Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast - Big Freedia’s Journey to Queen Diva

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

The Queen Diva herself, Big Freedia, joins to talk about all things New Orleans. From making his aunt’s Mardi Gras popcorn balls to coming out on his 13th birthday, Big Freedia shares what it was like to grow up on Josephine Street and Music Street. He’ll also share what it was like to get that call from Beyoncé and how he brought bounce back to New Orleans after Katrina. Plus he shares how to make his mom's cornbread dressing.Your Mama’s Kitchen is a production of Higher Ground.Produced by Sonia HtoonAssociate Producers are Camila Thur de Koos and Jenna Levin.Sound design and engineering from Andrew Eapen, Ryan Kozlowski and Roy Baum.Executive producers for Higher Ground are Mukta Mohan, Dan Fierman and Michele Norris.The show’s closing song is 504 by The Soul Rebels.Editorial and web support from Melissa Bear and Say What Media. Our talent booker is Angela PelusoCopyright 2024 by Higher Ground Audio, LLC / Sound Recording copyright 2024 by Higher Ground Audio, LLC.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Every time I would go, you want some fried chicken? She'll drive me something hot fried chicken. Boy, they got some mac and cheese in the refrigerator. Pull yourself out some and warm some. I ate good. Every day when I came home from school, I would run to Jackson Avenue. My school was right up the street. I was able to walk there and go get whatever I wanted to eat.

Hello, hello. Welcome back to your mama's kitchen. This is the podcast where we explore how we are shaped as adults by the kitchens that we grow up in as kids. And there is no kitchen like a New Orleans kitchen. which is why I feel like I should put on my marty-graw beads or my party hat for this conversation. I have a very special guest today. He's known as the Life of the Party, the Queen Diva of Bounce.

Yeah, baby, I'm talking about Big Frida. He brought Browns music out of New Orleans and took it to the center of the national stage. He's a rapper, he's a stunner, he's a star-spangled icon. He's worked with some people you probably heard of. I'm talking about Lizzo, Drake, Boys to Men, and Beyonce. say, yep, that was his voice you heard on formation and on Break My Soul. So let's break right into this conversation. I'm so glad you're with us. And I can't believe you're in a kitchen. You already know. Thanks so much for having me. Yes, baby. Ain't nothing like a New Orleans

kitchen. There is nothing like a New Orleans kitchen. Is anything cooking in the background there? Ain't nothing cooking on your stove today, honey. I wish I did cook, but I just flew in. So nothing's on the stove today. All right. We'll just pretend that there's a pot of gumbo back there or something. Yeah, and guess what? I was cooking gumbo, but I will after the podcast. But you have told a lot of your story in your memoir. God save the Queen Diva, but I want to go a little bit deeper into the kitchen, into that room in the house that's really like the heart of the home. And I want you, if you can, to close your eyes and take me back to your childhood kitchen.

I want you to describe it for me. What did it look like? What did it smell like? And what was it like when your mother, Ms. V, was at the stove? So my childhood kitchen was growing up in Central City in New Orleans on Josephine Street. Oh, my God, that was some good old days. We lived in a two-bedroom shotgun house and the, you know, the living room, the two bedrooms right after that. And then came the kitchen. And that was my favorite part of the house because I was a fat kid growing up.

and I love food and I love to eat. And when I tell you, my mama will cook me anything that I wanted. The smells were amazing and immaculate. It was, you know, ghetto lasagna. It was smothered pork chops with corn and rice. It was fried chicken, you know, and pork and beans. It was everything that you could imagine growing up from neck bones to smothered turkey wings to barbecue ribs.

I mean, my mama was a food in the kitchen. And she learned most of it from my aunt Deborah, who was the big mama of the family. And she did everything. I mean, she sold suppers every day of her life and fed the neighborhood. She fed the homeless. And she did everything from chitlins to popcorn balls for Madigra. I mean, we had some good food growing up. I mean, it will be pig feats and red sauce.

It would be all kind of things, you know, meatballs and spaghetti. Everything you could imagine we cooked. My grandmother was a fool in the kitchen as well, and she was a baker. All you can imagine being a kid growing up and you just sit in there taking the fork, pressing the pastures down, and putting the ridges in the end to enclose them in. So your grandmother and your aunt Deborah and your mom, Vera, who everybody called Miss V, they were all in the kitchen, all the time. All in that kitchen, all the time.

