passion and phrasing let you know it is ana-b’s.

Profile Post: Home of the Groove

http://homeofthegroove.blogspot.com/

What initially attracted me to Dan Phillips’ blog was his immediately apparent passion for the city of New Orleans - or what he calls the Home of the Groove. Though the colorful text and photos caught my eye, it was his mission statement that really struck me about this blog. Pinned to the top right corner of his blog, it is the first text you see when you open his site. In it, Phillips tells readers that the entire premise of his blog is “based on the premise that the true Home of the Groove, at least on the North American landmass, is the irreplaceable musical and cultural nexus, New Orleans, Louisiana.”

Such a description speaks not only to the enthusiasm but also the fondness that Phillips has for the region he calls home. Currently living in Lafayette, Louisiana just a couple hours outside of New Orleans, he has a local’s understanding of his subject. Further, as a long-time radio host specializing in New Orleans’ music, he brings a knowledge that years of research, collecting, and listening have given him. Phillips’ dedication to this topic is apparent not only in his bio (where he tells us that he hosted a New Orleans-themed radio show in Memphis from 1988 to 2004 before moving) but also in each of his posts as well as his blog overall.

In the past two years, Phillips’ posts have become more infrequent. Before that, however, you can see that his archives date back to October of 2004 and include posts from every month from then until 2015. In his latest post and in one from last year, he explains that his elderly father’s health issues and his increasingly demanding work schedule are to blame for his longer absences. Despite this, though, he seems to have maintained a significant following. His profile is nearing 15,000 views and he takes time to thank readers for asking about his wellbeing.

What is likely keeping his readers around despite a lack of frequency, is the great detail Philipps pours into each of his posts. The posts are long, often requiring the reader to scroll down multiple pages, and are filled with photos and links to songs, further reading, and audio of his own radio show. His writing contains a mixture of history and personal opinion and experience (and he provides a lot of both). A post from March of last year titled The Fairchild Enigma Revisited, for example, details in about 1,600 words Phillip's’ quest to track down different releases of a single record. Within this he shares with us the history of the record he already knew and all that he discovered along the way.

His writing also mixes very casual, first person writing with a more academic tone at other times. In the Fairchild post, for example, he throws in those enthusiastic, slang-filled statements that only a total music nerd would ever say. Describing the first time he heard an alternate recording of the record, he says, “I was immediately knocked back by the arrangement of the song, which, unlike the reissues, includes an impressive horn section and much hotter mix.” While these more colloquial phrases capture the excitement he has for the subject, he slips into a more formal tone at times that reflects the total awe and respect he has for the music. In his post following the death of Allen Toussaint, for example, Phillips uses more advanced vocabulary and complex sentence structure when describing the musician and producer’s life and career than he does in the Fairchild post. At the same time, though, he maintains a certain degree of casualness and asserts himself as an insider by referring to Toussaint as “AT” throughout the post. A sentence that perfectly exemplifies this balance is the following: “Due to the prodigious scope of his world-class talents, accomplishments, and influence from the mid-1950s onward in New Orleans and American popular music, AT stands out among other praiseworthy local peers.”

In a way, his AT post is a perfect example of the essence of the entire blog. Infused with a passion and appreciation for the music itself, filled with historical tidbits, and sprinkled throughout with links - including seven to posts Phillips himself had already written about Allen on the blog - it embodies all of the different sides of Home of the Groove’s author and the different angles from which he approaches the subject he has so much passion for.

The Questionable Progressiveness Sissy Bounce

Some have identified a subgenre within bounce, called sissy bounce. The reason I say some is because others (maybe including myself - let's read and find out), including Katey Redd - who many consider to be one of the original sissy bounce artists - do not believe it exists as a distinct genre.

