Quotes from 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.

I grew up in a Baptist church my whole life.

I'm a performer, so when I get to any space, I make it my own for that moment and have fun.

Housing vouchers are a vital lifeline for many people I know in New Orleans and around the country, including struggling artists.

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.

Beyonce has a platform; what's a better way to speak on your platform than through your music?

Outside of Bounce, I listen to Beyonce, Sia, Rihanna.

The bigger artists are definitely looking and paying attention to the culture and the style of bounce music.

Bounce music is uptempo, heavy bass, call and response.

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.

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.

Like a lot of artists, I started out as a singer in my church choir when I was a child.

I'd love to work with Snoop Dogg, Skrillex, Lil Wayne, Kendrick Lamar.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bounce is taking flight all over the globe. New York especially, and L.A., Canada, Portland, Washington. It keeps getting bigger and bigger.

I can't pull back. I'm 6 foot 3, I'm tall, and I'm gay. I light up the room.

Gay folks go to church. We pray to the Lord too.

No one can predict what God is going to do.

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.

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.

Some issues just need to be dealt with - that we're still dealing with in the world, with police brutality and racism.