Tag Archives: Big Freedia

FEATURED
Le1f ’11 “Gettin’ Light in his Loafers” in Debut Video

“I make a neo-nazi kamikaze wanna firebomb.”

It’s official: Wesleyan’s own Le1f is da bomb diggity and he’s got ya moms feelin’ him.

New York’s pioneering queer-rap personality went by Khalif Diouf ’11 at Wesleyan and drew heated acclaim last spring for his Dark York mixtape, which FADER called “one of the most provocative rap releases so far this year.” This week, Le1f dropped his debut video, and it’s probably the most outrageously booty-shaking YouTube spot this side of Big Freedia’s “Y’all Get Back Now.”

Highlights include shots of the bold rapper swinging from the ceiling like a bat, spitting speed rhymes from the lap of a Picachu-masked stranger, and shaking his scantily clad booty in many directions.  (Not coincidentally, Le1f opened up for the Booty Queen herself in Eclectic last April.) Directed by Sam Jones ’10 and produced by Josh Koenig ’09 (and featuring a few other alums along the way), the video has clear viral potential, but the track’s no slacker on its own, offering up an infectious horn-honk of a groove that stutters lightly over Le1f’s grimy drum claps and deep-voiced chant of a hook.

Is this Le1f’s big break?

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Photos: “Azz Everywhere, Azz Everywhere”

Sources Report Dangerous Level of Heat, Booty-Shaking at 200 High Street.

Y’all get back now! Y’all get back now! Y’all get back now!  Backy-backy-back now! Shake for the money! Bounce to the flow! Toot it up, hut hut, girl, let’s go! Shake for the money! Bounce to the flow! Toot it up, hut hut, girl, let’s go! Get back, get back! G-g-g-get back, get back! G-g-get back, get back! G-g-g-get back, get back!

Now wait a minute. Now wait a minute—wait a, wait a, wait a minute. Wait—wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait a minute. Now wait a minute, wait, wait, wait a minute.

Big Freedia, the queen diva of New Orleans.

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Y’all Get Back Now: Big Freedia, Take Two

Y’all better stop all this foolishness, cuz Eclectic’s tryna shake.

Remember in February when Sissy Bounce queen diva Big Freedia descended on ye olde Wes? When the New Orleans star forever changed the state of booty-poppin’ on campus with her bounce workshop, when she set Eclectic Haus aflame with her moves and basically made College Row look just like the scene in her masterful “Y’all Get Back Now” video (directed by Bob Weisz ’07 and Josh Ente ’08)?

Well, no. I don’t. Health issues came up, and Big Freedia had to postpone on the day of the show. (“She got the gastro,” claims anonymous commenter #1.) (Remember when gastro was a thing?) I cried myself to sleep and wondered if I would ever get to attend a booty-shaking workshop by the queen of booty-shaking. This time, it’s for real, and recently acclaimed Eclectic alum LE1F (Khalif Diouf ’11) is opening the show. Dylan Bostick ’13 has more:

One of, if not the central figure in New Orleans Sissy Bounce, Big Freedia has become famous for putting on some of the wildest dance parties and bringing bounce to the rest of the world. At 8:45, Freedia will also lead a lecture on New Orleans Bounce Music as well as a hands-on booty-shaking workshop.

LE1F: Pre-released tracks from his mixtape Dark York have received critical acclaim by Pitchfork, the Fader, and more, and now the day after his mixtape release, Le1f is coming back to Wesleyan!

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MISSTEPS X ASTRO NAUTICO @ Eclectic

Want to go out this Thursday night and don’t want to go to PSI U?

Come out to Eclectic tonight for a free show with Kuhn, Obey City, and The Range–three New York based artists who’ll be bumping booty-on-the-floor (shout-out to Big Freedia) dance music starting @ 9:00!

Think R. Kelly meets footwork meets hip-hop on ADD

Basically, you don’t miss this first installment of Missteps, a monthly concert series showcasing left-field electronic music. Check out the Facebook page here.

Date: Thursday, Feb. 16
Time: 9:00pm
Place: Eclectic
Cost: FREE

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Big Freedia Postponed Due To Health Reasons

Massive bummer of the day/week/century: Wesleying has received word that bounce queen Big Freedia is unable to leave New Orleans due to health-related reasons. As such, tonight’s show has been postponed for a date later in the semester, to be announced. (And here I wasted my whole morning doing warm-up flexes for Freedia’s exclusive bounce workshop. So it goes.)

In the meantime, just watch this video twelve times in a row tonight while banging your head against a wall.

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Big Freedia @ Eclectic

Note: despite what the poster says, the Bounce workshop is at 8.

Next on Wesleying’s concert series, Eclectic prepares to ignite:

Big Freedia, the Queen Diva of New Orleans Sissy Bounce Music, is bringing her ass-shaking party music to Wesleyan on Thursday, February 9th. At 8 o’clock in the Eclectic Ballroom, Big Freedia will give a workshop on the sacred tradition of bounce music and give hands-on instruction on how to bump to this (directed by Josh Ente ’08).

When that’s over, go home and get fancy, because at 10 the party starts. Opening DJ sets will be provided by Sankofa (Luke Turner-Owens ’12) and Kilbourne (Jason Kilbourne ’14).

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LE1F Does Work

To preemptively answer your question: I am indeed a bit self-conscious about linking to Pitchfork in two successive posts, but it needed to be done. Wesleyan alum Khalif Diouf ’11, aka LE1F, produced a Spank Rock track that was recently BNM’d by the illustrious reviewing site. He’s in remarkable company, too; NoLa bounce luminary Big Freedia (click here to get back to basics) lends her superhype vocals to the energetic raunchfest, and they complement Diouf’s beat to frenzied effect. It’s a raw grind, and y’all would be well advised to check it out:

02 Nasty feat. Big Freedia & Tyette by The FADER

Here’s wishing LE1F all the best.  With any luck, we’ll hear much more of him in the near future.

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Weisz ’07 Directs Big Freedia Video

Wesleyan, meet Big Freedia, the self-claimed “Queen Diva” of Bounce Music, which is defined on her website as:

an original urban music rising up from the intimate and fun-loving nature of the New Orleans housing projects, which dominate the city’s street culture, and Freedia performs a derivative of Bounce reserved for self-proclaimed “Sissies” (a locally used name for biological men with varied and ambiguous sexual identities) that has risen to prominence in recent years.

Scope the above video for a booty-slapping, green screen-happy romp around New Orleans. “Y’all Get Back Now” was directed by Bob Weisz ’07, whose other credits include lotsa MGMT, Das Racist, and Boy Crisis. And no, none of them feature moves as other-worldly and infectious as Big Freedia’s “Y’all Get Back Now.”