And I mean, so we were able to be blessed to smell all kinds of stuff, taste all kinds of stuff. You described what you ate in the kitchen, but I want to get a picture of what the kitchen look like. Could you describe it for me? Oh, yeah. So, yeah, so the picture of the kitchen. a round table, you know, a wooden round table, four chairs, you know, very small family, me and my brother, my sister, my stepdad, and my mom on Josephine Street. We were all in one room with bunk beds and my sister had a bed bed, but that kitchen was something special. A little gas stove with four burners, white stove, wooden table, a very old school double sink that was, you know, you know it was cheap.

and you had the old standard up and down refrigerator, and that's basically all that can fit in it. And then we had a little washroom right after that in the bathroom. But the kitchen was where everything went down. We had great conversations. We played cards. We cook food. We chopped stuff.

We stirred and mixed, and we did it all. You mentioned something when you were talking about your Aunt Deborah that she sold suppers. She sold suppers every day. Tell me about that. What's that mean? She didn't have a, she didn't have a nine to five jobs. You know, she, that's the way that she survived, feeding the community. So she stayed right across the street from Chicken Mart, which is this famous place,

uptown New Orleans that everybody will go to get their meat. You know, you would know when you're in Chicken Mart. And she will go, they knew her for 20 plus years. So she will go over there and get cases of chicken, you know, shrimp, I mean, pig feet. They had every type of meat that you could imagine. Turkey necks. So she would cook all kind of stuff.

Chitlins, you know, cabbage and corn bread and fried chicken. Cabbage and corn bread and fried fish. She would sell suppers every day. And that's how she survived. That's how she paid her bills. She would have homeless people come up to her because she knew she will feed the community and she would just get a plate. Somebody come at 8 o'clock at night.

She'll get out her bed and go fry some chicken. and pull some stuff out the refrigerator and sell them a plate. And it just, it was a beautiful thing to see and grow up. Every time I would go, you want some fried chicken? She'll drive me something hot fried chicken. Boy, they got some mac and cheese in a refrigerator. Pull yourself out some and warm some. I ate good.

Every day when I came home from school, I would run to Jackson Avenue. My school was right up the street. I was able to walk there and go get whatever I wanted to eat. I mean, that's love to be able to go and have someone, you know, whip you up some fried chicken just because you have a hankering for some, that is a special kind of love. Oh, yeah. Yes, it is.

And, I mean, we had a special kind of love for each other. We were a family that helped each other. You know, if she had 20 suppers and I was there, I would help her to prep all 20 suppers, you know? If she would fill that thing up with popcorn, and I was stirred that syrup all for three hours that we had to get those popcorn balls where it needs to be. No, wait, people listening to this might not know what a popcorn ball is,

because that's a big thing. in Mardi Gras. So a popcorn ball is something that we did only during Mardi Gras. And so she would get these brown paper when Dixie bags and fill them up with popcorn balls. So everybody came to my house on Jackson because that's where the parade, the Zulu, the biggest parade on Mardi Gras day, passed right in front her door. So we would stack her porch maybe 200 deep, you know, in front the door, hollering and screaming, you know, catching bees. but she would, like, cook for the whole family.

She would have bags and bags of popcorn ball. I got 30 for y'all. I got 20 for y'all. You know, if she didn't know you too much, too well, you might get one or two. But, like, everybody came because they knew they were going to get a popcorn ball from Deborah. And I was in that kitchen, in the sink, mixing popcorn balls and putting it on wax paper and rolling it up and twisting it. It was an amazing thing to just grow up and see. Did she color hers?

We didn't have that any. Did she color hers? Were they green? Yeah, they were like with the steam syrup. No, they were sting serap. And we would mix that steam syrup up. And it would just be white popcorn. And we would mix it up and it would be a brown and white bowl and a wax paper wrapped up.

Did you get your entrepreneurial spirit from all of your, the woman in your family, your mother who was, you know, working hard, your aunt Deborah. Yes. Because you are always hustling. You've got, you know, you're on the road. You've got your gig on Fused TV. You've got all kinds of sites. And I'm wondering if that is because of what you saw growing up. Most definitely.

My stepdad had all kinds of jobs. He worked at Coca-Cola. He worked at Dixie cement company. My mom was a hairdresser. She was a psychiatrist in her own way, helping women and talking to them with their problems and helping people, taking them in. I mean, she did it all. We had to stump cans and sell cans at the cany yard.

