WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.779 In the modern streaming era, where artists are, 00:00:02.779 --> 00:00:05.080 you know, practically forced to drop new singles 00:00:05.080 --> 00:00:07.599 every three weeks just to survive the algorithm, 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:09.960 waiting nine years to release your sophomore 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:13.279 album sounds a lot like, well... career suicide. 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:15.900 Oh, absolutely. It's an eternity. Right. Like 00:00:15.900 --> 00:00:18.879 if you disappear for almost a decade, conventional 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:20.760 wisdom says the industry will just simply move 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:22.780 on without you. Yeah, they'll forget you were 00:00:22.780 --> 00:00:25.359 even there. Exactly. Unless, of course, you were 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:28.820 using that massive gap in time to meticulously 00:00:28.820 --> 00:00:32.259 engineer an entirely new genre of music. Which 00:00:32.259 --> 00:00:34.859 is just the ultimate high wire act. I mean, it 00:00:34.859 --> 00:00:36.560 really is. And it speaks to a challenge that 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:38.539 goes far beyond music, too. How do you mean? 00:00:38.679 --> 00:00:42.500 Well, whether we're talking about art or tech 00:00:42.500 --> 00:00:44.659 startups or even a local restaurant expanding 00:00:44.659 --> 00:00:47.359 its footprint, the paradox of growth is always 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:49.700 the same. How do you take something incredibly 00:00:49.700 --> 00:00:52.479 unique, something hyper local, and scale it up 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:55.719 for a global audience without diluting the exact 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:58.000 essence that made it special to begin with? Okay, 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:00.240 let's unpack this because today we are bringing 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:03.219 you a deep dive that looks at that exact paradox. 00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:06.379 And it's a fascinating one. It really is. So 00:01:06.379 --> 00:01:08.640 if you are prepping for a creative meeting or 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:10.760 trying to figure out how to scale your own projects, 00:01:11.079 --> 00:01:14.040 or honestly you're just intensely curious about 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:16.680 how underground culture successfully infiltrates 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:19.799 the mainstream, you are in the right place. You 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:21.859 definitely are. Our mission today is to look 00:01:21.859 --> 00:01:25.519 at how one artist took a fiercely regional sound 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:29.400 and scaled it into this massive star -studded 00:01:29.400 --> 00:01:32.480 really polished project without losing its soul. 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:35.579 We are looking at Big Freedia's critically acclaimed 00:01:35.579 --> 00:01:38.840 2023 Bounce music album, Central City. Yeah. 00:01:38.900 --> 00:01:40.540 And when you look at the timeline of her career, 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:43.459 this album serves as an absolute master class 00:01:43.459 --> 00:01:45.560 in artistic evolution. It's just wild. We have 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:48.739 the data on the album's release, the underlying 00:01:48.739 --> 00:01:50.959 production architecture, the strategic rollout 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:53.200 campaign, and of course, the critical reception 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:55.700 from major music outlets. And together, they 00:01:55.700 --> 00:01:57.879 put a really clear picture of how to successfully 00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:00.560 execute a comeback that doubles as a massive 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:02.659 expansion. Totally. And to really understand 00:02:02.659 --> 00:02:04.560 the sheer scale of Central City, which dropped 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:08.199 on June 23, 2023 via Queen Diva Music. by the 00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:10.500 way, we really have to start by looking at a 00:02:10.500 --> 00:02:13.439 massive gap in time. Right, the nine years. Yeah. 00:02:14.060 --> 00:02:16.419 I mean, the album itself has a runtime of 46 00:02:16.419 --> 00:02:19.120 minutes and 54 seconds, but the runway to get 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:21.159 to those 46 minutes was practically a decade 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:23.719 long. And that gap is the foundation of the entire 00:02:23.719 --> 00:02:27.509 project, honestly. Central City is Big Freedia's 00:02:27.509 --> 00:02:30.289 second studio album, right? Her previous full 00:02:30.289 --> 00:02:32.830 -length studio album, Just Be Free, was released 00:02:32.830 --> 00:02:36.009 all the way back in 2014. 2014. Right. That is 00:02:36.009 --> 00:02:38.669 a full nine years between studio albums. Which 00:02:38.669 --> 00:02:41.030 is, I mean, think about how much the landscape 00:02:41.030 --> 00:02:43.949 of media consumption changed between 2014 and 00:02:43.949 --> 00:02:46.610 2023. It's night and day. We went from buying 00:02:46.610 --> 00:02:49.310 albums on iTunes to a world completely dominated 00:02:49.310 --> 00:02:53.050 by TikTok sounds and Spotify playlists. So if 00:02:53.050 --> 00:02:55.669 conventionalism says a nine -year is a massive 00:02:55.669 --> 00:02:58.250 risk for an artist's momentum. What exactly was 00:02:58.250 --> 00:02:59.530 happening during that time? Like, was it just 00:02:59.530 --> 00:03:01.810 a really long hiatus? Not at all. If we connect 00:03:01.810 --> 00:03:04.030 this to the bigger picture, the music critics 00:03:04.030 --> 00:03:06.289 were quick to point out that this was absolutely 00:03:06.289 --> 00:03:09.430 not a vacation. Oh, definitely not. Neil Z. Young, 00:03:09.810 --> 00:03:12.349 over at All Music, specifically described the 00:03:12.349 --> 00:03:15.509 release of Central City as the culmination of 00:03:15.509 --> 00:03:18.550 years of, quote, grinding and fighting, unquote, 00:03:19.030 --> 00:03:22.050 to place New Orleans bounce on an even larger 00:03:22.050 --> 00:03:25.849 stage. Mm -hmm. period of intense groundwork. 00:03:26.009 --> 00:03:28.550 She was touring North America in mid -2023 to 00:03:28.550 --> 00:03:31.210 support it, but the work started way before that. 00:03:31.449 --> 00:03:33.050 Let's back up for just a second though, because 00:03:33.050 --> 00:03:34.889 we are throwing around the term New Orleans bounce. 00:03:34.969 --> 00:03:36.469 I want to make sure everyone listening is on 00:03:36.469 --> 00:03:38.110 the exact same page. Oh, that's a good point. 00:03:38.169 --> 00:03:41.129 We know it's a regional sound, but what actually 00:03:41.129 --> 00:03:43.590 is it? If you had to explain bounce music to 00:03:43.590 --> 00:03:45.870 someone who has literally never heard it, what 00:03:45.870 --> 00:03:47.969 are the sonic characteristics we're talking about 00:03:47.969 --> 00:03:51.030 here? Well, think of it as a highly specialized, 00:03:51.370 --> 00:03:53.830 hyper -energetic sub -genre of hip -hop that 00:03:53.830 --> 00:03:56.250 was really born in the housing projects and underground 00:03:56.250 --> 00:03:59.590 clubs of New Orleans. Sonically, it is defined 00:03:59.590 --> 00:04:03.090 by a few very distinct elements. First, the tempo 00:04:03.090 --> 00:04:05.969 is incredibly fast and frantic. It's usually 00:04:05.969 --> 00:04:09.490 hovering around 95 to 105 beats per minute. Wow, 00:04:09.629 --> 00:04:12.990 so really fast. Very fast. Second, it relies 00:04:12.990 --> 00:04:15.770 heavily on call and response vocal chance. So 00:04:15.770 --> 00:04:18.790 the artist will shout a phrase and the crowd 00:04:18.790 --> 00:04:21.569 is expected to shout it back. It is incredibly 00:04:21.569 --> 00:04:24.740 interactive. So it's very much designed for a 00:04:24.740 --> 00:04:28.259 live, sweaty room. I mean, it's party music in 00:04:28.259 --> 00:04:31.339 its absolute purest form. Absolutely. And musically, 00:04:31.540 --> 00:04:34.079 it's anchored by heavy, repetitive, rattling 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:36.439 bass lines, often built around something called 00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:38.379 the trigger man beat. Trigger man beat, right. 