The general consensus on sissy bounce seems to be as follows:
Sissy bounce is usually among the more higher paced bounce songs. While OG bounce artists like DJ Jubilee and DJ Jimi rap over more relaxed, Triggerman-reminiscent beats, sissy bounce tends to come at you more aggressively. The lyrical content of the genre tends to focus on sex. I hesitate to refer to it as "hypersexual," like a lot of the articles on sissy bounce have, because of how the word implies that there's something indecent about it. However, if that word helps you frame it in some way, then I guess you could use it. The best frame of reference, though, is probably the music itself. Check out Sissy Nobby's now classic "Beat It Out The Frame" below:

"Beat It Out The Frame"

What seems to make sissy bounce its own distinct , though, in the eyes of those who believe in the term, seems to be that the artists are openly homosexual and androgynous or trans.

The term itself - "sissy" bounce - is derogatory. Moreover, the idea that these artists need to be placed into a separate category of their own seems like an exclusive, and inherently homophobic and transphobic notion. Sonically, sissy bounce is really not so much of an offshoot from bounce. Songs like "Beat It Out The Frame" seem more characteristic of an artist or change of time than anything to me. For example, while Big Freedia's "Duffy" fits the above, generally accepted definition of sissy bounce, some of her older work does not. "Gin In My System" sounds pretty classically bounce.

"Duffy"

"Gin In My System"

What's more is that arguably all bounce music - "sissy" or not - is hypersexual (if that's the word we're going with). Content-wise, what makes Sissy Nobby's cry of "Pop that dick up" on "Beat It Out The Frame" any more sexual than N.O. Meazy's "Fuck Like Ya Ugly" - a song that is literally about having sex with a girl from behind (to quote, "face down, knees to the ground"), a technique that is apparently useful when getting down with an ugly girl so that one does not have to see her face?

"Fuck Like Ya Ugly"

Basically, as far as I can see, sissy bounce is not distinct from bounce except that many seem to consider its artists to be "sissies." So, this label seems pretty much undeniably problematic. However, maybe it isn't all bad.

Duh, calling gay and trans performers "sissies" is disgusting, but this label has not stopped them from rising to success. Big Freedia, Sissy Nobby, Katey Redd, and the late Nicky Da B are among the biggest names in bounce and have dominated the scene and music in general over more traditional artists. As these artists have begun to transcend the power of the word "sissy," some, like the Queen Diva herself, have come to embrace it.  They have re-appropriated a label they were given that was meant to degrade them, and are wearing it proudly, thus infusing it with a sense of empowerment.

Nicky Da B was featured on Diplo's bounce-inspired EDM hit "Express Yourself"

in 2012, bringing the rapper international attention.

It's a grey area. Much like the n-word or women calling themselves and their friends bitch or slut endearingly, it's a bit tricky to see a clear right or wrong answer. However, what I think is clear (and I hope I have made clear) is that sissy bounce really is not its own genre because of musical differences. The distinction comes from something ugly and discriminatory, but what is a grey area and what is up for discussion is the validity of the use of the term in the present. It's a discussion worth having as bounce continues to gain more and more attention outside of the local scene while simultaneously, gay and trans issues are coming to the forefront of political and social discussion. Like we talked about a couple weeks back with Beyoncé and "Formation," artists with a certain degree of influence have some sort of social responsibility. So as the artists often labeled as sissy bounce artists (I don't know if I'm totally comfortable calling them that myself) gain more success, Big Freedia in particular, the way they frame themselves and their music and how they interact with the term "sissy bounce" will matter more and more.

Warning: Gyrating May Occur

Does anyone actually use the term "gyrating" anymore? Seriously, it's about the lamest word one could possibly use to describe something as fun as dancing. I mean I really don't see "gyrating" being a part of your vocabulary unless you're an uptight chaperone at a high school dance or a citizen of the tiny dance-hating town of Footloose or, apparently, a member of the Mississippi Alcohol Beverage Control.

Last week, a Big Freedia show in Hattiesburg, Mississippi was canceled after the owner of the bar at which it was scheduled to take place was advised to pull the plug on the show by the state's ABC because it might violate their codes...because of the potential "gyrating."

"The word gyrating was in there," Ben Shemper, owner of The Dollar Box, told the Times Picayune.

