JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
New Orleans' highly anticipated Jazz & Heritage Festival starts this weekend. After being disappointed he wasn't selected to perform at the Super Bowl this year, Lil Wayne is now headlining Jazz Fest. Joseph King with the Gulf States Newsroom reports, it's a big moment for hip-hop artists in the city.
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JOSEPH KING, BYLINE: New Orleans and music are synonymous.
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KING: Jazz music and brass bands may be the first things that come to mind for most people.
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KING: But over the last couple of decades, you can't mention music in New Orleans without bounce or hip-hop in the conversation.
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UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Rapping) But they getting replaced 'cause they're aging like they Conan. I made it so I know.
KING: At Jazz Fest, you can hear a little bit of everything, from rock and bluegrass to Alfred Banks. He says, if you're a musician from New Orleans, you want to perform there.
ALFRED BANKS: Jazz Fest is kind of like the local, I guess you could say, Mecca for performance.
KING: Banks is a rapper born and raised in uptown New Orleans. He has performed a few times at Jazz Fest, mostly on the smaller stage.
BANKS: Like, that's just where you play. Like, if you're a Black artist, you know you're playing Congo Square stage.
KING: Banks says it seems rap artists, whether national or local, tend to play that stage.
BANKS: It does feel like no matter how big you get or how much notoriety you get, you're probably playing Congo Square. And that's just kind of where the artists go.
KING: But one rapper who won't be on that stage this year is New Orleans' own Lil Wayne. Banks says that's because he will share the main stage with The Roots, "The Tonight Show" band.
BANKS: I don't know if I'd be wrong to say this, but I don't think he would have got booked if he didn't have The Roots with him. You know what I mean?
LOUIS EDWARDS: Getting Lil Wayne, of course, is a real coup.
KING: That's Louis Edwards. He's the associate producer of Jazz Fest. He controls a lot of the creative elements at the festival.
EDWARDS: That name has definitely been on a Post-it on my desk for a long time.
KING: Then last summer, he saw Lil Wayne performing with The Roots at a concert in Philadelphia.
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LIL WAYNE: (Rapping) You already know. You already know. You already know.
KING: Seeing him with a live band, Edwards was convinced that they would be a great fit for the main stage in New Orleans.
EDWARDS: That was new. That was fresh. We felt like it was something that would play really well at the festival. We love it when the music is really acoustic and it's live. And this was going to deliver that.
KING: Locally, Jazz Fest is sometimes known as Dad Fest. But Edwards says it caters to every generation and has embraced hip-hop since its inception.
EDWARDS: Whether it's, you know, Juvenile and Lil Nas, Common. Drake has played Jazz Fest. I don't know that, you know, those artists are thought of as just appealing to middle-aged people (laughter).
KING: Another rapper on the main stage right before Lil Wayne is none other than the queen of bounce herself - Big Freedia.
BIG FREEDIA: Jazz Fest is expanding their horizon, and they're trying to bring more of our Black folks to come and to support the Jazz Fest.
KING: Big Freedia has performed all over the world but says there's nothing like performing at home.
BIG FREEDIA: You get to see the local acts. you get to see the Mardi Gras Indians and the whole cultural thing behind that. You get to, you know, experience all of these different, you know, food vendors. And, you know, it's just no experience like that.
KING: Her music is a testament of how hip-hop intersects with a variety of genres and fits seamlessly into the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. For NPR News, I'm Joseph King.
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BIG FREEDIA: (Rapping) Watch me catch the spirit. But I'm another blithe spirit. I ain't going to do it. Always keep it in first place. Heaven stamped on my ticket. Hair pressed. Dressed down. Nails done. [inaudible] won (ph). Amen. When they see me know I ain't nothing to play with. Holy water, drifting (ph), Prada, all designer, for the father. Oh, yes. Breaking necks in my Sunday best. Sunday best. What? Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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