LIVE: Big Freedia @ The Haunt, Brighton 31/03/2015

As soon as I saw that Big Freedia (a.k.a Freddie Ross and ‘The Queen Of Bounce’) was touring England I knew I had to be there. Luckily for me, one of the three places she was playing was The Haunt in Brighton. I became aware of Freedia after watching Pitchfork’s 2013 documentary, Big Freedia – The Queen Diva. She’s had her own reality TV show since 2013 and comes across as genuine, funny, and sassy as hell.

‘Bounce’ is a genre of rap that originated in New Orleans, Louisiana. Typified by what the fans know as ‘that beat’, the main foundation of each track is built around a break known as ‘the triggaman’ taken from the song ‘Showboys – Drag Rap’, a track that flopped on the east coast but found a willing audience in and around Louisiana. ‘Bounce’ is a pretty niche genre; even in America it’s fairly region specific. Apart from the Diplo track ‘Express Yourself’, featuring Bounce artist Nicky Da B (R.I.P.) it’s virtually unknown in the UK, so I wasn’t expecting a huge turn out. The girl on the door informed me that only 16 tickets had been sold prior to the gig, and on entering the venue, the place was a bit of a ghost town. I got a couple of shots and started warming myself up to the sounds of DJ headfirstreverse, for what I knew would be a strenuous night of shaking what my mama gave me.

By the time Freedia (clad in a tracksuit emblazoned with weed leaves and a t-shirt with a picture of herself on) and her two dancers arrived on the stage the place had filled out a fair bit more. The crowd was a concoction of sexualities and genders, perhaps evidence of the gig being in Brighton, though maybe it meant something more. Although Bounce is fairly aggressive in its call and response style, (“I got that gin in my system/ somebody gon’ be my victim”) and most definitely music revolved around twerking and AZZ, it’s definitely female friendly. And since my dream came true when I was beckoned up on stage by Freedia herself and found myself hands on the floor p-popping like there was no tomorrow, I didn’t feel threatened, ogled or objectified. I felt liberated, being cheered on by the crowd and instructed by Freedia and her dancers, even though in the back of my mind I was praying that there would be no wardrobe malfunction.

The show was well and truly a party like no other I’d experienced, and even though my calves are still killing me, the sooner that NOLA bounce breaks the UK, the better.

Georgia Richardson
@georgebosssin