Big Freedia

Freddie Ross Jr. (born January 28, 1978), better known by her stage name Big Freedia ( FREE-də), is an American rapper, singer, and performer. She is known for her work in the New Orleans genre of hip-hop called bounce music, and has been credited with helping popularize the genre, which had been largely underground since developing in the early 1990s.

In 2011, Freedia was named Best Emerging Artist and Best Hip-Hop/Rap Artist in OffBeat's "Best of the Beat Awards", and was nominated for the 22nd GLAAD Media Awards that year. In 2013, she got her own reality show on the Fuse Channel, which chronicles her life on tour and at home, and the following year, released her major-label debut studio album, Just Be Free. On July 7, 2015, she released her autobiography God Save the Queen Diva!. At the end of 2016, Freedia was featured in a local New Orleans television ad for Juan LaFonta Law Office, in which she is shown rapping with bounce music and dancers. In 2018, she released the EP, Third Ward Bounce. Freedia was scheduled to go on tour with Kesha in 2020, but it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, she returned to release her second studio album, Central City, on June 23.

She has collaborated with artists including Beyoncé (who sampled her voice for her song "Formation" and on her 2022 number-one hit "Break My Soul"), Kesha, Lizzo, RuPaul, Slayyyter, New Kids on the Block, Jordin Sparks, Naughty by Nature, Boyz II Men, Jake Shears, Sophie, Charli XCX, and Drake on his 2018 number-one hit "Nice for What".