New Orleans’ Next Big Thing: Noon Orleanz

Noon Orleanz brings that hardcore street sound that New Orleanz haven’t heard since the late great, Soulja Slim.

With rappers like, Soulja Slim being deceased, BG, Mac and C-Murder being locked up, the New Orleans street sound somewhat dissipated over the last decade. Although the city was always known for its bounce rap music, it’s elevated over the last couple of years with guys like, Drake and Chance The Rapper sampling those beats and putting it on mainstream. Real street anthems have been hard to come by. That was until you travel to Uptown… the 12^th Ward where rapper, Noon Orleanz resides. Noon, has been making a big splash on social media and after dropping two mixtapes, “Who Is Noon,” and “Blakk” it appears we will be getting an official project from the edgy Louisiana native. Noon’s raps literally walks you through the hood without you actually being there and his verses are revolved around his life experiences.

During my recent conversation with the, “Mob Life” member, we discuss the void in the game, the south being disrespected by the bigger markets and why he feels Hurricane Katrina was, “God’s work.”

You starting to heat up in these streets. How do you feel, my brother?

Noon Orleanz: Yes indeed! Man, I’m hyped, ya heard me.

Uptown, 12^th Ward, that’s what you reppin. Tell us about it.

Noon Orleanz: Believe that. It’s the best of both worlds, ya know. You get a little bit of New Orleans and you get a little bit of heaven. And when I say New Orleans, I’m talking about the wicked side. I’m from the smallest section in the city, ya know. We don’t get a lot of credit for producing artists. The only artist to come from the 12^th Ward that really made it mainstream is, Mystikal, ya dig. We get overlooked. We like the heart. To get to the Magnolia and get to the 13^th where, BG, Juve and Soulja Slim from, you gotta come through the 12^th Ward, you know what I’m saying.

You said that you felt you are from the hardest place to make it from. But I hear and see that hunger in you and it just feels like you won’t be denied.

Noon Orleanz: Man, yes indeed, man. Honestly, I feel like everything that I’ve been through in life, I feel like it’s paying off already. I used to rap to my family members. I started rapping honestly because of what we were going through. Because we didn’t have a voice in the city, so you know, to get an audience from what I love to do and just speak my mind, that’s big to me already. I feel like I’m already successful, ya know.

You get a lot of love when you post on Instagram. Is that one of the things that motivates you to keep grinding?

Noon Orleanz: The people is why I do what I do, so yes indeed. Just getting them responses from the people and other artists is motivation in its own because we are really all we got. Outside of the Instagram in terms of the other artists, we hang on the regular. I can call any of them right now. That’s big to motivate each other because honestly, we all we got and if we don’t push each other, it’s kind of like we going to get overlooked. We had to come with a different format for the game and we running with it right now. It’s all about teamwork.

You killed the “Brooklyn Challenge.” You sound like, L.O.G. and Soulja Slim rolled into one. You have a real old school New Orleans sound and that’s been missing. What inspired you to rap?

Noon Orleanz: Honestly, the two you just named was a major inspiration. Plus, the other 125 of them that came. I pay homage to all my forefather’s. I respect em. They created a lifestyle. We grew up living what they rap. We had to experience that shit too, so everything they were saying, it was like a movie and we were really seeing the shit happen. I still live it. I still see it on a regular, so it’s hard for me to stray away from it when it’s still my reality.

You have dropped a few mixtapes, “Who Is Noon,” and “Blakk,” do you have an official album that we can be looking out for in the near future?

Noon Orleanz: Honestly, any day now. I have one that’s done. We’re just putting the finishing touches on it and I got a couple of more features that I’m working on. I don’t want to release no names, but we are adding some big names to it. From the city, some city-oriented talent. We just really want to roll it out right. I got something for the streets, man. I have something for the world really. This the one I’m letting it all go on. I’m showing off my versatility in one project.

That’s a great point because there is a fine line for what you provide for the streets and what you provide for the world. Have you been sitting back and seeing what the void is in the game, so you can fill it?

