DANCE ZINE SCIONAV.COM VOL. 3

Recently, Freedia’s become probably the bestknown
artist out of New Orleans’ storied
bounce music scene, thanks in dual parts to the
popularity of her party-slammers and the fact
that she’s the first true bounce artist to ever tour
vigorously beyond Louisiana. “I’ve gotten famous
outside of New Orleans because of the hard work
and determination of my staff working to [spread
the] bounce gospel,” she says. “It’s been very
exciting and very interesting over the last couple
years to go to different places and teach people
about the culture of bounce music.”
New Orleans is the type of city that’s been selfsustaining
for decades, though, and Freedia’s
long been a scene queen. She started making
bounce more than 12 years ago when she was
still in high school, and since then she’s elevated
gay awareness in rap as much as she has bounce
culture. But it’s her experience and neverwavering
charisma that seem to guarantee a
future outside a NOLA rap niche. On new track
“Let It Go Nah,” she’s altered with auto-tune,
an über-pop move on a track that would sound
as comfy next to Katy Perry as it would Katey
Red. The song adheres to bounce standards, but
Freedia shows how elastic its simple form can be.
Still, if there’s one element that will never waver
in the bounce oeuvre, it’s the importance of the
booty. With New Orleans moves evolving as
quickly as breaks in the beat, what’s Freedia’s
favorite dance floor twerk? “I’m gonna make
that simple. Bend over, make that bump go
up and down like a basketball. Dribble it like a
basketball,” she says. “Swiggle is my favorite,
which is making my booty go around, swiggling
it around and around in a circle. Actually, I’d call
it mixing, because when you swiggle you add the
arm motions and the upper body surfing. Mixing
is my favorite. When I just mix my booty like a
cake mixer.” Long live bounce music!
bigfreedia.com
Hear Scion A/V Presents: Big Freedia, featuring
five new songs, at scionav.com/bigfreedia