 The second stop on the BET Wrap It Up tour was to New Orleans and I had to go there with more than just an opportunity to speak to people, but really to ask people. I wanted to know what is sex like in the city where sex genuinely is for sale. Le se le, bon ton roux. My father, he passed away from HIV. I think in this area, in this culture, what has happened is there's been over-commercialization of sex because sex sells and that brings tourism, it brings people. The music is also centered around a lot of sex. I heard, fuck me like a dog, repeating multiple times. Wait, don't do that. Take my clothes off, fuck me, fuck me like a dog. I love my boy, his sex is good. He beat me over and he beat me with that good joke. You can like run into him on the street and act like you don't know them, so they like fall in love with him. They're taking education from our people here in New Orleans. That's what they're doing. They're uneducating people here in New Orleans because they need them to do what they need them to do in penitentiary. So when you first think about the question, what is sex like in any city, your instinct may be like mine was to go to Google and type in your standard rates and stats. Number one, New Orleans is number three in new HIV infection rate and you think about the fact that New Orleans only has a local population of 500,000 people. On top of that, when we think about Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, they again rank in the top three in the United States in each and every category. And as far as teen pregnancy goes, three out of 10 young women will become pregnant before they turn 20 years old. But beyond that, beyond the sob story and the numbers, what is it really like to have sex in the city? To me, the best place to find those answers are through the visual curators, the ones who spend their time observing and documenting. And I was fortunate to have some of the best tour guides I think New Orleans had to offer. Award-winning videographer, Brandon Onums, aka B-Mike, also a photographer, Erica Cain, and last but not least, up-and-coming designer, Alexander Andrew Smith. The first order of business, which was actually a little bit of a role reversal for me, is they sat me down to give me the talk. It was one of the most awe-inspiring, eye-opening and informative talks I probably ever had to date. If I was to say to you, what is sex like in the city, how would you guys answer that? I think it depends on who you ask first, because there's different pockets of cultural sexuality in the city. I think there's two sides of every city, but there's definitely a strong two sides of this city. There's like the tourist side, there's the part that the French Quarter and that area that sort of sells sex in a different way. And then there's like the cultural, like there's the music, and there's like the natural New Orleans scene that sells sex in a different way. So the touristy sex sell part would be like the strip clubs and social scene that kind of has its own brand of sex. Definitely like marketed by the types of music we listen to, which bounce the hip-hop, all that stuff, you know? Fuck me, fuck me like a dog. This should grow up heated black, you know what I mean? We live in New Orleans, outside of N-Zone, you know what I mean? Straight like that. Actually bounce music, not actually all of it, but the majority of the bounce music is described sex. Where does that come from? Like when we were just actually in the French Quarter just now, it's the same thing, it's all about sex. It's strip clubs, it's prostitution, there's that sort of over-exhypness of it. Is that the root of it or does it come from somewhere else? Actually bounce music, you start it from like a dance, but it's just in sex movements. People around the world, they may not understand it, but it's just our culture. So when you think about New Orleans, do you think of it as a city that's sexually progressive or one that has a lot of problems? Well actually we have a lot of problems. We have the youth, a lot of them is on the wrong page and they're taking the wrong things and they don't know better. So some young girls are sexually active at a young age. We have young teenage pregnancies. We also have prostitutes up and down the street. There's no very popular here. We have young girls starting at a young age stripping in a strip club and stuff like that, so yes, it's a problem. But in the same time, the music you don't think is the issue? What's the problem? It could be, it could be the music. In a sense, it could be the music and it could be other things going on in the household with their surrounding vibe as well. And I want to talk about your son as well too, because he's at that age right now where everything is so influential for him. What conversations are you having with him to make it so that he's not just a victim of what he feels? Actually my kids normally come into the studio with me. So when they hear my music, I also tell them that my music is not kids' music. So they're not allowed to sing my music. As far as my son, I let him know if someone else is singing they don't mean you have to sing it. If they're dancing to it or moving to it, that doesn't mean that you have to like it or be a follower or be a leader and take charge of your own. It came from here too, right? Is this like the birthplace of twerking? Yeah, you can make that very serious argument, yeah. It's the