We did it all. We sold drinks and beers at the second line. Anything we can do to survive and make money, we did it. And that's exactly where I got that from, just seeing my family hustle. And my aunt did all kinds of things as well. She was in a second line parade. She was, you know, a cook. She worked at the funeral home right across the street from her home at Gertrude Gettison was helping them.

So we all, they all had multiple hats that they wore and did multitasking. when they came to whatever they had to do to provide for their families. Did you also get some of your creativity from them also? Most definitely. My mom, so they had a group called Queens, the Queens. And I said, well, I was there decorator. I was like, I'm going to be called the Queen Diva. She's like, you stole out of name.

I got a lot of creativity. I got a lot of creativity just off of my mama in the way that she did things, the way she poured it, the way she quited, the way she quitted. the way she coordinated things. She was a phenomenal woman. And she loved music. She loved cooking. She love people.

She, you know, she handled all kinds of situations. And I definitely picked that up from my family. I saw my grandmother do it. I saw my aunt, my mom, my uncles, everybody. Your mother has passed away. She's gone to glory. And when I was getting ready for this, I went and looked at the tribute.

It looked like a brunch or a dinner that you had. for her. And there was this big, long table with all of these silver, you know, dishes that had the tins of all kinds of food. And everyone seemed to be wearing white and purple? Yes. Yes. So that was for her repast of her funeral. And I went all out for my mom's funeral. I mean, I had all kind of people cooking. I had all type of desserts. I had it coordinated with everybody in purple and white, flowers everywhere, horse and carriage, about 10 limousines. I mean, I laid my mom to rest in. That was her last early party.

And we definitely made sure that she will be remembered for her legacy and for what she did, for the community, for her family, and just everybody that she loved so much. I want to talk about your relationship with her because it seems like it was as tight as it could possibly be. Yeah, it was tight. And she had you in the choir. She had you in a lot of outside activities. And it sounds like she was pushing you out in the world,

but also figuring out how to hold you close and watch over you. Most definitely. So she had me in, like you said, she had me in choir. She had me in J-R-R-T-C. She had me doing piano lessons. Like she, everything that I wanted to do, any field trip I wanted to go on, anything I wanted to explore. She was like, okay, let's do it.

You know, she had my back. She was my biggest cheerleader. I also was a cheerleader. I was a choir director at my church home. At my high school, I sung with many choirs in New Orleans, the gospel soul children, the gospel music workshop of America. She brought all those choir roles. She sent me on all those trips out of town.

I'm sorry. It was an amazing thing. to have a parent to support me the way she did. And she will come and she would fight with the principal about my hairstyles and the counselors. And anybody who messed with me, she was coming. And she had her done. So she would fight with the principle about your hairstyles. I'm sorry.

It's hard. And it's, it's. Yeah, because she was. I'm sorry. I know it's hard to talk about someone who means so much to you. myself. She wanted me to be able to express myself. So she did my hairstyles. I had freezes that was tall, tall like Morris Simpson. I had claws. I had anything that I wanted to explore with her being a hairdresser. She kept us fresh to that. My brother hair cut every week. My sister hair done every week.

Me with all kinds of styles. I had streaks of gold glitter in my hair, you know. I mean, One day I had such a great hairstyle and it also was foolish to her because I had to like lean all the way sideways in the band and ride to school every day. The hairdo was so big you couldn't even get in the car. Yeah, it was hitting the ceiling. Baby, she, we had some amazing times, you know, even when I would step out a boundary and, you know, just. want to be myself, she would discipline me and say, no, you got, you got to be you and be a certain type of queen. And you don't have to be like everybody else. You got to go out there and stand on your own and show the world who you are. And so she just instill all of these great things in us

and me. She didn't let nobody mess with me, you know, because she was coming. You know, what a blessing, because so many people don't have that in their family. So many people have to fight for their authenticity. Yeah, it is such a blessing. They don't get that kind of embrace at home. It's such a blessing. And, you know, I want you to tell me the story that I read a little bit about because I want to know what it was like at your 13th birthday. Because that was at your 13th birthday. So what? You had a party, big 13th birthday party.

They had a fancy cake for you and everything. And that was when you decided to deliver a message to your family. Yes. So we had a party. And at this time, we had moved from Josephine Street. and my uncle, who was, I looked up to, who was my gay uncle, that was my stepdad's brother. He was a nurse and a psychiatrist, and he was gay and, like, he was fabulous. So he didn't even know that I looked up to him like that, but he had sold my mom and dad their first home.

And so we moved to Music Street, which was destined to be a part of my life, moving from Josephine to music. Street. And so I had a 13 birthday party on Music Street. The back yard was big. We had a shade back there that fill up everything and lots of space. All my friends came.

All of my family came. And we were having just such a great time. And I set my mom down on my lap and I said, Mom, I want to tell you something. And I decided I wanted to tell her that I was gay that thing. And she said, baby and mama already knew.

And we kind of left it there for that day. And she said, go enjoy yourself. The next morning she woke me up and asked me, did anybody hurt me or did anybody harm me any kind of way? And we just, we cried that morning together and we sit on their waterbed and we talked and talked. And from that day forward, she just was like my protector even harder. and, like, didn't let anybody mess over me because she knew her child was gay. Did you need a protector?

Because this was, you know, the world was not as accepting as it is today. There wasn't Big Frida on Fuse TV. You know, we didn't see. Yeah, I definitely needed a protector. The world was so cruel back then. And the hood was cruel, you know, sometime. And people could be evil.

And so I did need a protector, even though God was my main protector, my mom was my protector on earth who just covered me and didn't want me to get into any trouble, didn't want me to get harmed, didn't want me to get any diseases. Being gay and the AIDS epidemic and all the things that were happening back then and people getting killed and being gay was so hush, hush.

So, yeah, I definitely needed to protect her. And she did that. You know, my stepdad, he was a little tough on. me, but he instilled in me how to be a man, how to hold my own. Don't let, he didn't want anybody to mess over me. So he was tough on me to be tough for the streets because that's how we lived in a community. How did you earn respect on the streets? Because people mess with you for a while, but then they backed off.

I earned respect from giving it and not taking no slack or shit off anyone. You know, I had to stand up and be a man. If somebody picked on me, I had to fight them back. She will make me go back out there and fight them back. She will say, in order to get your respect, you got to give it. Did your life as an entertainer begin then in some way? Were you able to use your ability to command a stage, even if the stage was the street corner, even if the stage was the front porch, even if the stage was, you know, the lunchroom at school? Most definitely.

I didn't play when it came to all of the things that I were into. you know, from the choir to being a cheerleader, I commanded. From hanging on the corner with my girlfriends and my friends on Josephine, from beating on the house to coming up the street, giving my call to let my auntie know I'm coming around the corner. Like, I commanded everywhere I went and people knew who I was. I had a special call that I were doing the club, a choir note like and just hit it loud over the music. You knew Frida was in the area. I want to hear that call.

What's that call? What's that call? Well, it was just like this, whoa, like really loud. And I would do it when I'm coming down the street. I would do it for the boys in the hood when the police was coming. You know, it was a very phenomenal call. And I did it in clubs all in people air. You're getting on my nerve.

Well, good. And so even when I would be in the club and my friends said, we need some space. I was about 350 pounds, maybe 400. I was just been over and dance and I will get us some space, honey. Y'all want space? Let me bust open. And so I just commanded respect everywhere I went.

And everybody loved me. I was so jolly and friendly. You know, everybody loved me. I was, you know, the king of the prime in school. I was, I thought I was one of the teachers, honey. When I was the choir director, I had keys to the auditorium. I did all of the things that no normal kid would do. You know, I'm wondering if you knew other people at that time who were gay who couldn't do what you did.

And if you, in some ways were living a life out loud to help create space for them too. My best friend, Addie, Addie, his name is Adolf. His mom was totally the opposite from my mom. She was tough on him. He couldn't be the person that he wanted. to be when he will come and we will go out. He will come out dressed like a boy and he would have his changing clothes in a Win Dixie bag and would have to change outside or in the car as we're going out to the clubs.

You know, I was kind of heavyset and tall so I can get in the clubs early as a kid. He was like 15 and so he would have to sneak in the club. His mama would come down and drag him out and embarrass him. So he had the total opposite of what I went through. And so he was my best friend and he would stay by my mom. My mom treated him just like me. My mom, you know, loved him like her own child. He was my only friend that could sleep out of house too because I couldn't have no girlfriends or boys come over.

Only my gay one friend came over because my mom knew nothing wasn't going to happen in the house. So Eddie was my true best friend. He taught me hip-hop. When we were growing up, he was very creative and talented. He knew how to rap. He knew what I'd dance. He knew how to sing. And I taught him gospel.

I taught him about God, and he taught me about hip-hop. And that's how we exchange music. He would come with me to choir rehearsal. We would sing up the streets. So I was definitely living out loud and creating space for all the, all of also the other little queens that were in my neighborhood. Was the church as accepting as folks at school eventually were? Oh, my God.

