Even though it is a sad understatement that hip-hop and homosexuals don’t go together, the three majors pioneer in Bounce Music persistently do it their own way.
Mainstream culture these days are often filled by the enormous industries of hip-hop music. Most of hip-hop industries dominated by West Coast or East Coast rappers like Kendrick Lamar, NWA, 2Pac (West coast) or like The Notorious B.I.G., J.Cole, Chance The Rapper (east coast). We have heard of these names pretty often, but they were just a small part of this huge hip-hop culture.
Meanwhile, New Orleans also have their own way in proving their selfhood. Originally called New Orleans Bounce (or Bounce Music), is an abstract sample genre to be defined but yet very familiar every time you hear it. It was born in the late 80s and early 90s, where hip-hop culture was just started to form in New Orleans around that time.
Bounce Music primarily formed by M.C.T. Tucker’s song titled “where dey at”. The unique aspect about the song is that Tucker introduced two major things in Bounce-Music-Thingy that shaped Bounce Music characteristic.
First, the Triggerman Beat, funny thing about the essential Triggerman Beat is that this kind of beat (or usually used for intro) came in the beginning from Queens (New York) by rap duo The Showboys from their song Drag Rap.
Second, hyper repetitive dance instructions, rap lyrics that reflects from Bounce Music regularly very simple and easy to remember. M.C.T. Tucker’s ‘where dey at’ considered as the day that the New Orleans Bounce was born, and from that day new wave of artist and songs came through like Gotti Boi Chris (Wiggle Low), Everlasting Hitman (Bounce Baby Bounce).
The sales of the New Orleans Bounce made a good hit (in their own hometown. According to the Billboard Magazine in 1994, it sells 200 to 300 units a week, roughly 10 times the sales of national rap albums. The problem why is it so hard to make it outside of New Orleans, because it doesn’t match the wave of mainstream hip-hop. Not only many New Orleans Bounce artist who produced their music in 90’s sort of quit from it, but they also started to do mainstream (or we can say commercial) hip-hop.
There is sort of absence in the scene of Bounce Music around late 90s, even though it was filled by small artist who played in small local club. This era is considered as the turning point where gender-bending came up to the surface of Bounce Music.
By the stage name Katey Red, a young drag queen shocked the audience by her performance in underground club near the Melpomene housing project where she grew up, and in that star-is-born moment, a sample genre of bounce starts off. Katey Red flourishingly break the stigma that hip-hop is a masculine thing that involve strong lyrics about drugs, murder, or fortune. Furthermore, bounce music goes beyond any doubt which stated that there is sort of freedom in expressing self through music, dance, art. It denies the conformity that social norms have to offer: everyone can go into the music despite of their sexuality, race, and gender.
Few years after Katey Red appearance, another pioneers in Bounce Music came up such as Big Freedia and Sissy Nobby who helped a lot ushers in a wave of openly queer bounce performers. Both of them are homosexual Bounce Music performers who were embracing their own vogue in their stage performance or music and it became very influential for LGBTQ people who had just started their work in this area. Even though it is a sad understatement that hip-hop and homosexuals don’t go together, the three majors pioneer in Bounce Music persistently do it their own way. Three of them make Bounce Music an inclusive playground for everyone to feel free to create despite what their background is. Even now, bounce music still loved by locals and many part of the world and the emerging of Bounce Music will still continue. (IM)
Tulisan ini dimuat dalam Warta Himahi Edisi #4 ‘Voice,’ Mei 2018.
Warta Himahi 