The No Limit Reader draws inspiration from the entrepreneurial spirit of Percy Miller’s No Limit Records, but it also recognizes the cultural influence of Louisiana and its musical traditions that extend well beyond the borders of New Orleans. The collection also capitalizes on the rich cultural history of New Orleans and its recent musical resurgence as seen in Juvenile’s Tiny Desk concert for NPR, Master P’s performance at the BET Awards, and Beyoncé’s continued references to her Louisiana roots (i.e. “My Daddy Alabama, Mama Louisiana; You mix that Negro with that Creole, make a Texas bama” ).

Recent collections such as Regina Bradley’s The Outkast Reader, Kinitra Brooks and Kamelah Martin’s The Lemonade Reader, and Kinitira Brooks and Nicholas Jones’ highly anticipated Renaissance Reader, have established a precedent for scholarly collections that interrogate the influence of contemporary Black music at the intersection of culture and identity. The No Limit Reader builds on this trend of validating Black popular culture, especially Black music, and subjecting it to rigorous academic inquiry while simultaneously exploring and honoring people’s unadulterated love (i.e. fandom) for these musical traditions. While Bradley’s Outkast Reader considers the futuristic ethos of the ATLiens, The No Limit Reader emphasizes the aesthetic of decay that permeates New Orleans. Our collection invites essays that explore this decay in relation to the music of NOLA, Louisiana, and the larger Gulf South, but we also welcome innovative responses to this decay and the aftermath of slavery including colorism, the prison industrial complex, economic disenfranchisement, educational inequities, etc. Although the cultural influence and dominance of New Orleans is undeniable, New Orleans is not the entirety of Louisiana or the Gulf South. For this reason, the No Limit Reader invites personal and scholarly contributions that explore Gulf South cultural productions beyond the geographic boundaries of New Orleans.

Sample essay topics include but are not limited to: 

• Afrofuturist/Afropessimist tensions in Louisiana music

• Pedagogical uses of Lousisana Emcees/musical traditions in the classroom

• Influence of Louisiana music (i.e. bounce, zydeco) on the Gulf South and American music landscape.

• Capitalism/anti-capitalism as espoused in New Orleans hip hop

• Lyrical contributions of Miz-X, Megan Thee Stallion, and other female emcees of the Gulf South

• Sexuality/Sexualities, Black Queer and Black Trans Studies in the music of the Gulf South

• Black geographies (Southern Black culture, interplay between other local cultures)

• Criminal justice system, incarceration and social justice issues

• Explorations of neighborhoods and musical traditions of New Orleans and Louisiana

• Structural analyses of song lyrics

• Exploration of various storytelling techniques or literary tropes used by Gulf South Emcees

• The careers and music of No Limit Records, Cash Money Records, Master P, Juvenile, Lil’ Wayne, DJ Jubilee, Mia X, Big Freedia, Katey Red, Fifth Ward Weebie, Partners-N-Crime, Mystikal, Baby, Mannie Fresh, Jay Electronica, Soulja Slim, Choppa, Magnolia Shorty, Boosie, Webbie, Kane & Abel, Hot Boyz, DJ Jimi, C-Murder, B.G. UNLV, and more

Please submit abstracts of 300-500 words and a short bio to the editors by December 22, 2023. Contributors will be notified of acceptance by January 31, 2024. Full essays of 4500-8000 words will be due June 30, 2024. 

For questions, please email all editors at nolimitreader@gmail.com

Editors: 

Constance Bailey is an Assistant Professor of African American Literature and Folklore at Georgia State University. She obtained a B.A. in English from Alcorn State University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. Her research focuses on Black women’s comedy and humor, and contemporary Black speculative fiction, and African American folklore/oral traditions. Her work has appeared in Mississippi Folklife Magazine, the Journal of American Folklore, and Meridians: Feminism, Race, and Transnationalism (Duke UP).Dr. Bailey has presented widely at academic and professional conferences, and she currently serves on the executive committee of the Society for the Study of Southern Literature and the College Language Association. She is also a mom of three and in her non-existent spare time she moonlights as a Group Fitness Professional. 

A.D. Carson is currently an Associate Professor of Hip-Hop & the Global South at the University of Virginia. He is an award-winning performance artist and educator whose work focuses on race, literature, history, rhetorics & performance. He is also the author of a novel, COLD, which hybridizes poetry, rap lyrics, and prose. Dr. Carson’s work has been featured by Rolling Stone, Complex, The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Forbes, The Guardian, Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory, NPR’s All Things Considered, OkayPlayer, Quiddity International Literary Journal and Public-Radio Program, Time, USA Today, and XXL among others. His most recent album, V: ILLICIT, and other projects are available to stream/download free from aydeethegreat.com.

Jennifer Morrison is an Assistant Professor of English at Xavier University of Louisiana. She obtained a B.A. in English from Dillard University, an M.A. from Northwestern State University, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her research focuses on the nuances and specifics of African American culture in American literary and cultural studies. Her current project examines how Black southern writers have articulated a cultural and geographic landscape, the Gulf South, in contemporary literature. Her work has appeared in the Louisiana Folklore Miscellany and Wait Five Minutes: Weatherlore in the Twenty-first Century. She currently serves as the Vice President of the Louisiana Folklore Society and the Advisory Board Member of the Ernest J. Gaines Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.