When I first went to the church. I'm guessing not. When I first went to the church, listen, when I first went to church, this girl named Denise Fountain lived right across the street from me on Josephine. She said, why don't you come to church with you? When I went to church with her, it was a church right around the corner on Daniel Street called Pressing Onward. And when I first walked in the church, there was this lady named Georgia. And Georgia opened arms to me.

She fell in love with me. She put me under her wing. She made me her assistant choir director. She loved me. I stayed with her. She's my godmother. She paid for my piano lessons. I used to go to the Gospel Music Workshop of America all around the world,

and it will move every different state or whatever every year. She will get the church to pay for me to go and round, and they would like do fundraisers to raise the money, and I will go into the workshops and bring back sheet music for us to learn new songs. And the church was my safe haven. It kept me safe in my own neighborhood that was so violent. It was my protector. I was able to be me, Georgia's,

said you can be you, you don't have to worry about it. She made them respect me. That's Mr. Freddie. You know, that is Freddie. Don't call him out his name. Anybody called me out my name or disrespect me. She put them in line and y'all going to respect him. And the church loved me. The kids love me. The pastor love me. The deacons. The deacon is like everybody. It was a beautiful thing growing up as a kid to have a church where you can go to and be yourself and be gay and be black and to learn music and learn about God and give the love that I got. I'm so glad you had that. Because in asking the question, you know, I made assumptions because so many churches

don't always do that. Yeah, so many churches don't do that. But in New Orleans, that's what the churches do. We accept you for who you are. I know so many musicians that was choir directors or organists or, you know, something very important to the church who were black and who were gay. And they loved them and they respected them. And it is what it is here in New Orleans.

And so we had that in every church, every black church. We had somebody gave that. That was an important factor to that church. So when did Little Freddy become Mr. Freddie and then become Big Frida? So I guess, you know, as people really happen, you know, I always been big. So as a little kid, you know, I was chubby Freddie, and then I went on to, you know, young Freddie and then your young adult, Freddie. And then when I came to be, you know, Frida, it was, I was in my early 20s. And they used to call me big freaky Freddy, unfortunately.

And so my best, one of my good friends, Raven, she said, girl, we need to give you a more girly name. We're going to call you Frida. And so Raven gave me the name, Frida. I stole the name Queen Diva from my mom, as she was saying. I said, girl, no, I bar with that. I worked for y'all for free. I deserve to take the queen, and I just put the diva on it. When did you discover Bounce?

Because you were really into gospel when you were young. You said your friend introduced you to hip-hop. At what point did you encounter Bounce? So I discovered Bounce in the early 90s from, you know, T.T. Tucker, DJ Jubilee, Jimmy, DJ Jimmy. all of the people that I grew up, you know, the showboys were not a part of the bounce culture here in New Orleans where they didn't come from here. But Trigger Man was a big thing here. You put on drag rap and baby, the whole gym would go crazy.

You know what I'm saying? And that was one of my favorite songs. I would get in the school gym and flip upside down when I heard Trigger Man coming on. I'm like, that's my song. So I discover Bounce early. You know, Jubilee will come to our. with middle school. So around middle school, being, you know, 12, 13,

I discovered bounce and it's always been a big part of New Orleans. You know, you grow with great people like Miss T, Lady Red, Mia X, all the females, cheeky black, who held it down for the women because they were so dominant of men. And they were, you know, always talking shit about women. So the women came hard. I mean, Mia X will come, we're going to start this shit all right. You know, like, it just, baby, it was some fun times at the skate countries and, you know, the school dances.

Everything was bounced. When you put on bounce, the whole party turned down. So we have a big audience and they're all over the country and we may have listeners, you know, outside of the United States. Cities have their own musical genres in Chicago. It's house music. Yes. I'm talking to you from D.C. here is Go-Go. Yeah.

If people don't know what bounce music is, can you bring them into the party and describe it? It's uptempo. It's heavy bass. It's calling response. Where if I say I got that gin in my system, you're going to say somebody going to be my victim. You know, Mia X will say,

I came here tonight to settle to school with females or women's or girls. I mean, baby, it's all of that. It's, it is rapping. It is chanting. It is love. It is New Orleans. And that's a big part of the culture as well as, you know, second line Indians and jazz music.

But Bounce is very unique to what we do. And the founders and creators of it, they did something really special for us when they created Bounce. And I'm grateful to be a part of it. I'm grateful to take it around the world and to spread the love of New Orleans and spread the love of our culture and get people shaken as what we would call it and not working.

Okay. And you said you're proud to be a part of it. You're more than just a part of it. You're the ambassador. I mean, they're... Yeah, but, you know, there are the legends that and icons that came before me that I would not be here if it was not for them. And I'm grateful. You know, I was a kid growing up listening to this.

I never thought I would be the queen of bounce and taking it international and around the world and seeing so many different things and opening so many doors for so many other artists that came after me and like me. So I just have to pay homage and be humble about it. because I'm so grateful to God and to all of the people who have put the groundwork in before me. And it has not been easy. I've been doing this for 20-something years, and I've put in a lot of work and a lot of hours. And that's why I sit on my throne like I do.

As you deserve to. As you deserve to. Yes, ma'am. When you collaborate with other artists, we listed a bunch of them, Lizzo, Drake, boys, demand, Beyonce. There's others. There's even more.

When you do that, is there a part of you that in that moment is partially in that moment, but is also still back on Josephine Street and thinking about maybe what you dreamed of? Most definitely. I think that I think that I always was taught to be myself. And so when I collaborate with all of these great artists who I'm grateful for to do these collaborations, I just go in and be myself. They love me because I'm being me and who I am. And so I try to bring that to every single person that I collaborate and just be Frida. And, you know, do me. Like, they know what I do. They know they love bounce. And so I just bring the bounce to the record.

And that's all I can do. What was it like the day you got the call from Beyonce or her team? I died at home and came back to life. I literally, like, felt like I died for a few seconds, and I couldn't believe it. Was it a call or a text or an email? How did they get in? It was a call first. My publicist's call and said, Beyonce, want to talk to you?

I said, well, girl, why are you on the phone? And so I'm sitting by the phone, patiently waiting, nervous, anxious, didn't know when she was going to call. I think she may have called an hour or so later. and then when I got the call, she was like, do you know who this is? And baby, I was like going around out screaming, but not screaming. And so, and then when I got off, I just lost it.

I was jumping all on my boyfriend. I went to my uncle in the room. I was calling everybody. So that was a very special moment for my career and just for my life in general. I'm so grateful to Beyonce. And so everyone who I've done collaborations with, It still seems so real, you know, like artists of that caliber to come to, you know, collaborate with me.

I'm just speechless about it and blown away still. Did you, I'm certain that you have seen her on tour many times. What is it, does it hit you in a different way when you're in like a gigantic arena? Most definitely. And you see how people are responding. Most definitely. I mean, the opening of that song, people just respond immediately. Immediately.

Performing with her, you know, in the Superdome and her bringing me out in life. I'm coming, being lifted out of the stage, and I have blonde, long hair, and everybody thinks it's her, and because I have this big old hat on, I mean, it was some phenomenal moments that I have been able to be blessed to see her, you know, her calling my name out on stage, her blowing a kiss at me on stage. Just some beautiful moments that my heart gets filled by them. And it just was a wonderful thing to see and to feel in that moment. And the arena is just crazy because her show be unbelievable.

Do you still go back to Music Street or Josephine Street? All the time. So when parade season happened, I usually park on Josephine Street and walk to St. Charles. because, and, you know, I go around the neighborhood, you know, I pass around the neighborhood. I holl at people that still in the neighborhood and my aunt stayed on Jackson, you know, so I have to go up town a lot. You know, I have to go to chicken mart. You know, I go to chicken mart like every time I get in from the airport now. So I buy all of my meat from there.

So the tradition is still happening, you know, and so, yeah, I still going. I haven't been on Music Street. in a long time. So our house on Music Tree got tore down after Katrina. And so that kind of dampens the memories for me, just not being able to go and see the house as I passed there. It's just an empty space. And so I used to go up Galvis,

which is the street at the corner of music. And so I can see the empty lot as soon as I go up Galvis. Did your family, how was your family impacted by Katrina? Did they leave for a period of time? So my mom was the only one left, me and my brother and my sister, and my sister newborn baby who was six months stayed. When we were stuck in my house that I had just moved in two weeks prior to, and it was a disaster.

Water up to like 12 feet, it was in my second-story house that I had just got. The neighbors under me were completely underwater. It was one of the worst experiences and blessings at the same time that happened in our lives. And it taught us that material things don't mean anything. Long as we, our family can stick together. We can rebuild any of this stuff. And that's what we did. You know, we were losing our mind with our mind one place and we're another place.

She's worried about us. We have no communication. And when we finally got to her, we met her in Shreveport and his pastor at a church. At the camp, where we stayed at. I had an $800 check from State Farm because I had just got renters insurance. And the man was like, I'll cash the check for you so you can get to your mom. It was the best feeling of a reunion connecting with our mom and meeting her in Streetport. He brought the bus tickets for us.

We cried and cried and hugged and hug. And she met all her children. She was like, y'all should have came with me. she left with her boyfriend. It was like, it's just going to pass. You know, it's a local storm

that always happened here in New Orleans. It showed us real good. A lot of people stayed. You know, there were mixed signals. Yeah, most definitely. Yeah, and it didn't,

it took a turn and then the levy broke and then that was, you know, that was that. I covered Katrina as a journalist. Yeah, it was. I was down there. It was crazy.

And I went back year after year for a few years. And one of the things that I observed is that when people were able to go back, one of the first things they wanted to set up was their kitchen. Like when they could... I know where I was, because I was like back in the city when it was still smelling like dead meat, you know, numbers all on the houses and buildings, streets, you know, pitch black, it's dark, I mean, a few people. So when they opened the apartments that I moved back in, one of my friends was a, was a, manager there. I was like number three in

apartment and it was spooky. Like nobody else were in there. It was ghost town and it was something to really experience. Like when we were stuck in my house that I had just moved in the big oak tree that was

on the side of my house came from the roots out of the ground and knocked the columns off the front of my house and my house was leaning in the water. Like it was going to fall in the water. It also smashed all three of our cars at the same time. So we had a lot of hurt and anger and sad and sorrow that we saw as it was happening. We had a six-month-year-old baby

that we had to provide and protect. So we took everything for her. I had two small shoes on. I had to use the bathroom on the bridge. Baby, I had a time. It was a situation. A situation. Okay, that's, I hadn't heard that before. A situation. But, you know, my, my biggest thing, Michelle, was to come back to New Orleans and start rebuilding New Orleans. I was so big at that time with, like, holding clubs down and running clubs and everybody coming to see me. I wanted to create the bouncing back right away. I was going to recruit people around. around different cities in states going to perform. Y'all got to come back home.

We got to rebuild the scene. We got to rebuild Bounce. So we were passing CDs and emailing them to people, spreading the music back out there, you know, having DJs and all of these different people, apartments, making people ready to, you know, get rid of us. But then they would say, what type of music is that? I like that. You know, so we were putting people on music and bounce music spread it all around the world when that happened. and I took advantage.

So that's what you were doing out in the world. When you came back to New Orleans, when you went back to your house and you had to rebuild your house and rebuild your space, were you in some ways trying to rebuild a kitchen that was like the kitchens you grew up with on Josephina Music Street?

So we moved in Reserve, Louisiana, where most of my family is from. We had a family home that was, all of the siblings were a part of, that had been closed for 20 years. We had nowhere to go, so we say we've gone to, we talked to everybody, we bust the house back open, we painted the walls, we covered it with fabric, we had to buy hot water heat us, they have to do everything in the kitchen.

So we had this country kitchen now, this old country, big old kitchen, that was a beautiful thing to rebuild in Reserve, Louisiana, which was, you know, 30 minutes away from New Orleans. And so that's why we started to rebuild our lives. My mom, you know, was a hairdresser. She did her hair in a little part of the house that she made her shop. So she had all the country women coming and getting there. It was a little too country for me. I'm a city girl.

So I moved to Houston right away. I said, Mom, I can't do this with these ditches and these chickens and these roosters running up the street. So I went to Houston and got me a little two-bedroom apartment. And it was on. I went from Houston to New Orleans every week. And I just commuted that way. This man named Hart's Man in Houston, he said, everybody keeps talking about this goddamn freedom. I won't see who goddamn Frida is.

So he booked me. When I came to the club for the first time and performed, I was working for him for three years at every club he had. And he'd say, God damn, I never saw anything like this. I say one word in the whole room repeated after me. And it's just I went to represent for New Orleans. And it felt so great to like pull up and go there. So you're back in New Orleans now. That's home base for you again.

