An Interview With OnlyHeaven, the Hopeless Romantic of New Orleans Bounce – Warungku Terkini

Last month, after I ran out of friends to text about KISS, I called up Heaven for a conversation about bounce culture and its commercialization and the lovergirl sensibilities of her breakout EP. She was at home in Atlanta, where she relocated from New Orleans not too long ago, joining much of her family who have been living in the hip-hop hotspot since Hurricane Katrina.

warungku: Where do the relationship stories on KISS come from?

OnlyHeaven: I just like to talk about real-life situations, things people can relate to. That could be love or just something about myself.

What’s a lyric on the tape that came from a real-life situation?

On “Never Hard,” I go, “She said, I got a little stomach, that’s from eating niggas bread.” Like, I’m a big girl, so sometimes people try to come for me, though they know not to come for me for real. They’ll be like, “Oh, she got a stomach, da, da, da.” So I turned it into that’s from eating all the nigga’s bread, that’s like taking his money.

You’re always stunting on people when you write about them.

[Laughs.] Yeah, like when I went, “I got your text nigga/Say where I’m at nigga/Really been on your mind,” I had really got a text from someone who had tried to be weird with me, and I kind of just brushed them off. I remember they hit me up late at night and then hit me up again talking about “good morning.” So I was like, “Nigga, I really been on your mind, huh?” and was saying it all day to myself until I went to the studio.

Has someone ever been offended by you rapping about them?

If I rapped about you, I told you about it. I’m gonna send you the song and say, “This is about you.” But one time someone reached out to me, you know what… let me not be too messy with you.

Go ahead.

OK. Somebody reached out and thought my song “No Friends” was about them. And I had to be like, “Sir, you’re not even relevant.” People be thinkin’ songs about them because they feel guilty, but a lot of my music is about recent exes or things my friends told me.

Are you a romantic?

I’m so sweet. I think I’m a hopeless romantic because I don’t give nobody a chance. But, once I’m on you, I’m on you. But, also, once I’m off you, I’m off you.

What’s bounce culture to you?

Ass shaking. Booty poppin’. Everybody cute. Everybody fly. It could be different. It could be dangerous. You never know. But it stay fun.

Is there something unique about New Orleans that allows bounce culture to thrive?

It’s just the environment. I grew up all over New Orleans, Uptown, Seventh Ward, wherever. I went back to New Orleans last week and just being away let me look around and be like, “We are really our own goddamn everything.” Everything about New Orleans is its own world.

What’s one thing New Orleans does better than any other city?

Drink all day, everyday. Anywhere, anytime, anyplace. We could buy a bottle at three o’clock in the morning. We do whatever we want. We don’t have no rules. When we go out of town, it’s funny, like “What you mean I can’t bring my drink outside of the club?” I went somewhere, I forgot where I was, and I had got a drink and was just walking away from the bar with the drink. The doorman was like, “You can’t do that,” and I just looked at him. In New Orleans, I would have taken that drink and walked right by the police with it.

Is there a difference between the bounce music you grew up on and the bounce music of today?

I believe so. The music back then was a lot more raw. It’s still explicit now, but it used to be even more explicit. They got straight to the point. Things are more commercial now.

What was some of the music back then that had the rawness you miss?

Definitely Sissy Nobby; he don’t care what you see. And Kelly Pounchin. Kelly not really spoke on, but they was so raw; rest in peace.

Are those your favorite bounce MCs?

I love Calliope Ceedy. I always knew I wanted to be a bounce artist, but her music was always it to me. She had the energy, always sounded like she was having fun. It sounded like 100% her. I actually ran into her a couple of months ago.

Do you remember a specific turning point in the commercialization of bounce?

Big Freedia doing work with Beyoncé. VickeeLo collabing with Meg Thee Stallion. That SupahBadd song, the one where it goes, “There’s a meeting in my bedroom.” All of that showed me that bounce was bubbling outside of the city. Of course, Magnolia Shorty had been doing that, but back then, it was just her.

How do you feel about it?

I feel it’s all positive because I don’t want bounce to just be a New Orleans thing. I want to take it worldwide. Some people in New Orleans don’t like when people take it outta town, but I feel without that we’ll all be stuck in one place.

Have you ever been somewhere outside of New Orleans where someone has asked you to tone down your music?

No, every artist that has come up to me wants me to do me, like Drake and artists of that caliber.

Drake? How did that come about?

He reached out. I can’t talk too much about it, but he saw my video for “In Here” on WorldStar. He wanted me to do something for his project with PartyNextDoor. We did something and he really wanted it to be on his album, but things happen.