Welcome to the vibrant world of Big Freedia, the Queen of Bounce, where infectious beats meet unapologetic self-expression. Big Freedia, born Freddie Ross, has become an icon in the music industry, known for pioneering the New Orleans bounce music genre and bringing it to global prominence. With a commanding stage presence and a personality as big as her name suggests, Big Freedia has captivated audiences worldwide with her electrifying performances and fearless attitude.
From her early days in the vibrant streets of New Orleans to her rise to international fame, Big Freedia has shattered stereotypes and pushed boundaries, becoming an emblem of authenticity and empowerment. Whether she’s commanding a stage with her high-energy performances or advocating for LGBTQ+ rights and visibility, Big Freedia continues to inspire countless individuals to embrace their true selves and celebrate their uniqueness. Her music transcends genres, blending elements of hip-hop, electronic, and traditional New Orleans sounds, creating a sonic landscape that is as dynamic as it is irresistible.
Below, you’ll find a collection of memorable quotes from Big Freedia that encapsulate her bold spirit, fierce determination, and unwavering commitment to being true to oneself. Feel free to draw inspiration from these quotes, whether you choose to display them on an image, incorporate them into your own creative projects, or simply let them serve as a reminder to embrace your individuality and live life to the fullest.
Generally, I cook from the soul and measure by eye, throwing in this and that along the way. But I want to be a certified chef. That’s one of my goals. Big Freedia
The bigger artists are definitely looking and paying attention to the culture and the style of bounce music. Big Freedia
Bounce music is uptempo, heavy bass, call and response. Big Freedia
When I go shopping, I try to specify certain things for certain events, but most of the time, I have so much stuff to pull from at home in the closet. Big Freedia
I loved listening to music around the house with my mom on Saturday mornings when we would clean up. Big Freedia
Outside of Bounce, I listen to Beyonce, Sia, Rihanna. Big Freedia
Once I started rapping, I had to start dancing more. I had to really use my craft, and take everything I did for fun and put it into my professional shows. Big Freedia
I met Icona Pop by chance because we were both recording at the same studio. I was a fan so when I heard they were in the next room, I went to say hi. Next thing I knew, they were on two songs. Big Freedia
I’m an artist. I’m a gay artist. My preferred identity is, ‘any of the sort.’ My fans like to identify me as ‘she,’ but I’m comfortable with who I am, I know who I am and it’s all fine with me. Big Freedia
I love Red Bull, they support everything that I do. They always support music and they’re always pushing music. Big Freedia
Performing has always been a natural part of me. Big Freedia
Being a big kid, I was kind of fat and chubby, and I got picked on quite a bit. Big Freedia
I feel very accepted, like I never have any slander. I never have any issues. You know, like, when people see me, they respect me. It’s all about how you carry yourself. Big Freedia
A lot of people think that I am trans but I’m not trans. I am a gay male with hair and nails. So if you say ‘he’ or ‘she’ it doesn’t matter. I know who I am. Big Freedia
I draw my strength from my mom, who passed away a few years ago. She taught me from the day I was just a little boy to never give up and be proud of who I am. Big Freedia
You can see yourself in the mirror. You can see how you want your body to move. Everybody wants to look sexy when they’re dancing, so that mirror will be, you know, that reflection of yourself of how you will look in the club, so definitely use the mirror at home. Big Freedia
Real twerkers can use their knees for support. Big Freedia
Some issues just need to be dealt with – that we’re still dealing with in the world, with police brutality and racism. Big Freedia
I always try to have my hair and my nails did no matter what. As long as that’s done, putting an outfit and some shoes together, and a little makeup, that’s nothing. Big Freedia
There’s no such thing as ‘sissy bounce.’ We don’t separate it here in New Orleans at all. It’s just bounce music. Just because I’m a gay artist, they don’t have to put it in a category or label it. Big Freedia
Everybody knows that at a Freedia show, you’re definitely going to have some crowd participation, and they’re anticipating and waiting for that moment. Big Freedia
Drake and I have built a relationship, vibing and performing together. Big Freedia
I’ve grown in tremendous ways with enhancing my music, my ability to perform on stage and travel all around to spread bounce music. I’ve come so far from being that little black boy growing up in New Orleans to now. Big Freedia
I come from the city of New Orleans where it’s live and vibrant. Big Freedia
I come from a community plagued with so much poverty and violence and homophobia. Big Freedia
I’m always working and coming up with new and fresh ideas to keep my fans engaged and keep myself relevant. Big Freedia
I’m a performer, so when I get to any space, I make it my own for that moment and have fun. Big Freedia
