Leonce has been having a pretty good year. Since signing to Kingdom’s ultra-cool Fade to Mind label, the young producer has enjoyed a string of successes including an electrifying mix for Thump with the inimitable Helix, a feature mix and interview with Truants, and a new club night, Morph, getting started in Atlanta and LA featuring some of the coolest names in forward-thinking dance music – LSDXOXO, Nguzunguzu, Rizzla, Manara, and fellow resident Type-O, to name a few.
We’re still waiting on an official F2M debut release from Leonce, but thankfully there are a few tasty morsels for the discerning club head to chew on in the meantime. Apart from the aforementioned mixes, there are loosie bootlegs of Sevyn Streeter, Nicki Minaj, and Divoli S’vere floating around the web. As of Thursday, however, interested parties can enjoy an entire .zip of eight bounce edits from Leonce. The HEATWAVE tape includes Leonce’s edits of some of the hottest urban tracks from the last couple of years – perfect for DJs, twerk video makers, or anyone who likes shaking their ass to rap music.
Download the entire Heatwave mixtape here.
Since the Hollygrove native is now based in Atlanta, Leonce’s music reflects the iconic urban styles of both locales. For example, Leonce’s Truants mix is totally rap-centric – with Atlanta as a focal point – featuring artists like Young Scooter, Young Thug, and Ca$h Out. The New Orleans influences present in much of his productions, however, shine light onto a bigger combination of influences.
Discerning readers will recognize the Triggaman beat as a quintessential characteristic of bounce music, like the “Think†or “Sing Sing†breaks for Baltimore club, or the Pryda snare for big room EDM. More informed Blisspoppers will recognize artists like Big Freedia or Sissy Nobby as some of the most nationally recognizable bounce musicians; although bounce is still waiting for its big moment in the national urban spotlight, it has influenced work by acts from David Banner to the Ying Yang Twins to Beyonce. In the meantime, we’ll be waiting patiently for Leonce’s take on the sound.