What's perplexing about the cancelation and the ABC's intervention is that Big Freedia has performed in Mississippi numerous times before.

According to the bounce and reality television star, the ABC deemed Freedia's music and style of performance "too sexual" after viewing some her YouTube videos. The cancelation comes just after the release of Beyoncé's "Formation," which Freedia was notably involved in. The song and video sparked controversy because of its anti-police brutality stance and Black Panther-influenced Super Bowl performance, which prompted the NYPD to demand an apology from Beyoncé and the Miami police vowed to boycott her show and refuse to provide protection for her. It even led to the organization of a pitiful, anti-Beyoncé "rally." (Don't mess with Queen Bey, guys. It never works.)While the cancelation could be tied to all of the "Formation" buzz, what I find most disturbing about the situation is the demonization of non-White, non-heterosexual displays of sexuality.

Let's not forget that Mississippi is the proud birth-State of Elvis Presley, notorious gyrator.

But while this ^^ (which amazing at one point in time was considered scandalous) is A-Okay, this

 is not.

There's a pattern in this country of fetishizing but also demonizing black bodies. Attitudes toward sexual expression in America have come a long way, but still a terrible double standard exists. For example, the media tells us that  this:

    

 is edgy and cool while this:

is inappropriate, a joke, trashy, etc.

When I heard about the cancellation, I couldn't help but ask a question, that these days seems clichéd but is still so often necessary to ask: "Would this have played out the same way if she was white?"

In my opinion: no. In today's world, black bodies are only deemed acceptable to act sexually when they are commodities for white consumers. When these bodies are robbed of their voices, used as props, or used to revamp Miley Cyrus' career, that's okay with everybody. Sure, it'll cause a stir, but when you're a affluent white girl with a point to prove, all press is good press.

However, if you're an outspoken black performer embracing your sexuality, claiming it for yourself proudly, that's taboo. That's the butt of a joke White America will giggle at. That doesn't make you radical like Madonna, that makes you a moment at best. If you're Big Freedia, who literally could not give less of a fuck about your gender norms or sexual restrictions, that means your show gets cancelled.

It's important that we not just write off this event as Mississippi being backwards or make it a joke. Sure, it is pretty funny that "gyrating" is against the state's Alcohol Beverage Control's rules (I mean really, is Hattiesburg that town from Footloose ?!), but the way in which the state is looking at bounce reflects the way America views non-traditional (ie. straight, White) sexual expression, and nothing about that is funny.

A Big Week for Bounce?

If you didn't know Beyoncé released a new single this past week, then you probably live in some internet-less underground mole people civilization and aren't reading this blog post, so...we all know BEYONCE RELEASED A NEW SINGLE THIS PAST WEEK.

Behold "Formation" (*Trigger warning: Hurricane Katrina/flood images)

Like any good Beyoncé fan (or human being - seriously who doesn't love Beyoncé??!!), I rejoiced at Queen Bey's latest banger. I applauded her assertion of black self-love and pride. As a New Orleanian, I initially was ecstatic that Beyoncé had made my hometown the setting and a major focus of her music video. Beyoncé's Super Bowl performance decried police brutality and along with the song itself delivered a powerful pro-Black message.

The Katrina imagery in the video seemed to similarly decry the handling of the disaster of the levees breaking and the mass flooding that primarily affected poor, black neighborhoods. I could get down with that message. Kanye may have beat her to it, but it's never too late to call out something like that, so I could get down with it.

But on second thought and after reading Maris Jones' wonderful piece for Black Girl Dangerous (which I highly recommend everyone read), I felt differently. I grew up in one of the more privileged areas of Uptown New Orleans, an area on higher ground that did not flood during Hurricane Katrina, and while my experience was difficult in its own way, I didn't have the experience that requires the trigger warning I included for Beyoncé's video. For many New Orleanians, Katrina meant the loss of everything they knew and loved and is a traumatizing part of their past. Jones perfectly expresses the pain and disappointment New Orleans natives felt upon seeing Beyoncé use the tragedy that was Katrina to provide provocative imagery for her video.