birthplace of twerking. Yeah, I mean, like, the music, the bounce music, that's why I think it's so important to have conversations with bounce artists because when you think about sex in New Orleans, bounce is like the perfect example of what that looks like in house and floors. Because within bounce, there's no content in bounce other than sex. You know what I mean? Yeah, this is what I like about it. You can be driving down the street, you've got some banging, tweeters, speakers, whatever, roll down their windows. You might see people like washing the car, being straight up, just chilling on a porch, whatever. So they hit that beat. It's like, yo, do you drop the fucking shit? Like 12-year-olds, 5-year-olds, upside down. So quick. You have a good demonstration. Ready to go. It brings a smile to your face. But at the same time, you're kind of like, something is not right. The basic way of saying that is that in many instances, communities, socially, medically, they bring a PG-rated message to an x-rated world. And so I think what happens is, in bringing a PG-rated message to an x-rated mindset, what it does is it limits your ability to honestly, openly communicate with them as they see you as, oh, you're not serious. Okay, so they don't listen to you, even if you have good information. What's missing from the New Orleans upbringing that has people going into a lifestyle that doesn't equal a healthy sex life? Teaching. Teaching. I'm going to say my neighborhood. And my neighborhood is 67, 89 New Orleans. And you can count the schools that's closed. You can count the schools that's no longer in existence. They're doing all the things with them. You know, it's like, I've been to Catholic school for the majority of my life. And there's a lot of Catholic people that go to Catholic school here where I try to keep their kids in a certain area so they don't experience, like, you know, alcohol, sex, drugs, too early, which are things that bring people to the city. Attractions, maybe attractions. And I think that causes a curiosity to grow that is in the end. There's a lot of these harsh contrasts because, like, even with the idea of Mardi Gras, like I was telling you, on Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday is like partying the streets, but then Ash Wednesday is the next day. So it's like, this city is also heavily influenced by religion, so it's a heavily Catholic city. So it's kind of like all this that was happening, you know, St. Augustine, the school, St. Augustine, was like one of the biggest anti-sex prophets in the history of Catholicism. There's a strong religious culture that comes with New Orleans lifestyle and Louisiana lifestyle. So you have the dichotomy of religion that restricts your sexual expression. And then on the other hand, you have the lifestyle of the people that is sexually expressive, very sensual. I think the great thing that you've mentioned really is that when you're not really taught about the conversation, so if sex is never something you talk about with your family, with your church, you never have that conversation, so I expect young people to be able to negotiate when it comes to real activity. And they only think about or hear about it in that sort of salacious way, where it's not talked about on a real, passionate, serious level. And also, you have to think about it, sex also is a power thing. It's a transference of power. And so what happens is, if you have a young lady who, like you said, has not been taught about having a dialogue about sex, she doesn't even feel, I don't want to use the word worthy, she doesn't feel empowered enough to say, mm-mm, if you don't use the condom, we're not having sex. That's just the end all of it all, because other people will freakize them. Like, oh, she a freak. Why are you talking about condoms? You shouldn't even know about condoms. So they get demonized for really protecting their temple, protecting the sacredness of sex and sensuality. I would say, right, with males, it is the jail system that also influences a lot of... Right. Because we are the prison capital of the world. The United States is the prison capital of the world. Louisiana is the prison capital of the country, and New Orleans is the prison capital of Louisiana. So by default, we are the prison capital of the world. So the prison culture, I think, heavily influences sexuality as well. I like to say, hey, man, you grow up in your young black male, you're growing up, hey, man, you're going to Tulane University, you know, like a nice school, or you're going to Tulane University, right? On Tulane. Yeah, because the jail is on Tulane. And it bounces also culture where you could have a transvestite on stage and nobody's tripping, you know what I mean? So it's like, I don't know how strong it is in other cities, you know what I mean? But in this city, you have a room full of dudes, girls, and nobody tripping, they all having a good time. So, but as a star, globally, it's like pushing that culture to the point where it's like, this is what we do in New Orleans, that's how we rock in New Orleans. And y'all just got accepted. I think it's progressive. It is. What's up, y'all? This is the one on the 16th. Nobby, I am one of the hottest, I wouldn't say bouncers, but southern rap artists in the south, you know what I mean? And I'm doing my thing. Let's go. One shot and there's Tilly. Today I'm specifically trying to really understand