00:04:38.500 --> 00:04:41.180 Yeah, which is a specific stuttering drum loop 00:04:41.180 --> 00:04:43.420 that bounce producers have been sampling for 00:04:43.420 --> 00:04:46.720 decades now. It is raw, it is relentless, and 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:49.180 it is deeply tied to the culture of the city 00:04:49.180 --> 00:04:51.300 itself. OK, so that is the baseline. That's the 00:04:51.300 --> 00:04:54.139 hometown recipe. copy. But after nine years of 00:04:54.139 --> 00:04:56.680 grinding and fighting to push that raw basement 00:04:56.680 --> 00:04:59.779 party sound onto a larger stage, Freedia didn't 00:04:59.779 --> 00:05:01.500 just want to release another standard bounce 00:05:01.500 --> 00:05:04.180 record, right? She came back with a totally new 00:05:04.180 --> 00:05:06.500 concept. She did. She officially coined it as 00:05:06.500 --> 00:05:08.560 Bigga Bounce. Bigga Bounce, which is such a brilliant 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:11.060 piece of branding because it immediately tells 00:05:11.060 --> 00:05:13.519 the listener exactly what to expect. It really 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:16.319 does. The core source material notes that Bigga 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:19.279 Bounce is all about infusing her traditional 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:22.139 classic bounce style with what is described as 00:05:21.959 --> 00:05:24.860 as an invigorated, hip -hop -inspired energy. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:27.000 Yeah, and Freedia actually released a statement 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:29.339 about the album that I think just perfectly encapsulates 00:05:29.339 --> 00:05:31.100 this whole mission. Oh, the quote about Central 00:05:31.100 --> 00:05:34.480 City. Yeah. She said, quote, welcome to Central 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:36.579 City, y 'all, where I pay homage to my city, 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:39.560 my roots, hip -hop, and to the art of creating 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:42.240 a new sound. To the art of creating a new sound. 00:05:42.300 --> 00:05:45.509 That is such a bold, highly intentional mission 00:05:45.509 --> 00:05:47.889 statement. Right. She is acknowledging that she 00:05:47.889 --> 00:05:50.569 isn't just, you know, making tracks. She is actively 00:05:50.569 --> 00:05:53.269 engineering a sonic hybrid. Exactly. And when 00:05:53.269 --> 00:05:55.850 she embarked on that massive tour across North 00:05:55.850 --> 00:05:59.089 America in mid 2023 to support the record, she 00:05:59.089 --> 00:06:01.750 was taking that brand new hybrid sound directly 00:06:01.750 --> 00:06:04.550 to the masses. But here's the thing. Engineering 00:06:04.550 --> 00:06:07.149 a brilliant new sound in the studio and getting 00:06:07.149 --> 00:06:09.089 the mainstream public to actually pay attention 00:06:09.089 --> 00:06:11.829 to it after a nine year absence. Those are two 00:06:11.829 --> 00:06:13.970 entirely different challenge. You can have the 00:06:13.970 --> 00:06:16.350 best product in the world, but if nobody walks 00:06:16.350 --> 00:06:18.750 into the store, it doesn't matter. Right, which 00:06:18.750 --> 00:06:21.129 raises a really important question regarding 00:06:21.129 --> 00:06:24.149 strategy. How do you guarantee your comeback 00:06:24.149 --> 00:06:27.410 album hits with maximum impact across multiple 00:06:27.410 --> 00:06:30.009 demographics? You build a massive collaborative 00:06:30.009 --> 00:06:34.189 universe, you actively expand the tent, and bring 00:06:34.189 --> 00:06:37.189 entirely new audiences into your sound. And here's 00:06:37.189 --> 00:06:40.110 where it gets really interesting. The strategic 00:06:40.110 --> 00:06:43.050 rollout of this album was essentially a masterclass 00:06:43.050 --> 00:06:46.129 in cross -pollinating fanbases. It was an incredibly 00:06:46.129 --> 00:06:49.509 deliberate, highly systematic campaign. Rather 00:06:49.509 --> 00:06:51.569 than just dropping the album out of nowhere, 00:06:51.949 --> 00:06:54.610 the release was preceded by a steady four -month 00:06:54.610 --> 00:06:57.009 drumbeat of singles. Right, starting in March. 