Bounce: Rap Music and Local Identity in New Orleans, 1980-2005 Open Access

Abstract

Bounce: Rap Music and Local Identity in New Orleans, 1980-2005 By Matt Miller B.A., Emory University, 1992 Advisor: Prof. Allen E. Tullos, Ph.D. An abstract of A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In American Studies 2009

Abstract Bounce: Rap Music and Local Identity in New Orleans, 1980-2005 By Matt Miller This dissertation offers a detailed, chronological examination of the evolution of rap in New Orleans. Guided by a phenomenological approach to the study of local cultural production, it periodizes and analyzes the efforts of successive and overlapping waves of rappers, DJs, producers, record label owners, and audiences, who through processes of innovation, collaboration, contestation and appropriation shaped the local rap scene, style, and narrative perspective. Based on extensive fieldwork in New Orleans, it uses original interviews as well as diverse and extensive recorded and print sources. In New Orleans, the practices and preferences that emerged around rap music can be understood within the city's history of popular music production and within its ongoing, wider cultural environment, which includes deeply-rooted traditions like "second line" parades and Mardi Gras Indians, as well as more quotidian activities in nightclubs and at neighborhood block parties. The dissertation examines the way that local identity was negotiated and marketed in the local rap scene, as well as in the national rap marketplace.

Table of Contents

Table of contents Introduction (pages 1-21) 1. History, Culture, and Music in New Orleans: From Slavery to the Jazz Era (pages 22-57) 2. History, Culture, and Music in New Orleans: The 20th Century and Beyond (pages 58-104) 3. "The City That Is Overlooked": Rap Beginnings (1980-1990) (pages 105-149) 4. Bounce (1991-1994) (pages 150-195) 5. "'Bout It": New Orleans breaking through (1995-2000) (pages 196-243) 6. Stagnation, Decline and the Resurgence of the Local (2001-2004) (pages 244- 273) Conclusion (pages 274-278) Works cited (pages 279-304)

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts
Degree	PhD
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Music Black Studies American Studies
Keyword	rap
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Tullos, Allen, Emory University
Committee Members	Grimshaw, Anna, Emory University Dowd, Timothy J, Emory University

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