Its a humid Thursday night in New Orleans and everyone in this cramped Uptown hookah lounge has caught the spirit, including my girlfriends and I. BJSoCole, a young local bounce artist, is performing his energetic single Pump It Up and nearly everyone in the room and its mostly women and queer men has abandoned their seat for a spot on the makeshift dance floor. In the famous words of Big Freedia, its ass everywhere. Here, twerking is not a mating call. Its a sensual salute to the beat. Were here for us.

Creating that space for women and nonbinary people has been an intentional effort by queer rappers such as BJSoCole. I gravitated toward these spaces almost immediately when I was living in New Orleans in the late 2010s. Theres an energy to making women feel empowered and encouraging them to be who they are, he says. Im not calling them out their name. Im not trying to make them be hoes or nothing like that. I do it respectfully. Lets dance. Lets just be free.