Big Freedia Is Coming To Chicago To Slay, Bitch

By Mae Rice in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 17, 2016 7:14PM

“I did not come to play with you hos,” a voice drawls on Beyoncé’s new single, “Formation.” “I came to slay, bitch.”

The voice belongs to bounce rapper Big Freedia, who was born and raised in New Orleans—where the “Formation” video was also set.

Freedia's New Orleans roots show in everything she does, even the “tone of [her] voice,” she told Chicagoist.

Chicagoans can see what she means firsthand this Friday, when she’ll be perform with her backup dancers, The Divas, at a sold-out show at Seven.

The show will be a bounce show, which means “heavy bass, call-and-response type music, where if I call out something the crowd will respond behind me,” Freedia said.

The music comes with its own dance moves. “The girls, we shake, wiggle, wobble, twerk, all of that,” Freedia said. (Twerking originated in New Orleans’ bounce scene.) “Boys do shoulder-hustling and Peter Panning and all that good stuff.”

Born Freddy Ross, Big Freedia uses female pronouns for her stage persona, and male ones offstage. If you want to see Freedia's stage persona in action, here’s her best-known video to date: “Duffy.”

Music is just one facet of Freedia's current media empire. Outside of her three albums—the most recent of which is Just Be Free—she’s the star of a Fuse reality show, “Queen of Bounce”; the author of Big Freedia: God Save the Queen Diva, and current holder of a Guinness World Record for twerking. (We’ll get to this.)

Last week, the Friday after Mardi Gras and the “Formation” video drop, we talked with Big Freedia about her upcoming Chicago show, working with Beyoncé, and whether she’d ever move her home-base from New Orleans.

Where were you when Beyoncé’s publicist first called you and asked you to guest on “Formation”? How did you react?

I was at home laying in my bed, and I lost it in my own skin right then and there. I was very happy. I was overwhelmed, happy, excited, I mean, all those things at one time. It was just such an amazing feeling to get that call from the Queen B herself.

Were you in the studio with her when you recorded the track?

Uh-uh, no. She was wherever she was, and I was in New Orleans, and I just went to the studio on my own, me and my producer, and we knocked it out.

Did you guys have a script for it? Did you ad lib?

Beyoncé told me the concept, and once she told me the concept, I went in and played with some things, and I called them and let them listen to it. And they was like, “We want some talking stuff. Some New Orleans slang type stuff.” Then I just went to the voiceover and that’s what it was.

How do you feel about the finished track?

I love it!

Same. How has your life been different since the song came out?

Oh my god, it’s been so amazing. I’ve been getting so many compliments… so many people blowing up the phone. It’s been crazy. Especially going into Mardi Gras here in New Orleans, everybody just was like, overwhelming and excited to see me all at the parades and stuff. I had people running up to me and it was crazy. I was a little nervous.

What was the craziest experience you had with a fan at Mardi Gras?

Well one girl came up to me and was like, she was just screaming and hollering and she was just like, “You made me pull out all my extensions when I heard you on the [Beyoncé] song.” The way she came up to me, and the way she said it, I was like, I believed her.

Let's talk about your music. When you make your music or perform, who do you think of as your audience?

I think bounce music is for everybody. I have babies dancing to it, and I have grandmas dancing to it. So I say, it’s for everybody from zero to ninety-nine. Babies bounce in their Pampers, honey.

What can people expect at your Chicago show? Can you describe the vibe of your live shows?

It depends on how I feel. We party, we dance, we get fans involved. We bring New Orleans to Chicago, and we have a good time like we’re at home. And all my fans love it. I been to Chicago quite a few times… so Chicago has showed me tremendous, tremendous amounts of love and support. Each time I go it has been sold out.

What’s your favorite place you’ve been in Chicago?

I’ve been so many places in Chicago, I can’t think of not one of them at the moment. But I mean like, each city we go to, we try to explore, and see what’s going on, what’s the haps. We’ve been to a few strip clubs there.

How are Chicago strippers different from New Orleans strippers?

New Orleans gets a little more raunchy, but Chicago they’re definitely standing their ground. Each city has their own flavor of strippers, I’ll just say that.

Do you have any rituals you do before or after shows?

Well, a ritual is definitely that we pray before we hit any stage. To thank God for all of our many blessings…. and letting us be able to travel and see the world. Prayer is a must. Another ritual, we may take a shot. And then after… we sign autographs, shake hands, all of that good stuff.

In 2013, you led the group that set the Guinness World Record for “Most People Twerking Simultaneously.” Do you guys still hold the record?

Of course. We hold the record twice. We broke our own record. I did it in New York first, and then I brought it home to New Orleans. So we own it twice. And if somebody tries to compete with me, we will re-take the crown again.

How many people set the current record?

It was three hundred and something in New York, and it was four hundred and something in New Orleans.

Twerking originated in New Orleans. Are there nuances of twerking that you feel like outsiders don’t get?

Well sometimes, they just don’t get the spirit that we have, because we’ve been doing it for so long, and the energy… It’s like this. You have everybody in New Orleans doing the same dance move, but everybody has a way they have perfected it, and a way that they do it just a little bit different from the next person, and it seems like, all original. It’s something that we’re born with here in New Orleans, and that we grew up doing. We do it for years and years, and it takes lots of practice, so that’s the advantage we have over everybody else.... we’re a city of bounce, you understand?

Do you think a time could come when you’d move your home base out of New Orleans for work?

I’m not sure… I’ve been considering it back and forth. Most of the time I’m always out of town, so it’s like, when I come home, I’m only there for a very short time.

Do you have a new album in the works?

Yes. It should come out sometime this summer.

Do you know what it’s called yet?

I’d rather not say, but the new single’s called “I Heard.” [Editor's note: The single is slated to come out on Feb. 23.]

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Big Freedia will perform at Seven Danceclub on Friday. The show starts at 9 p.m.