Bounce Primer: A Chat With Beyondadoubt

So if you’re like me, as a Portlander, your basic knowledge of New Orleans bounce music is pretty limited. Basically what I know is from Beyondadoubt’s Buck & Bounce party in Portland, her own tracks and mixes and that she’s brought to town, namely Big Freedia several times. So I thought, why not get a Bounce Primer from our in house DJ/producer, get some background and her take on the bounce genre.

E*Rock: So… Do you have much history of the genre itself that you could give us? Like where it started and who and when?

Beyondadoubt: I dont know much about that. I only know from songs that MC Tucker was considered to be at the forefront.

I had never heard bounce b4 until 1992. I was, literally, cruisin Hernando Mississippi with older kids that could drive. We were smoking cigarettes, and DJ Jimi Where Dey At came on k97. For us it was an instantly infectious. Then they played the flip, Bitches Reply, and we sang that shit forever. I had never heard anything with that type of energy before. For me, I then knew the distinct New Orleans style, which was WAY different from the homemade, satanic rap (that I LOVE) that we had in the Mid-South.

E*Rock: Form what I’m hearing, bounce sounds real hectic and fast, mostly because the vocals are so fast and unrelenting, like double time vocals over what might otherwise be a fast hip-hop beat, like maybe 100 -110 BPM? But people also tend to loop vocal phrases a lot, producing sort of constant hooks rhythmic hooks, that tends to blur any sort of verse/chorus/hook for me, and then there’s the call and response vocals… What makes a track a bounce track as opposed to a bass track, club track, or even a New Orleans hip-hop track? Beyond locality what makes it bounce to you?

Beyondadoubt: I think you answered your own question here… Bounce is a form of dance music at 105-110. When I hear Bounce I hear syncopation in rhythms and vocals. It reminds me mostly of Juke from Chicago, but I hear elements of other dance music genres too.

E*Rock: What’s the deal with that one sample? It’s like a cartoon xylophone arpeggio?

Beyondadoubt: Consider it New Orleans’ version of “Sing Sing”, the sample that Baltimore club is based from. But when I was a kid I thought they were all sampling DJ Jimi. I didn’t know what Trigger Man was then and even now I wonder how some random old-school Profile 12″ became the basis of a New Orleans music genre. Obviously someone was a genius!

E*Rock: Some of the late 90′s Mannie Fresh produced Cash Money stuff, namely post Hot Boys and Big Tymers, has been tagged as bounce, or at least the most bounce-influenced music to reach a mainstream audience. I guess I kind of hear it in Juvenile’s “Ha” or “Back That Azz Up”. Maybe my idea of bounce is more the modern version?

Beyondadoubt: I think you are more familiar with this than Bounce, because these artists wanted to make money and a hit so they made Top-40 rap. I think Bounce was just a regional thing. It was what your sisters loved and you had at block parties and nowhere north of Memphis was probably gonna play that on the radio.

E*Rock: It seems like most of the recent press on bounce has been surrounding the sub-genre of sissy bounce, especially Big Freedia, which you have also been a proponent of by bringing people to Portland. What else should people know about? If you could bring any MC to Portland next month, dream act, no holds barred, who would it be?

Beyondadoubt: My first dream choice would be Magnolia Shorty. Tragically she died last year. One of the reasons I do Buck & Bounce is to celebrate and support a musical community that I respect. I’ve been collecting and mixing Bounce for over a decade and it’s something I know and love. It’s a huge honor to play with people like Big Freedia and Vockah Redu and have their respect in what I make. Another reason I do Buck & Bounce is because Bounce is really fun dance music; I want people to get into moving their body, to sweat and dance, however they want to do it.

Some classic bounce tracks form the 90′s: