New Orleans rapper Big Freedia at Neyow’s Creole Cafe.CreditEdmund D. Fountain for The New York Times
If the next time you are in New Orleans, you find yourself wondering who will make you dance during your visit, local rapper Big Freedia has your answer. “I’m that queen that’ll make you bounce!” she crows on one of her best known songs. You can hear Big Freedia’s music playing in cars as they pass beneath the live oaks, or in French Quarter corner stores when you’re picking up a drink, or in darkened neighborhood bars between the band’s sets. Her version of the New Orleans genre of hip-hop known as “bounce music” is hypnotic, and her dance parties are some of the rowdiest party scenes in this rowdy party city. The success of Big Freedia (birth name Freddie Ross, Jr.) in the Deep South might seem surprising: She is a 40-year-old gay black man who dresses in regal wigs and dangly earrings and uses the pronoun “she.” For many people here, Freedia represents the new New Orleans, the real New Orleans, where what matters most is not what you look like, but how funky you get down when the music turns up. We asked her to share five favorite places in New Orleans.
“Morrow’s is a new spot in New Orleans, run by a young black entrepreneur who used to be a club promoter. His mom is the chef. It’s another place with authentic cuisine, with a menu really off the chain. My favorite is their crawfish pasta. It comes with fried fish on top and garlic bread — scrumptious!”
2438 St Claude Ave.; morrowsnola.com
At Neyow’s Creole Cafe, “it’s just really great food and reasonably priced,” Big Freedia says.CreditSara Essex Bradley for The New York Times
“Neyow’s has got real good soul food. It’s a black-owned business I support quite a bit. If people want to come to New Orleans and taste authentic New Orleans food, it is the place to go. It’s just really great food and reasonably priced. My favorite dish is the red beans and rice and fried chicken. Oh the red beans are so creamy! And the cornbread is so buttery and fluffy! Oh and they have some bomb chargrilled oysters too!”
3332 Bienville St.; neyowscreole.com
“We started a bounce night at Republic 6 or 7 years ago, and it is just an amazing feeling to have a concert there. It’s a great venue. If you’re in New Orleans and they are having something going on, you should definitely check them out. If it’s bounce night you want to come as comfortable as possible: loose clothes, booty shorts — come ready to party. It’s a mixed crowd most definitely, it’s very diverse, and on some of the nights people get all done up with their heels and their red-bottomed shoes.”
828 S Peters St.; republicnola.com
“It’s got the best beignets in the city. When people come to town, they ask where to get those beignets everyone has been talking about. Well, that’s where. And it’s open 24 hours, so if I get a craving at two or three in the morning, I can get a couple beignets and some chocolate milk and I got a nice little treat. But I usually try to wear a white shirt when I eat them because I put on extra powdered sugar.”
800 Decatur St.; cafedumonde.com
