Why Drake's "Nice For What" is Important for New Orleans Music

In the music business, Drake is like government funding. Drake is like a tax break or a bailout. With one verse he can make an under-the-radar artist or genre into the next big thing. “Hotline Bling” had everyone on their island vibes for the entire year. You can call him an appropriator, or you can call him an influencer, turning whatever he wants into streaming gold. There’s a debate about whether he’s the former, but there’s no doubt he’s the latter. Drake’s latest release might have just given a huge boost to another city’s creative scene; a city that deserves it more than anyone.

“Nice for What,” comes with an injection of one of New Orleans’ best-kept secrets that's not even a secret: Bounce music.

Bounce still seems to be a secret to mainstream America outside of the south because it hasn’t had the opportunity to show its full self and flourish on any big stage. The closest song to do that was “Back That Azz Up” by Juvenile, which is an eternal party starter, but it is more of a rap song with heavy bounce influence than it is a bounce song. Bounce artists like Big Freedia and Nicky Da B have tried to expand the sub-genre by working with EDM star Diplo on songs like “Snake” and “Express Yourself” respectively, but those attempts lean so much towards EDM it’s hard to call it wholehearted attempts to bring bounce to a wider audience. The influence and sound are never showcased enough in popular songs to make it stick to convert new listeners into fans, but just enough to make it enjoyable. Bounce is still looking for the mainstream appreciation other niche sub-genres received, like Oakland’s hyphy or Atlanta’s snap movement.

It’s also not a secret because the city doesn’t keep it to themselves. New Orleans doesn’t keep anything to themselves. Bounce music travels with the people of New Orleans wherever they go, and the sound and creators of it have been able to reach and influence A-list artists like Rihanna and Pharrell, Beyonce and now Drake. The sub-genre has been heard or seen in some capacity by the majority hip-hop, r&b and electronic fans.

It’s not just the big-name artists who use every bit of New Orleans culture in their music. Up-and-coming rappers from across the country use it in their songs. Nef The Pharoah used The Big Tymers as his hook on his breakout track “Big Timing.” Playboi Carti’s “Magnolia” was one of the hottest songs of 2017, and helped him become a household name in today’s rap climate; the song’s title namedrops the now-demolished Magnolia housing projects in New Orleans (“Shootin’ like a soldier. Like I’m from Magnolia”). This isn’t even Drake’s first time inserting a piece of New Orleans’ slow-cooked culture into his music; he used Ha Sizzle’s “She Rode That Dick Like A Soulja” on “Child’s Play.” This latest sample, however, is different from the others.

Drake didn’t resort to a simple namedrop in a hook or chorus. He also didn’t warp the genres sound to make it barely identifiable to listeners who haven’t grown up with it. Instead, he kept bounce’s foundation while providing his own sing-song style. Bounce is accommodating, allowing artists to blend with the sounds that makes bounce what it is. Together, they form a medly of ingredients to make one, brand new dish that has a flavor only New Orleans can perfect.

There’s no debate where Drake got the sound from. If Big Freedia on the track’s opening seconds wasn’t enough to let you who helped birth the sound, then Drake letting the world know this is some “Lilweezyana shit” before the bass kicked in did. And that’s what is so important about the track. Drake helped stretch bounce’s genuine sound past southern borders. He is one of the first people to put this big of a stage, and in a way that makes its origin undebatable.

That’s huge, and will hopefully create a domino effect where local New Orleans creatives— not just bounce, but every singer, street rapper, conscious rapper, bounce artist, photographer, videographer, DJ, and so on — can finally start getting the attention they fully deserve. A New Orleans figure in the mainstream music scene has been lacking for a while now, and not because there is a lack of talent. Artists like Pell, 3DNatee, Chad Conquering Lion, MadeGROCERIES and so many others deserve looks from mainstream audiences that they just don’t get. Drake might have just provided an avenue for them and many others to get those looks while keeping the essence of the city in the forefront. Isn’t that the best way?

Whether you’re a creative or a just a citizen, anyone who’s taken their first breath of air in New Orleans should be excited. “Nice For What” is about to play in every club across America and beyond, and everyone who hears it will think of New Orleans first. They’ll want more, and there’s only one place in the entire world that can give it to them. Like Big Freedia said in a Instagram post hours after “Nice for What” dropped: The price just went up.