N.E.R.D.’s Hit Song “Lemon” Owes A Lot To New Orleans Bounce

For the final episode of Earworm they dug into N.E.R.D.’s hit song “Lemon” featuring Rihanna. Its sound is quintessential Pharrell: happy, energetic, and bouncy. The more they listened to it though, the more thry realized that its bouncy energy was inspired by a genre of hip-hop that has rarely trickled into the mainstream – New Orleans Bounce.

To learn more about the genre and to get the definitive answer on whether “Lemon” is a bounce song, Earworm spoke with Big Freedia, a Native of New Orleans and an artist widely credited with bringing bounce music to the masses.