However, bounce superstar Big Freedia, who can be heard speaking about halfway through the track, has expressed nothing but gratitude and excitement about "Formation" and her feature on it. The Queen Dive of bounce has said that she loves that Beyoncé is paying tribute to her southern roots. The feature has garnered a lot of attention for Freedia this past week.

Interestingly enough, despite the political message of "Formation," Big Freedia declined to comment on the anti-police brutality message of the song when talking to The Fader.

Whether "Formation" is a win or lose for the bounce community is unclear and, yet again, we land on the question of nationwide attention being a positive because it means success for artists like Big Freedia or a negative because it often results in appropriation or bounce and New Orleans culture, in this case the city's Katrina stories, being fetishized and turned into a commodity. There's a lot that's positive about "Formation" but the Katrina imagery presents a grey area (leaning toward negative for me). How we can strike a balance in these situations and find a way to mix popularity and understand is a question we are still trying to answer.

Twerk baby twerk, twerk, twerk

When most people think about twerking, they probably think about this:

If you're one of those people, then I'm sorry. Not only am I sorry that this image is permanently seared into your memory, but I am also sorry but you have got it all wrong.

Twenty years before Miley Cyrus made us all go



DJ Jubilee released what many believe to be the first recorded use of the word "twerk" with his hit single and soon-to-be bounce classic "Jubilee All (Stop Pause)." The party song features Jubilee calling out dance moves for the audience to perform. The lyrics are a series of Do-the-insert-dance-move-here's that got people moving and grooving and twerking all over the city.

Twerking, though, was likely already happening in clubs and at bounce shows before "Jubilee All." Two years after "Jubilee All," Cheeky Blakk's "Twerk Something," which you can probably guess is an ode to the dance, became a hit on the bounce scene. Since then, twerking has remained the signature dance move of bounce. If you're at a bounce show and nobody is twerking, then it isn't a bounce show. Music videos are often dance showcases, featuring people of different ages and genders showing off their best moves, and of course, their twerking.

What Miley quickly picked up, made trendy, then discarded was actually a bit of culture with a rich history of celebration and community. Though many tend to racialize and gender twerking, at bounce shows, dancers come in many different forms. While many reserve the move for black women, many young men twerk at shows and are even backup dancers for artists. Further, as bounce has become more popular outside of the New Orleans projects and predominantly black clubs, participation of other races has increased and twerkers of different races can be seen at many shows.

Twerking's origins, though, goes even farther back than bounce. Some say that its lie in West African dance and was carried over into African American culture. Mapouka, a dance native to Cote D'Ivoire, similarly involves women shaking their rear ends. Others argue that the 70s dance trend the bump may have evolved into what we now know as twerking.

Regardless of where New Orleans picked it up from, bounce made twerking its own.

Triggerman: The Beat That Started It All

Whether you know it or not, you've probably heard the Triggerman beat. Released in 1986, “Drag Rap (Triggerman)” by The Showboys became a massive hit throughout the city of New Orleans and is the foundation of bounce music. Its intro will be immediately recognizable for anybody who considers themselves a fan of the southern subgenre, but even those unfamiliar with bounce might also recognize the beat from bounce-inspired, more mainstream hits, T.I.’s 2012 hit "Ball" or Juvenile's "Nolia Clap." Even Death Grips have sampled this beat!

The Showboys' influence, particularly in Southern Hip Hop, has been immense and far beyond anything the rap duo from Queens could have imagined. As it too often goes, though, The Showboys' personal success does not amount to anything near their importance. While those who have used the Triggerman beat have risen to local and even international stardom, its creators have slipped into the shadows of a now long-gone era of Hip Hop. It's been rumored that when a Memphis producer was able to track down locally legendary pair years after the release of "Drag Rap", they were completely unaware of their song's southern success and wave it had set in motion.