00:06:57.149 --> 00:07:00.209 Yeah, exactly. In March 2023, the campaign kicked 00:07:00.209 --> 00:07:02.410 off with a track called Central City Freestyle. 00:07:02.930 --> 00:07:04.910 Then at the end of April, she dropped a single 00:07:04.910 --> 00:07:07.709 called Hundred Dollar Bill. Yeah, that cross 00:07:07.709 --> 00:07:10.170 -pollination didn't happen by accident at all. 00:07:10.689 --> 00:07:14.149 Then, in May, alongside the official album announcement 00:07:14.149 --> 00:07:17.850 itself came a single called Bigfoot. And finally, 00:07:18.050 --> 00:07:20.550 right before the album dropped in June, we got 00:07:20.550 --> 00:07:23.589 El Nino, which featured Lil Wayne and Boyfriend. 00:07:23.750 --> 00:07:26.110 Again, look at the curation there. You have Lil 00:07:26.110 --> 00:07:29.730 Wayne, who is absolute rap royalty. A total legend. 00:07:29.949 --> 00:07:33.459 And a New Orleans legend in his own right. essentially 00:07:33.459 --> 00:07:35.959 validating the project right before the album 00:07:35.959 --> 00:07:38.680 hits streaming platforms. The rollout timeline 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:40.839 alone just shows a deep understanding of modern 00:07:40.839 --> 00:07:44.319 music mechanics. You drop singles months in advance 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:47.319 to test the waters, to train the streaming algorithms 00:07:47.319 --> 00:07:49.680 to associate your name with other major artists, 00:07:50.060 --> 00:07:52.339 and to build a narrative momentum leading right 00:07:52.339 --> 00:07:54.430 up to launch day. OK, but when you look at the 00:07:54.430 --> 00:07:57.910 full 16 track album, the guest list goes way 00:07:57.910 --> 00:08:00.629 beyond Ciara and Lil Wayne. It's massive. It 00:08:00.629 --> 00:08:02.889 is staggeringly diverse. We're talking about 00:08:02.889 --> 00:08:06.550 features from Kamiya, Kelly Price, Sonya, Faith 00:08:06.550 --> 00:08:09.269 Evans, and even the Soul Rebels. Yeah. You have 00:08:09.269 --> 00:08:12.810 West Coast rappers, you have 90s R &B powerhouses, 00:08:12.850 --> 00:08:15.990 and you literally have a legendary New Orleans 00:08:15.990 --> 00:08:19.370 brass band all on the same project. It is a huge 00:08:19.370 --> 00:08:22.120 roster. I have to admit though, looking at that 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:26.040 specific list, I'm a little skeptical. Oh really? 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:30.360 Why? how does one artist wrangle all those wildly 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:32.659 different vibes without the whole thing just 00:08:32.659 --> 00:08:35.059 sounding like a disjointed chaotic playlist? 00:08:35.299 --> 00:08:37.600 Yeah. I mean, you have Faith Evans' smooth R 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:40.700 &B on one track and a giant brass band on another. 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:43.639 Doesn't the core artists get totally lost in 00:08:43.639 --> 00:08:46.200 the shuffle when there are that many dominant 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:48.519 personalities in the room? That skepticism is 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:50.639 entirely warranted, honestly, and it's exactly 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:52.340 what the music critics were listening for when 00:08:52.340 --> 00:08:53.940 the album dropped. Right, they had to be wondering 00:08:53.940 --> 00:08:56.240 the same thing. But the critical consensus is 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:58.600 that Freedia did get lost at all. In fact, the 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:01.279 album succeeded precisely because of how strongly 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:04.159 she anchored all these disparate elements. Let's 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:06.179 look at the Pitchfork review from Eric Torres, 00:09:06.539 --> 00:09:09.179 who gave the album a very strong 7 .6 out of 00:09:09.179 --> 00:09:15.179 10. They are notoriously tough graders. They 00:09:15.179 --> 00:09:18.259 really are. And Torres specifically noted that 00:09:18.259 --> 00:09:21.139 this album reaffirms Freedia's easy rapport with 00:09:21.139 --> 00:09:24.200 disparate artists. He pointed out that managing 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:27.259 this level of variety speaks to Freedia's expansive 00:09:27.259 --> 00:09:30.700 curatorial vision and towering charisma. Towering 00:09:30.700 --> 00:09:33.679 charisma. I love that phrasing. It takes a massive 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:36.360 personality to hold their own alongside someone 00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:40.019 like Lil Wayne or Kelly Price. It really does. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:42.820 Her charisma basically acts as the gravitational 00:09:42.820 --> 00:09:46.159 center holding all 16 tracks in orbit. The features 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:48.539 aren't just there as marketing gimmicks to inflate 00:09:48.539 --> 00:09:51.600 Spotify stream counts. The reviewers recognize 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:55.139 them as a curated exhibition. Neil Z. Young from 00:09:55.139 --> 00:09:57.440 AllMusic pointed out that these marquee guests, 00:09:57.740 --> 00:09:59.899 combined with a more radio -friendly approach, 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:02.220 were intentionally designed to draw a larger 00:10:02.220 --> 00:10:05.059 audience into the bounce scene. Ah, so it's essentially 00:10:05.059 --> 00:10:07.759 a brilliant bait and switch. You lure a mainstream 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:09.940 listener in with a familiar name like, oh I love 00:10:09.940 --> 00:10:12.240 CR, let me click on this, and then suddenly you 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:15.960 are introducing them to a frantic, 105 -beat 00:10:15.960 --> 00:10:18.539 -per -minute bounce rhythm they might never have 00:10:18.539 --> 00:10:20.480 actively sought out on their own. Exactly. It's 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:23.240 an invitation to the genre. Exactly that. But 00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:25.899 the guest stars only provide the spotlight. The 00:10:25.899 --> 00:10:28.539 underlying production, the actual beats, the 00:10:28.539 --> 00:10:31.460 sonic architecture of the album is what successfully 00:10:31.460 --> 00:10:34.559 bridges the gap between classic bounce and the 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:37.200 broader mainstream. Because if the beats aren't 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:40.100 right, the guests can't save it. Exactly. If 00:10:40.100 --> 00:10:41.980 the music itself doesn't work, the guest stars 00:10:41.980 --> 00:10:44.100 won't save it. Which brings us to the actual 00:10:44.100 --> 00:10:46.220 mechanics of how this big a bounce sound was 00:10:46.220 --> 00:10:49.210 built. When you look at the production credits 00:10:49.210 --> 00:10:52.570 for Central City, it reveals a really smart division 00:10:52.570 --> 00:10:55.750 of labor. The core foundation of the album sound 00:10:55.750 --> 00:10:59.110 was handled by producers who are deeply, intrinsically 00:10:59.110 --> 00:11:01.389 familiar with the bounce landscape. Yeah. To 00:11:01.389 --> 00:11:03.629 put some numbers to that, a producer named Gold 00:11:03.629 --> 00:11:06.389 Glove handled the heavy lifting, producing six 00:11:06.389 --> 00:11:08.909 tracks across the album, including the opener, 00:11:08.990 --> 00:11:11.490 Central City Freestyle, and a track called Pop 00:11:11.490 --> 00:11:13.960 That. And then you have Black and Mild, another 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:16.399 massive name in the regional scene, who produced 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:18.940 five tracks, including Throw It Back and Noel 00:11:18.940 --> 00:11:21.759 Babies. Right. Between just those two producers, 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:24.679 they built the architecture for 11 of the 16 00:11:24.679 --> 00:11:27.860 tracks. They are the hometown bedrock. But then 00:11:27.860 --> 00:11:30.539 layered on top of that bedrock, you have some 00:11:30.539 --> 00:11:33.799 incredibly high profile