WHERE THEY AT

2008-2012
Portraits + archival images + oral histories
+ exhibition catalog

“Where They At,” or Wha Dey At,” is the title of a song generally recognized as the first bounce release, recorded in late 1991as a cassette-only release by rapper T.T. Tucker, with the late DJ Irv.  It was also recorded a few months after by DJ Jimi Payton for producer Isaac Bolden’s Soulin’ Records/Avenue Distribution.

I collaborated with journalist Alison Fenstersock to create “Where They at.” WTA documents pioneering New Orleans rappers from the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s— the period when bounce music melded and interplayed with lyrical hip-hop and gangsta rap in New Orleans to create a unique, hybrid Crescent City hip-hop sound-the newest branch of southern roots music.

Made possible through generous funding from the Greater New Orleans Foundation, a studio residency with Louisiana Artworks, and partnership with the Smithsonian-affiliated Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Exhibited with accompanying programming in New Orleans, New York, Austin, Berlin. All original photos are housed Amistad Research Collection.

You can view archival snapshots of the website that was live for a decade here.