Opinion of New Orleans, Louisiana

[GP270watch]

 Outside of NYC probably America's most important city from a cultural standpoint.

[GP270watch]

 Take Hip Hop, Rappers were mostly broke or severely under valued before New Orleans artists like Master P and Cash Money(Birdman) negotiated those record breaking distribution deals with the major labels. Birdman and Slim went on to sign 3 of the most important artists in Lil Wayne, Drake, and Nicki Minaj on the Young Money/Cash Money imprint. This was the blueprint for Coach K and Coach P who went on to start Quality Control and sign or manage some of the biggest Atlanta hip-hop acts.

 New Orleans has always basically done this, they always have their own thing going that influences everything else. Like Rock and Roll, most casuals think Memphis(Sun Records)as the birthplace of rock and roll. But New Orleans was cutting rock and roll records before and during the Sun Records hey day, with artist like Fats Domino and Little Richard. New Orleans also did the same thing with their own version of Funk. When James Brown was innovating funk New Orleans had their own pioneers with Earl Palmer, The Meters, etc.

 New Orleans was also the cultural connection to Cuba, since there used to be a ferry to Cuba since it was so close. The Cuban embargo has made people forget how huge Cuba was as a cultural influence in the arts to the United States and vice versa and New Orleans was that gateway.

 I was once reading about Bob Marley and The Wailers and they said one of the biggest influence to the their sound was the radio from America. The radio from American stations was highlighted by WNOE in New Orleans and the Black american music they heard. A lot of people speculate that the downbeat emphasis of Ska and Reggae was due to the Afro-Cuban rhythms of New Orleans music

 Hollywood was more influenced by New Orleans than vice versa. The first developments in Hollywood cinematic audio techniques were to capture New Orleans style big bands, minstrel acts, or actual New Orleans acts like Louis Armstrong.