Big Freedia New Orleans Queen diva now reality TV star??

Ladies and Gentlemen, bow to the Queen Diva!

Reproduced from: NOLA.com

No artist has benefited so much from – or perhaps done as much to create - the recent crossover popularity of bounce music so much as rapper Big Freedia, who, over the past few years, has taken the once deeply local hip-hop sound international with gigs around the U.S. as well as Europe and Australia.

Freedia debuted on late-night TV in January 2012, performing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and on Oct. 2, an eight-episode run of the reality show “Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce” will premiere on the Fuse TV channel.

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This week, Big Freedia checked off another line item on the successful-performer list; readers who opened their New Yorker magazine to the music listings section were treated to a cartoon illustration of the rapper, who performs this coming weekend (Aug. 24-25) at the Afro-Punk festival in Brooklyn, NY.

The recognition in cartoon form came on the heels of the announcement of Big Freedia’s upcoming EP, “The Queen of Bounce” (Queen Diva Music/Beat Exchange). 

Produced by Freedia’s frequent collaborator DJ BlaqNMild, who can largely be credited with the speedy, punishing beat bounce music has acquired of late, the six-song collection drops Oct. 2, coinciding with the reality show’s first airing.

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“Queen of Bounce” is actually only Big Freedia’s third physical release in a career that’s lasted more than a decade.  Over ten years passed between the release of Freedia’s debut, 2000’s “Queen Diva” (Money Rules Entertainment), which is now something of a collectors’ item, and the 2011 EP “Scion A/V Presents Big Freedia.” The singles collection “Hitz: Vol. 1” was released on iTunes in 2010.

Big Freedia next plays an official New Orleans show at Republic, Sept. 5.  But if you want a sample now, check out "Na Who Mad" below.

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