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BEATROUTETOP 10 ARTISTS OF THE DECADE3NºVanguard of the DecadeRihannaRihanna began the decade with the vibrantand vivacious Loud (2010), her fifth album,and one that’s filled with the bright, fierceenergy we’ve come to associate with itscreator. Loud was a departure from its predecessor,Rated R, where Rihanna probeddarker themes and found release throughartistic self-expression.Yet the start of this decade showed usonly a glimpse of Rihanna’s capacity to transcendand transform through her own unique creativevision. As we near the end of the 2010s, we’ve come toknow Rihanna as an ever-evolving, multi-hyphenated talent,an icon as bright and distinct as her music, whoseartistic aptitudes and business savvy has allowed her tobuild her legacy.She’s an adept collaborator, an inimitable artist (thinkof the broad emotional palette of 2016’s Anti), and atenacious businesswoman.She’s collaborated with a wide-ranging group ofartists, from Jay Z and Shakira, to Paul McCartney andKevin Parker. On the same album, sometimes on thesame song, she can wrap together an even blend ofsoulful, powerful and raunchy.As the founder of beauty company Fenty Beauty,lingerie line FENTY X SAVAGE, and a new fashion brandthat launched this spring under luxury fashion groupLVMH, Rihanna proved her creativity and persistentwork ethic know no bounds. She quickly soared to thetop as a fashion designer, beauty mogul and businessowner, while also redefining the landscape of beautyand fashion: her range of foundations and concealers,for example, is available in more skin tones than eventhe most established beauty brands.Nine Grammy Awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards andeven six Guinness World Records? Check. An artisticand business drive that accumulated in more than 250million records sold and a reported $600 million fortune(Forbes named her the world’s wealthiest woman inmusic in 2019)? Check. A Harvard Humanitarian of theYear award? Check. Roles in top-billing films, like hercharacter Nine Ball in Ocean’s 8? Check. The womaneven has her own holiday — February 22 is known asnational “Rihanna Day” in Barbados.For Rihanna, however, the portrait of a renaissancewoman, and a self-made one at that, the iconographyof a goddess, the larger-than-life picture of creativesuccess, co-exist peacefully with a more intimate self(the shy, goofy, and funny Rihanna that she has sharedwith us, graciously, over the past 10 years).Throughout the past decade, the word trailblazer andRihanna have become synonymous. Most significantly,Rihanna’s decade-long journey to create and reinventherself—the persona, the artist, the icon, the businesswoman—culminatedin a complex and self-realizedwoman who redefines what it means to own power andsuccess, on her own terms. One-name celebrities andcultural powerhouses are gradually etched in our collectivecultural consciousness through private and publicfeats of reinvention and perseverance. No one provedthat more than Rihanna over the last decade. ,By VERONICA ZARETSKINº4Most Famous UnderdogBIG FREEDIAIn 1996, Freddie Ross was a gay teenager graduating highschool — the same year he first sang as a backup vocalist forhis friend Katey Red, the prolific gay rapper from New Orleans’Third Ward. Back then, Ross could not know that, twenty yearslater, Beyoncé would be calling in hopes that Ross would recordvocals for her new song.It wasn’t long after that first performance with Katey Redthat Ross found footing centre stage in New Orleans’ thrivingbounce music scene. He became, on stage and in everyday life,Big Freedia Queen Diva.Undisputedly credited for launching an entire subgenre of underground,region-specific hip-hop to the front of international pop music, Freediahas, in the past decade, appeared in the media’s most revered outlets. LilWayne referenced her on “Back To You.” Her raps are sampled in two ofDrake’s singles, “Nice For What” and “In My Feelings.” Lizzo is featured onFreedia’s hit “Karaoke.” You’ll recognize Freedia’s deep voice hollering “Icame to slay, bitch” between refrains on Beyoncé’s “Formation,” as well assinging alongside RuPaul, Charli XCX, and Kesha.The challenges Freedia has faced throughout her career are a testamentto her incredible resilience and hard work. She was displaced afterHurricane Katrina wiped out much of her neighbourhood in 2005. Relocatingto Houston, Texas, Freedia continued to perform, giving bounce musicexposure in a new state. Tragedy struck multiple times in a short spanof years: a boyfriend was lost to gun violence, her mother succumbed tocancer, and her brother was killed in a shooting. Big Freedia herself has abullet lodged in her forearm from an unprovoked attack years ago.Yet, what defines Freedia is her energy and her willingness to share it.Through a successful docu-series that aired for six seasons, her autobiography,and organizing and setting a Guinness World Record for MostPeople Twerking Simultaneously (2013, 358 people between the ages ofeight and 80, New York City), Freedia expresses a homegrown sentiment:positivity is catching.In 10 years, the Queen Diva has infused mainstream music with thesounds, and the moves, of New Orleans bounce. But it’s the tip of theiceberg: the groundwork that Freddie Ross laid out in clubs around theMelpomene Housing Projects all those years ago have truly paid off.There’s only one question left: what’s next for Big Freedia? ,By DAYNA MAHANNAHDECEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 11