I truly believe there needs to be more programs for artists and musicians to teach basic financial literacy and planning. Coming from where I came from, I know that I could have used that kind of assistance. Big Freedia
First and foremost, I’m human. I’m a person. Big Freedia
I was so big, so I had to always come up with my own creations. Like, when I would do junior prom and stuff, I would have stuff specially made or added to my outfit. I definitely was always into trying to do something a little over and beyond. Big Freedia
Bounce is a primarily call-and-response style of hip-hop over a ‘Trigger Man’ beat. It’s a New Orleans-created hip-hop style that developed in the late ’80s, early ’90s. Big Freedia
I’m steady trying to make this bounce stuff mainstream and do some wonderful and great things for the culture of New Orleans. Big Freedia
Bounce is taking flight all over the globe. New York especially, and L.A., Canada, Portland, Washington. It keeps getting bigger and bigger. Big Freedia
Gay folks go to church. We pray to the Lord too. Big Freedia
Duffy is go hard or go home. It’s just a concept that I wanted to have when we’re doing different things. When me and my dancers go in, we usually go hard or we go home. We’re not here to play. We go duffy. Big Freedia
Twerking is definitely from New Orleans. Big Freedia
Before I was rapping, I was an interior designer and decorator. Big Freedia
I’ve always liked to dance. Big Freedia
Everything has a feeling to it, even if it’s not your type of music – it has a feeling for somebody in the world. Big Freedia
Everybody in the world now wants to twerk. We don’t twerk here in New Orleans, we bounce, we wiggle, we wobble, we shake, we bust it open, bend it over, we do it all. Big Freedia
I like to make everything and I can really cook. Big Freedia
I mean you have to work hard to earn respect and make people respect you. When I come to the presence of any room or any place, people give me the most high respects and I’m gracious and appreciative of that. Big Freedia
Of course, Bounce is all about the dance moves. Big Freedia
Everything changed after Katrina. It’s a new New Orleans now and I think it’s better. It was a wake-up call and it rebuilt and cleaned up the city. It all happened for a reason. I’m now grateful for Katrina. Big Freedia
The journey after Katrina, it opened a lot of doors for a lot of people. Coming from a rooftop to going to Hollywood and around the world, internationally teaching people about bounce music, definitely God is good and amazing about what he can do with your life. Big Freedia
I’m human, just like everyone else. Big Freedia
I’m over twerking. Big Freedia
The best times I’ve had backstage are when you have people around you who genuinely love you, respect your privacy, and have your back – that’s what it’s all about. Big Freedia
I get DMs all the time: kids who don’t know how to come out to their parents, parents who don’t know how to deal with their kids who are gay. I try to give the best advice I can. Big Freedia
I was young so when I had that job at Burger King, I was still in high school and I just needed to help out my mom. And help myself because I needed to buy some of my clothes. I did that for about three years and I had became a shift manager working at Burger King, doing my thing. I was young and excited to make my own money. Big Freedia
I was on subsidized housing for many years before my financial situation changed. I quickly found myself in a new economic structure and, frankly, knew little about how to handle my money. Big Freedia
I’m a beast in the kitchen. Big Freedia
Definitely practice in the mirror before you attempt it. You have to use your body in the upright position, you can use your knees for support and that’s the only way you can twerk. Big Freedia
I started travelling doing shows everywhere to make people feel like a sense of New Orleans wherever they may be. Big Freedia
There’s so much fashion out there, and I’m so busy, sometimes it’s even hard to look at TV to see who’s wearing what. Big Freedia
Like a lot of artists, I started out as a singer in my church choir when I was a child. Big Freedia
I would love to do something with many artists, you know: Fantasia, Cardi B, Lil Wayne, J.Lo, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson. There’s so many of them! All of them are iconic in their own way and to collaborate with any of those artists of that magnitude would be such an honor for me because I grew up listening to them and I love their music. Big Freedia
When I first started, I was definitely reserved,. I was still trying to find myself. Big Freedia
My church people supported me when I made my transition from gospel to bounce and that made it a lot easier. Big Freedia
For a long time a lot of people thought New Orleans wasn’t a safe place and that it was very ratchet. Big Freedia
I’ve been dying to do something with Ms. Patti LaBelle because she is so iconic. I grew up listening to her with my mom in the house. She is such a big inspiration to me. Big Freedia
When I was little I was into gospel music. Big Freedia
I was a choir director for my high school. Of my friends, I was the more rational one, because I was the choir girl! Big Freedia