MC T. Tucker and DJ Irv’s “Where Dey At?” is considered to be the first true bounce song, and Triggerman’s intro, 808s, and even vocal samples can be heard throughout. “Where Dey At?” is really a reworking of The Showboys’ song, making it more uptempo, danceable, and playful. The lyrics they insert over this rework are repetitive, explicit, and though sometimes combative, they always carry a lighthearted, or celebratory, tone. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is essentially bounce music. In a way, the entire genre is a reworking of this song and bounce music is one city’s way of seeing how far one beat can go. While some of the extremely high tempo and electronic-infused bounce of today may seem a far cry from the more relaxed Triggerman tune, this Showboys’ single is still at the heart of the rhythmic structure and pattern of any song that considers itself bounce.

As people outside the city of New Orleans have begun to pick up on bounce and the genre has spread, copyright issues have arisen for artists looking to venture into more widespread recognition. For years, bounce artists have used the Triggerman beat in their songs then played them at parties or, more recently, posted them online. While the genre remains contained within the local scene, there is no necessity to make the sampling official and draw up a contract whereby the owners of the copyright of “Drag Rap” retain a portion of writer’s rights and earnings. However, when artists begin to want to take their work to the national stage, these illegal samplings become an issue. In a 2013 Pitchfork special on Big Freedia – by far the world’s most popular and success bounce artist – her team expressed concerns about the legality of the beat’s usage in her music, a problem didn’t seem like one at all when the self-proclaimed Queen Diva was rising on the local scene. As bounce begins to attract greater attention outside of the safe space of its mother city, where fans and musicians alike are willing to turn a blind eye any copyright infringement, the Triggerman beat poses a problem for artists taking their careers to the next level. It’s quite the predicament for rising bounce stars but an even bigger one for artists who started it all. According to Complex Magazine, The Showboys themselves do not have any legal rights to “Drag Rap.”

Hello World

As an avid music listener and reviewer, the exchange of music between different cultures and people has always interested me. As a native of New Orleans, the spread of local genres has a personal significance. In the past few years for example, I watched twerking, particularly when it involved Miley Cyrus’ ass, become national news. Instead of thinking, “Wow, there’s the hot new dance trend,” like so many others, I thought, “New Orleans has been doing that for years.” Twerking, a term who’s first recorded use can be traced back to a 1993 DJ Jubilee song, is the signature dance that accompanies bounce music, a fast-paced subgenre of Southern hip hop based in New Orleans. Seeing it become Miley’s thing felt wrong, like a robbery. But at the same time, in the wake of this twerk-madness, Big Freedia, a bounce artist I’d seen play just about every year at Jazz Fest in my hometown, emerged as a budding star and gained national recognition for the first time.

The cultural issues that stem from globalization are complex and many. Cultural appropriation can be a terrible thing. On the other hand, it allows for musicians to build off of one another and push genres above and beyond into new and exciting realms of sound. New Orleans is a culturally rich city, and bounce is one of the newer and increasingly relevant aspects of that culture. However, like Chicago footwork or Jamaican dancehall, it is an extremely local art form. Born from the housing projects of New Orleans, bounce is the music of a particular people and place. When taken out of that origin place of total understanding (a direction in which bounce seems to be heading), it can easily be misinterpreted of fetishized.

As someone with a deep love for the city of New Orleans, an immense respect and appreciation for bounce, and a desire to learn more about the music that comprised the soundtrack to much of my youth, I've created this blog as a space for exploring the roots and characteristics of bounce music as well as discussing trends within the genre, popular artists and songs, and issues and controversy around the music. As bounce artists begin to make their way into the national spotlight, I think it is important for people to understand the music before judging and be able to see it within the context of its origins. As a member of the music department at KXSC radio, I bring my experience reviewing, discovering, and analyzing music to this topic, and as a proud New Orleanian, I bring a personal connection and closeness to this blog. If you've made it to the end of this blog post then I hope I can assume you'll be back to read more. Bounce is a rich and exciting music and culture that I'm just here to deliver to you conveniently. I'm looking forward to it.