production assists. Manny 00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:36.399 Fresh, who is an absolute legend in southern 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:39.840 hip hop, co -produced the track El Niño. And 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:42.200 then you have Hudson Mohawk. producing Bitch 00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:44.639 You Want, which is the track featuring Faith 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:47.179 Evans. Let's talk about that for a second because 00:11:47.179 --> 00:11:50.059 the Hudson Mohawk inclusion is fascinating. How 00:11:50.059 --> 00:11:52.740 does an electronic experimental producer fit 00:11:52.740 --> 00:11:55.340 into a bounce record? What's fascinating here 00:11:55.340 --> 00:11:58.379 is how you blend those textures. Hudson Mohawk 00:11:58.379 --> 00:12:01.220 is known for massive stadium -sized synthesizer 00:12:01.220 --> 00:12:03.679 sounds and experimental hip -hop drops. Yeah, 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:06.159 very big sounds. When you apply that to bounce, 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:08.580 you take that frantic, traditional Trigga Man 00:12:08.580 --> 00:12:10.740 beat, which is usually very minimal, just raw 00:12:10.740 --> 00:12:13.720 drums and bass, and you layer it with these vast, 00:12:14.059 --> 00:12:16.779 sweeping electronic textures. It gives the track 00:12:16.779 --> 00:12:19.000 verticality. It makes it sound huge. OK, I love 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:20.740 this strategy. And I think there's a great analogy 00:12:20.740 --> 00:12:23.519 here. Building an album like this is like constructing 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:26.539 a gleaming modern skyscraper. Oh, I like that. 00:12:26.740 --> 00:12:29.700 You want the flashy, high -tech glass windows. 00:12:30.220 --> 00:12:31.980 That's the Hudson Mohawk influence, the shiny 00:12:31.980 --> 00:12:34.779 pop R &B features, the Manny Fresh polish. Right. 00:12:35.019 --> 00:12:37.559 But you absolutely must make sure the concrete 00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:41.480 foundation is poured with classic rattling 808 00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:45.659 bounce beats. That foundation is gold glove and 00:12:45.659 --> 00:12:47.940 black and mild. If the foundation isn't solid, 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:50.700 the whole skyscraper falls over the second you 00:12:50.700 --> 00:12:52.940 try to build it up. That is a perfect way to 00:12:52.940 --> 00:12:55.159 visualize the division of labor. And the critics 00:12:55.159 --> 00:12:57.179 agreed that the structure held up beautifully. 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:01.159 All music called the album a total riot and fun 00:13:01.159 --> 00:13:04.279 as hell. Nice. Kitty Empire, reviewing it for 00:13:04.279 --> 00:13:06.740 The Observer, described it as an album full of 00:13:06.740 --> 00:13:09.179 bass -laden beasts that boasts high production 00:13:09.179 --> 00:13:11.720 values and song craft. Wait, I need to jump in 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:13.000 here and play Devil's Advocate for a second. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:15.740 Sure. Let's look closely at those reviews. All 00:13:15.740 --> 00:13:18.379 music specifically called these anthems cleaned 00:13:18.379 --> 00:13:21.379 up and noticeably more polished than other contemporary 00:13:21.379 --> 00:13:24.009 bounce releases. Yeah, they did. And the observer 00:13:24.009 --> 00:13:27.190 is praising the high production values. But isn't 00:13:27.190 --> 00:13:30.409 the whole appeal of bounce music that it's raw, 00:13:30.649 --> 00:13:33.710 sweaty, basement party music? If you clean it 00:13:33.710 --> 00:13:36.350 up too much, don't you risk stripping away the 00:13:36.350 --> 00:13:39.169 soul? Like, doesn't polish just mean gentrified 00:13:39.169 --> 00:13:41.970 elevator music? That is the exact fear whenever 00:13:41.970 --> 00:13:45.830 a regional sound scales up. But the critics explicitly 00:13:45.830 --> 00:13:48.320 counter that worry. In the context of Central 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:51.440 City, polish does not mean diluted. Doesn't mean 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:53.360 the rough edges were sanded down into something 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:55.460 safe and corporate. So how are they defining 00:13:55.460 --> 00:13:58.860 polish then, if not by removing the grit? Let's 00:13:58.860 --> 00:14:01.159 look back at Eric Torres' review in Pitchfork. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:03.820 He pointed out that Freedia constantly branches 00:14:03.820 --> 00:14:06.279 out on this album, switching between classic 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:08.779 bounce and what he described as a hard -nosed 00:14:08.779 --> 00:14:11.710 industrial grind. and the key details that this 00:14:11.710 --> 00:14:13.850 switch often happens within the exact same song. 00:14:14.110 --> 00:14:16.149 Well, hard -nosed industrial grind definitely 00:14:16.149 --> 00:14:18.090 doesn't sound like elevator music. It sounds 00:14:18.090 --> 00:14:20.490 aggressive and heavy. Right. Think of it like 00:14:20.490 --> 00:14:23.590 taking a brilliant, gritty, handheld indie movie 00:14:23.590 --> 00:14:26.990 that was shot on 16 -millimeter film and remastering 00:14:26.990 --> 00:14:30.159 it in stunning 4K resolution. Oh, I see. You 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:32.899 aren't changing the grit of the story. You aren't 00:14:32.899 --> 00:14:35.440 changing the frantic energy of the camera movements. 00:14:35.860 --> 00:14:37.860 You're simply making the visuals more vivid, 00:14:38.419 --> 00:14:40.960 upgrading the audio mix, and preparing the file 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:43.440 so it can be played on a massive iMac screen 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:46.000 without looking muddy. Ah, I see. So the high 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.759 production value, the polish. that the critics 00:14:48.759 --> 00:14:50.820 are talking about is actually what allows the 00:14:50.820 --> 00:14:53.740 heavy bass and the frantic bounce rhythms to 00:14:53.740 --> 00:14:56.340 translate cleanly over massive festival speakers 00:14:56.340 --> 00:14:59.779 or on global pop radio. Exactly. If you don't 00:14:59.779 --> 00:15:02.080 upgrade the production, those fast beats might 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:04.840 just sound like static to a mainstream audience. 00:15:05.259 --> 00:15:08.600 The Polish takes a hyper -local sound and acoustically 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:11.620 prepares it for a global stage. Precisely. The 00:15:11.620 --> 00:15:14.000 bass -laden beasts that Kitty Empire mentioned 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:16.299 are still wild beasts. They just have a much 00:15:16.299 --> 00:15:19.100 bigger, more expensive cage to roar in. That's 00:15:19.100 --> 00:15:21.159 a great way to put it. That is the essence of 00:15:21.159 --> 00:15:23.419 big -a -bounce. It pays deep homage to the roots 00:15:23.419 --> 00:15:26.000 of New Orleans bounce. But it structurally expands 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:28.899 the genre's capacity, allowing it to hold hip 00:15:28.899 --> 00:15:31.440 -hop, R &B, and experimental electronic music 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:34.679 within its framework. And to do that successfully, 00:15:34.860 --> 00:15:37.000 you can't just throw it together overnight. You 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:38.700 need those nine years of grinding behind the 00:15:38.700 --> 00:15:41.820 scenes. You need the expansive curatorial vision 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:45.940 to bring Ciara and Lil Wayne into the fold. And 00:15:45.940 --> 00:15:49.539 crucially, you need a team of producers who understand 00:15:49.539 --> 00:15:52.299 how to build a track that works just as well 00:15:52.299 --> 00:15:54.580 in an underground basement club as it does in 00:15:54.580 --> 00:15:57.200 a massive stadium. It is a remarkable balancing 00:15:57.200 --> 00:16:00.000 act of maintaining authenticity while executing 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:02.960 a massive commercial expansion. So what does 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:06.220 this all mean for you listening right now? Well, 00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:08.740 Central City is obviously a highly acclaimed, 00:16:09.019 --> 00:16:11.980 incredibly fun music project. But beneath the 00:16:11.980 --> 00:16:15.179 105 beat per minute bass lines, it is a brilliant 00:16:15.179 --> 00:16:17.659 case study in professional and artistic scaling. 