Big Freedia

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Freddie Ross is an American musician best known by the stage name Big Freedia (/ˈfriːdə/ FREE-də) and for work in the New Orleans genre of hip hop called bounce music. Freedia has been credited with helping popularize the genre, which was largely underground since developing in the early 1990s. In a 2013 interview with Out, she explained that although she will allow her fans to refer to her as either "he" or "she", "my preferred pronoun is she".

Freedia started singing in the choir of her neighborhood Baptist church and started her professional performance career around 1999. In 2003, she released the studio album Dancehall Queen Diva. She first gained mainstream exposure in 2009, and her 2010 album Big Freedia Hitz Vol. 1 was re-released on Scion A/V in March 2011, as well as a number of music videos.

Freedia has been featured in publications such as The Village Voice and The New York Times, and has performed on Last Call with Carson Daly, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and at SXSW, where she received a positive review from Rolling Stone. In 2011 she was named Best Emerging Artist and Best Hip-Hop/Rap Artist in January's "Best of the Beat Awards," and was nominated for the 2011 22nd GLAAD Media Awards.