United States of Bass

Event Details

Big Freedia (pronounced “FREE-da”), known as the Queen of Bounce, is at the forefront of the Bounce rap movement (a subgenre of hip-hop born out of New Orleans and known for its call and response style and lightening speed booty-shaking dance). Performing five out of seven nights in any given week with dancers she calls The Divas, Big Freedia’s show is nothing short of dazzling. She tours every city in America from New York to San Francisco and is always a favorite at festivals such as Electric Forest, Hangout Fest, FunFunFun Fest, SXSW, and Bonnaroo, among many others. Gay and proud, Big Freedia asserts that her (Freedia is a he but uses the feminine pronoun for her stage persona) sexuality has little to do with her music. "All types of people—gay, straight, rich, poor, black, white come to my shows. People just wanna get out and shake their azzzz and have a good time!” A product of the hip-hop generation, Freedia was rocking RUN DMC, Salt ‘n Pepa and Adidas Shell Tops as a teenager. One night in 1991 he heard "Where Dey At" by MC T Tucker, (what many believe to be the first recorded Bounce track) and he was transfixed. After starting as a back-up dancer for Katey Red, the original “Sissy Bounce” rapper, Freedia knew Bounce was his calling and eventually broke out on his own.