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:20.059 The lessons here apply far beyond the music industry, 00:16:20.220 --> 00:16:22.399 honestly. Absolutely. Whether you are an independent 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:24.419 artist trying to figure out your next release, 00:16:24.899 --> 00:16:26.960 a project manager trying to scale up a local 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:29.139 initiative, or an entrepreneur expanding a business, 00:16:29.580 --> 00:16:32.179 there is a profound lesson in how Big Freedia 00:16:32.179 --> 00:16:35.480 divided the labor. You can delegate The flashy 00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:39.100 high profile exterior elements to outside experts, 00:16:39.639 --> 00:16:41.539 but you have to keep the core product handled 00:16:41.539 --> 00:16:44.799 by the hometown team who understands the foundation. 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:47.240 You really do. You can take your unique flavor 00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:49.580 to the masses without compromising your roots. 00:16:49.740 --> 00:16:51.929 You just have to build a bigger tent. invite 00:16:51.929 --> 00:16:54.450 the right collaborators, and ensure your foundation 00:16:54.450 --> 00:16:57.110 is rock solid before you start building up. And 00:16:57.110 --> 00:16:59.250 the sheer success of this strategy leaves us 00:16:59.250 --> 00:17:01.769 with a truly fascinating prospect for the future 00:17:01.769 --> 00:17:04.450 of the genre. We know from the timeline and the 00:17:04.450 --> 00:17:06.730 source material that Big Freedia isn't planning 00:17:06.730 --> 00:17:09.109 to wait another nine years for her next project. 00:17:09.250 --> 00:17:11.910 Oh right. There is already another album titled 00:17:11.910 --> 00:17:14.509 Pressing Onward officially slated for release 00:17:14.509 --> 00:17:18.190 in 2025. Pressing Onward. The title alone suggests 00:17:18.190 --> 00:17:21.009 incredible forward momentum. The pressure cooker 00:17:21.009 --> 00:17:23.069 is already open and we aren't waiting nearly 00:17:23.069 --> 00:17:25.720 a decade for the next evolution. To add to that, 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:27.839 it raises a compelling question about where the 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:30.380 culture goes from here. If Central City was the 00:17:30.380 --> 00:17:33.099 culmination of a near decade long grind to merge 00:17:33.099 --> 00:17:35.900 raw New Orleans bounce with polished industrial 00:17:35.900 --> 00:17:38.539 pop features. Well, what sonic boundaries are 00:17:38.539 --> 00:17:41.279 even left to shatter in 2025? That's a great 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:44.440 question. Will pressing onward be an experiment 00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:48.220 in entirely new uncharted genres? Or will it 00:17:48.220 --> 00:17:50.579 signal something even bigger, that this hyper 00:17:50.579 --> 00:17:53.140 regional bounce music has simply become the new 00:17:53.140 --> 00:17:55.700 default standard? for global pop music. That 00:17:55.700 --> 00:17:58.440 is an incredible thought to chew on. Can a hyper 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:01.019 local underground recipe become so universally 00:18:01.019 --> 00:18:03.859 loved and so perfectly integrated into the mainstream 00:18:03.859 --> 00:18:06.140 that we eventually forget it was ever a regional 00:18:06.140 --> 00:18:08.619 secret in the first place. Thank you all so much 00:18:08.619 --> 00:18:11.059 for joining us on this deep dive. Keep exploring, 00:18:11.220 --> 00:18:13.500 stay curious and seriously do yourself a favor 00:18:13.500 --> 00:18:16.359 today. Go listen to the bass laden beasts of 00:18:16.359 --> 00:18:18.519 Central City for yourself. We will catch you 00:18:18.519 --> 00:18:18.880 next time.