Noon Orleanz: Man, honestly that’s why I’ve been quiet for a minute. When I’m quiet, that’s when it gets dangerous. I really been game planning. I saw how it swapped real fast. It jumped to Baton Rouge. Big up to Baton Rouge, salute BR. They got some real talent in BR, but I saw that… the sound that BR using right now collectively, I saw how the world received that sound. What makes me mad, I had to sit down with other artists, and it pissed me off because when I turn on a local artist, he sounds like he’s from Atlanta. I’ve been really trying to put us down to get us back. I’m trying to put us back on the map because honestly man, no disrespect to nobody, but we’re the reason why 75% of these niggaz rapping, ya know.

Do you feel like you are continuously growing from project to project because I feel you are bringing something different from the first time, I heard you?

Noon Orleanz: I honestly do. I use every project as fuel for the next one. I try not to touch on topics that I just spoke on. I try to keep it going and deliver a more mature me. And I speak on life. I come from the heart every time, so everything that I put on wax, it’s from experience or something around me and that’s how I’m chilling at the moment. As far as lyrically and the sound itself, I kind of motivate myself in the sense of, I battle myself. I have to go harder than I did that last time and I have to bring something new to the table.

What motivated the, “Funk Flex” joint?

Noon Orleanz: Man, they disrespecting us as a whole. I’m not speaking on New Orleans. I’m speaking on the south right now. They consider us slow; they tell us we’re not lyrical. I’m really here to change that narrative. I’m here to bring back the artistry and let them know that we are the mecca of it. No disrespect to New York where they say hip-hop is from, but we came from a place where you can go on a Sunday and spit your freestyle at “Congo Square.” This is the birthplace of Jazz. This is what we do. We just didn’t have that platform. Now, we created our own platform and the world gonna feel us now. They got 25 niggaz in my city just like me and they got 25 more that’s hungry, just like me and they are hungry.

Tell us about the “Mob Life” movement.

Noon Orleanz: That’s the family, man. That’s a team of… not even just artists, but producers, cameramen, engineers, singers, rappers, males and females. Everybody on the same accord. We have the whole music box in one. It’s like the Wu Tang of New Orleans. We bringing something different and from different points of view. We can’t give them just Uptown or the 12^th Ward. Everybody from New Orleans. It’s the sound of New Orleans. It’s not just rap. It’s all genres of music. We have 3-female singers that’s crazy. They will be Billboard artists. That’s what we’re working towards honestly. Just getting the team prepared for this push. Honestly, I just want to do my thing and get out the way because I have so many people around me who I really really believe in too. I ain’t never going to stop putting pressure down, but we got some people that need to be heard. If it’s the last thing I do, they are going to be heard.

That’s always been the thing that held New Orleans back, either the talent was murdered at a young age or just never had a chance to be heard.

Noon Orleanz: Yes indeed, bro. That’s the theme. We get that a lot. It looks bad on the outside looking in because, as soon as a nigga come up in New Orleans, you get killed. But bro, I’m an artist in New Orleans and like I said, I can call any artist in New Orleans and they will come pull up on me or I can pull up on them at their house. We are really working together. That’s what people don’t know. After [Hurricane] Katrina, we had to come together because we had to survive. We had to go to other places and form a bond. These niggaz who would have never crossed the avenue. They would’ve never dapped each other off back then, you know what I’m saying? But now we working together. It’s real, man. No disrespect to nobody, but that’s what the, Hot Boys, the Cash Money and the No Limit’s can’t give you because they didn’t experience this. That was, God work, man. Half these niggaz ain’t leave they block before, Katrina. They have a corner store in every hood, 50 niggaz on every block. I know niggaz who never been on Canal Street or the other side of the city before the storm hit. This forced niggaz to see the world. My momma never left New Orleans before, Katrina. That’s on my life.

What’s the short-term goal for you winding down 2019 and headed into 2020?

Noon Orleanz: Pressure man. Honestly, 2020 started for me, so when you hear from me you’re not going to stop hearing from me no more. It’s everything. It’s all on the line right now. I’m just getting everything organized, so once we do push, it’s going to be a flood. It’s karma. We about to do the world what they did us.

I can’t wait until the world gets to hear you because you deserve that. I’m sure this is the first of many, my man. I appreciate the time. Is there anything else you would like to add?

Noon Orleanz: Much respect, man. That’s my word, family. Look, “Mob Life” or no life, 2020, you going to see us. Believe that!

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