You already know. Folks who are, you can't really ever fully pry them out of New Orleans. You know, it just, it's it. Yeah. I'm still a New Orleans baby. I still live in New Orleans. Everybody's why you never left? Why, you know, you should. move to, no, I don't want to move to any of those places. There's no place like home. And the love

that I get here in these streets and the respect from, you know, straight girls, straight guys, gay folks and my gay friends, you know, Ghaly and church Christian people, you know, the musician community. Everybody, they love me and I love my city. So, you know, and I represent for them. You know, I represent for all of New Orleans and what we do and the food, the music, the culture, culture the people. And so there's no place like home. Let's talk about the food for a minute because we always gift our listeners with a recipe. And people who love you. Would you like me to give you with something special?

I definitely want you to gift us with something special. What recipe will you be sharing with us today? So I will share my mom's famous cornbread dressing. And it is made with Jiffy cornbread. And she will bake the cornbread and mix all of the ingredients that you need eggs and milk. And she will put just a little bit of sugar in it so that it could be sweet. She will start the ground meat down and chop season, gizzards, shrimp. And she will mesh all of that up.

Crumbled the cornbread. We will take our hands and put gloves on. Crumbled the cornbread all up after it comes out and bake and cool off. Then she will put all of the ground meat, the gizzards, the shrimp, all of that after it's sauteed down and cooked an onion. and Tony Saturant and garlic and parsley flakes and, you know, bay leaves and all of the ingredients that would go in it, put it all in a, you know, a pot or a pan, mix it up. It would also have chicken brought so that it can, you know,

spread the juices all throughout it, whatever. We would broil the gizzards in chicken brought. And so those gizzes would be, you know, put in a food processor and cut up all up. And then everything just come together after we mix it and we put it in the oven and bake it and make it golden brown. And baby, you're talking about some cornbread dressing. We were never left with any cornbread dressing.

Everybody wanted to take some home. My mom was such a great cook. Her cornbread dressing was like a number one hit. And I'm the only one in the family who has the tradition of knowing how to do it and have it taste exactly like my mom. I picked up everything that she knew how to do. She taught it to me and no one else can do it like me. I'm honored that you shared it with us.

Yes, most definitely. I love to share my mom's recipes. She taught me so much. And so I create my own recipes now and come up with all kinds of stuff and share some of hers. And, you know, do all kind of mashups and names. Booty popping potatoes, triple wiggle pancakes, bent over Benedict Biscuit. Like, I'm very creative when it. comes to food. I have loved talking to you. I could talk to you all day. I am only sorry that I'm not.

Your voice is so sweet. Thank you. I'm sorry. I'm not in that kitchen with you right now. Yes. I'd move over to the counter and start chopping up something. Next time we have to do it in the kitchen. Yeah. Y'all got to do the in the kitchen. For real, like in the kitchen actually in it and not just recording it. I'm not serious. I have family in New Orleans. So, you know, you might, that might be me. Ding don't. But I'm so grateful to. Ding don't. here I am. I'm grateful to be here with you guys. Thank you so much also for that awesome intro. I'm happy to be able to share my moms and my aunt and my grandmothers and all of the women that impacted my life in the kitchen.

And even the men, you know, some of the men in my family would get on that barbecue grill and throw down meat falling off the bone. So I learned how to do all of that. my stepdad, he would not let me be a girl. He was like, you're going to learn everything. You are a man. So he would teach me all of that, you know, how to cut a fish, how to scale

a fish, how to, you know, stump cans, how to sell stuff at, you know, parades, everything. He just taught us how to hustle and how to be multitasking. Well, you, you honor your ancestors with the way that you

move through the world. And I am so glad that we got to spend time together. This has been really special. Thanks so much for being with us. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. So yes, that was a very Frida-like interview. He took the call in the kitchen. There's people behind him. There's people at the doorbell. He was just doing his thing. And I'm glad that we got to witness all of it. Sometimes the place where you're brought up can really shape the person that you wind up being. And Big Frida is a shining example of that. Everything from his community in New Orleans to his church, to his family, to his high school, to the people he knew on Josephine Street, and then later on Music Street, all of it gave him

the confidence to live fully in his truth and to be unapologetically the person that we see and know and love. I'm so glad you're with us today. Thanks so much for listening. If you want to make that cornbread dressing, you can find the recipe at our website. That's Your Mama's Kitchen. I'll also post it on my Instagram page. And always remember, we love hearing from you.

If you want to tell us about your mama's kitchen, tell us something about the memories that you have. If you want to remark on one of the previous episodes, you can make a voice memo and send it to us at yMK at highergroundproductions.com. And if you do that, your voice might just be featured on a future episode. I'm so glad you're with us. Make sure to come back next week because we are always serving up something wonderful. Until then, be bountiful.