Free Your Ass...

Standing at more than 185 centimetres, Big Freedia – a transgender MC from New Orleans – has a commanding presence. Born Freddie Ross in Louisiana, the 34-year-old hip hop star went from singing in church choirs to dancing at local drag shows. Now pioneering a style of music known as bounce, she has taken an underground subculture from the clubs to worldwide television audiences, and in the process advocated issues of equality and inclusion.

Known to shock fans with highly sexualised lyrics and in-your-face dance moves, Freedia is stunned by the overwhelming response to her music. Having headlined club shows in Milan and Amsterdam, as well as toured the UK, Europe and Australia, her music has transcended its early Southern sounds. “Usually before I get to a country, being that it's somewhere new and fresh, I'll be ready to go through the teaching process. But then when I get there, they're already on it. They know my music and have been watching my videos,” she says with pride.

With a style that leads itself to audience participation, Freedia is warmed by her new fans' ability to pick up her music. “It also shocks me when they don't know of my music and I have to teach it to them and they get it right away,” she says. One such example was her 2am set at the Meredith Music Festival last year, admitting she managed to jolt even the most liberal of fans. “It was something new they hadn't seen before and their mouths were dropping, I could see their reactions from stage,” she reflects. “I had a lot of girls from Australia get on stage with me and they helped make it what it was, which really turned out to be a success.”

As part of the Australian tour, which she rates as “the best tour I had that year”, Freedia hosted a workshop on behalf of the Student Union Queer Department at Melbourne University. Lecturing on the significance of bounce music in relation to class, race, gender and sexuality, ultimately her music represents inclusion, she says. “I want everyone to be free and be themselves, to be able to connect to my music. You can connect to my music in all kinds of ways, all walks of life. No matter who you are you can enjoy yourself. It's not about race, sex, gender, all those sorts of things; it's about having a good time when we get to the club and connecting no matter who or how you are. That's my message, always.”

A self-made star, her rise to fame has been gradual. Along the way there was a feature article in The New York Times on gender-bending rap, a documentary interview with Philadelphia-based producer Diplo, a Rolling Stone-endorsed performance at SXSW, a collaboration with Spank Rock and biggest of all, a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Dressed in zebra print, Freedia pranced down Hollywood Boulevard before storming the stage to perform Excuse; the song's rapid-fire lyrics begin with “Excuse, I don't mean to be rude, but give me that mic, let me do what I do”. Crude and ambiguous, she put bounce music on a world platform. “I had such a blast. It was my world premiere on TV and it took my career to the next level,” she gleams. “People just loved it. A lot of people remember me by it and it was exciting for my fans and my team.”

The variety show, which is broadcast internationally, was, Freedia admits, partially censored to accommodate her performance. “The guy who booked the show had been to one of my previous shows to check me out, so he already knew what to expect. He wanted me to be myself and to be free, but we definitely toned it down for the television.”

A style of hip hop unique to New Orleans, bounce is interactive party music: up-tempo, bass-heavy, looped beats, call-and-response chants and, as the name suggests, driven by dancing. Designed for clubs, the style has its roots in southern hip hop and urban dance music. Already renowned as the birthplace of rhythm and blues, jazz and Dixieland, Freedia, ever the advocate, adds bounce music to New Orleans' honour role, without batting an eyelid. “It will keep growing and more and more people will know it as the home of bounce music,” she says of the genre's historical significance. “I've been working at the forefront, letting people know where it comes from, where it originated and that it's been around for over two decades. The next decade it will have even more strength and power behind it.”

The constant rise of the genre, and indeed Freedia's fame, is due to her work ethic. Holding down a hectic touring schedule that sees her play, “different venues, on different nights to different people”, with up to six shows a week, has meant she has had to make sacrifices, one such being her interior decorating business. “It's still poppin', it's just that I haven't been able to put my hands on things to decorate for a while,” she says of her company that lists former New Orleans Mayor Clarence Nagin as a client. “I've been so exhausted from the road and travelling, but I still run the company and have staff members who I send out to do jobs.”

Before arriving in Australia for her Ass Down Under tour, Freedia will return to San Francisco to complete work on a new album, much of which will be heard for the first time in Australia. “I'll be putting in some new music,” she says of the setlist. “I've been incorporating a lot of new music into my set, so people can feel where I'm coming from and where I'm going. “

With a highly energised live show, Freedia admits as long as she's in her zone, replicating the energy in a recording booth is easy. “When I'm in the studio I just think of it as a club full of people and I want them to react to what I'm saying. I just go into that mindset of being very hyped with lots of energy, because these songs have to be performed on stage after they have been recorded.”

When quizzed on where she draws her lyrical inspiration from, the self-proclaimed queen diva says she's simply drawing on experience. “A lot of it comes from touring, seeing a lot of different people and places around the world. Just my everyday life, talking and having conversations with people. There's so many creative ways that we can write and come up with ideas and I try and use every angle. Just hanging in my hood or with my friends, we'll be coming up with some catchy slang or phrases and the same thing at the club. It clicks all kind of ways for me.”

Freedia lists one of the new songs as a current favourite and a track sure to get Australian audiences dancing. “Right now one of my songs that's going really hard and everybody likes is Go Duffy. It's simple. It means go hard or go home: 'come ready to party or get yo' ass right back out the door and go home'.”

Big Freedia will be playing the following shows:

Thursday 18 October - The Hi-Fi, Melbourne VIC (Inpress Presents)
Friday 19 October - GoodGod Small Club, Sydney NSW
Saturday 20 October - The Tote, Melbourne VIC