About 1998, my best friend, Katey Red, was the first transsexual male to come out with bounce music. And I background Katey for about two years. And then that’s when the game totally switched when me and Katey jumped in it. Big Freedia
Freedom to me can be so many things; freedom to be myself, to express myself and do the things I want to do, freedom to go in any direction I want to go in order to accomplish my goals. Big Freedia
People should be able to do what they want in life and not be judged or put in a box or a category. Big Freedia
When something get hot, everybody want to jump on the bandwagon and act like they created it. Big Freedia
I create music for myself first of all because if I’m not happy with the music I create, I can’t make anybody else happy. Big Freedia
I got my style from my mom, she was a classy lady. Big Freedia
No one can predict what God is going to do. Big Freedia
Twerking is just limited to a certain, specific dance where it’s hand on the knees and you’re busting open. With bounce music, we do a whole lot more and everyone is so unique in the way that they move and their personality. Big Freedia
Beyonce has a platform; what’s a better way to speak on your platform than through your music? Big Freedia
Me and Drake and all his people hung out. I had the whole club jumping. Big Freedia
I’d love to work with Snoop Dogg, Skrillex, Lil Wayne, Kendrick Lamar. Big Freedia
Everyone has a butt. No matter what size it is, you can work it. Big Freedia
Twerking – and it’s a lot more than twerking – comes from a long history of music and dance in New Orleans. Twerkin’ happen around the world for a long time now, so I’m very excited that it’s coming into the public eye, as long as it’s respected. Big Freedia
I came out at a very early age. I sat my mom down at my 12th birthday party and told her in front of my friends. She said, ‘Baby, mama already knows, and I’m going to love you regardless.’ Once I got my mom’s support, there was nothing else I needed. Big Freedia
I still feel like there are so many things that I have to do to really become an icon. I’ve done a lot and laid down a lot of groundwork, but there’s so much more work to be done. There’s a lot more that I want to do, LGBTQ centers that I want to open. After I leave my legacy, then I will be that icon. Big Freedia
You know, being the artist and not knowing when you sometimes create a song, you don’t think about whether it’s gonna start controversy or whatever. Sometimes you just write and you’re in the zone. Big Freedia
That was one thing my mama instilled in me: to be well trained in the kitchen. Growing up, I was always in the kitchen with her. You name it, I make it: red beans and rice, lasagna, chicken, pork. I am the queen of cooking. Big Freedia
Housing vouchers are a vital lifeline for many people I know in New Orleans and around the country, including struggling artists. Big Freedia
My mother was my rock and my inspiration. Big Freedia
Being gay and coming up in New Orleans was not easy. At first I was very terrified and very timid. Big Freedia
I’ve always been indie. Big Freedia
I’m an artist who happens to be gay. Big Freedia
I’m a bounce artist, straight born and raised from New Orleans, Louisiana, and I love what I do. Big Freedia
Some of my friends really rock out: Matt and Kim, Diplo, when RuPaul was performing. Beyonce… there’s tons of people I saw perform and was like, ‘I just want my crowd to be awesome like this!’ Big Freedia
It has to do a lot more than just twerking. It’s feel good music; it makes people have a good time. It doesn’t matter what type of situation they’re in, we bounce all around New Orleans. Weddings, birthday parties, funerals. The whole nine yards, and it’s a happy music, it turns people from a frown to a happy smile. Big Freedia
We have a dance in bounce music called ‘exercising’ where you just open your legs and shake your butt a little bit from side to side. Big Freedia
The first club that reopened in New Orleans was Caesar’s, and they called me immediately and said let’s do a regular night with you here. So we started FEMA Fridays. It was the only club open in the city, and a lot of people had a lot of money from Katrina, the checks and stuff, so the joy inside that club – I don’t think that’ll ever come back. Big Freedia
I basically go with whatever my gut tells me. Big Freedia
Everyone is unique to the way that they dance in New Orleans. Big Freedia
I’m comfortable with who I am. Big Freedia
I can’t pull back. I’m 6 foot 3, I’m tall, and I’m gay. I light up the room. Big Freedia
I’m always honored to see my music and New Orleans Bounce make its way into mainstream culture. Big Freedia
I’ve worked tremendously hard to make things happen for New Orleans culture. Big Freedia
The first 10 years of my journey, I was still figuring out who I was, and then I had to redo it all over again when I became bigger. So instead of saying, ‘I’m gay and this is me,’ I started telling the story through my music. Big Freedia
I grew up in a Baptist church my whole life. Big Freedia
If I’m just trying to get to different levels… and it takes levels to get to levels, and I just have to do what I have to do to keep on climbing the charts and getting where I need to be. Big Freedia
I’ve always loved to cook. It helps me to relax and gives me peace. It’s my nourishment. Big Freedia