what sex in this city is like. If you were to say, if I was to ask you, what is sex in New Orleans like? But straightforward when it comes to things. There's a lot of mischievous women and males out here, you know what I'm saying? In this city, but I mean, you know, we just own some real stuff. When we want something, we want something. And what do you think you guys do really well? When you think this city, like, what are you proud of? Like, I'm from New Orleans and like, yeah, we may be very like sexually out there, but there's something beautiful about that. What is that beauty to you? Well, I can't speak it for a sex-wise, but for a music-wise, because of the bounce that we do, we only, you know, gave a hashing, no type of homophobia down here because of that we do bounce music. What is the homosexual experience in New Orleans? I mean, we just like regular people, honestly, in this city because we put on, you know, everyone knows who we are from the teens, the adults, everyone. I mean, sometimes I forget that I'm supposed to be like this quote-unquote gay person, then, you know, they're supposed to be hated on and all that stuff. I mean, we just like non-people in this city because everyone loves us, especially the rap artists that's gay in the city. Is there, like, have you ever had a moment where you sat back and really watched what your music impacts people? Have you ever seen a straight dude singing along and talking like that? Oh, yeah. One of my biggest hits of all time was the song Consequences, which is talking about how my melodious guy, everyone is hated on that relationship. I had straight guys singing it, straight women, gay women, like everyone. That's one of my biggest hits of all time, which is that song right there, Consequences. And the street, the street on cloud loves it. And boss music is always like, it's almost instructional when it comes to sex. If I was to listen to your song and play by play, do what's instructed of me, would I have an orgasm? No. No, I would hope not. I would hope not. That's just, I mean, I would hope so honestly because then I'd be getting a lot of cells, a lot more cells in my iTunes and stuff, just because of that and stuff. But I mean, that'd be like, that'd be like, wow, really? And stuff, but no. This, to me, is beautiful because it is about being sexually expressive no matter what your orientation is. It is about exaggerating and showing beauty in the fact that we are sexual creatures. But when that is sort of bookended or I should say storm crowded by the fact that the HIV rate here is so high, how does that really influence the culture? I don't feel like it's focused on enough. I think that there's that ignorance is bliss type field where it's like, well, it ain't me. And so, because I don't feel like there's enough conversations or enough awareness or brands or anybody that's even out here. Maybe it's because AIDS just isn't sexy. It's not. So it's hard to sell sex. It's hard to sell sex but then also sell the problems of sex, you know what I mean? If you went around there with your, yo, everybody has AIDS, people would be like, yo, I'm trying to sell this shit. I would probably be with that AIDS side because now over here they don't... Well, because here is so heavily influenced by tourism maybe it's not in the best interest to have awareness. Because for the local people... And that's a part... It is because there's sex is being sold constantly here so it's not a smart move to kind of talk about. I would say overwhelming. It is. I would say overwhelmingly there's high premium like put on like sexual intercourse just get physical like no emotional attachment and you know there's a price for that. Or you get the desire of sex before you get the understanding of sex, you know what I mean? So you're told you're looking at the girls twerking or you're looking at the music videos or you're looking at the content of the lyrics that talks about all these sexual acts but you don't get the conversation about how to be responsible with that or how to do it in the quote unquote safety so... Or what comes before or after. Right, exactly. And it's like yo dude nobody wants to be like out here putting a pussy on the pedestal. The city is pouring itself out. By the time I got to Kip the next day to actually have the talk with other people I was so sexually charged up with information with questions, curiosity, with appreciation for the people who have to live in this city of such great extremes. It's showing out with shame. It's debauchery and it's disease. It's celebration with this lack of true, genuine education. It's one big giant conversation that everyone's talking about but no one's saying anything. It could be the most sexually progressive city in the United States and possibly on the planet. You can't worry about what might happen. You gotta worry about what's going on right here, right now and that's the only way that you're gonna get through that. Alright? Man, give me a hug. Stop being so beautiful. I think this city definitely is like an example of what it could look like both good and bad. I think it shows what it could look like when it's accepted and not so taboo. Sex is just human as humans are, you know what I mean? But then you also see the extremes. We do have the big problems and we do have the lack of education around sex. People can learn from this city but also this city could learn from other places as well.