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.