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Once I started rapping, I had to start dancing more. I had to really use my craft, and take everything I did for fun and put it into my professional shows.
A lot of people think that I am trans but I'm not trans. I am a gay male with hair and nails. So if you say 'he' or 'she' it doesn't matter. I know who I am.
I draw my strength from my mom, who passed away a few years ago. She taught me from the day I was just a little boy to never give up and be proud of who I am.
The best times I've had backstage are when you have people around you who genuinely love you, respect your privacy, and have your back - that's what it's all about.
I always try to have my hair and my nails did no matter what. As long as that's done, putting an outfit and some shoes together, and a little makeup, that's nothing.
Everybody in the world now wants to twerk. We don't twerk here in New Orleans, we bounce, we wiggle, we wobble, we shake, we bust it open, bend it over, we do it all.
I feel very accepted, like I never have any slander. I never have any issues. You know, like, when people see me, they respect me. It's all about how you carry yourself.
Bounce is a primarily call-and-response style of hip-hop over a 'Trigger Man' beat. It's a New Orleans-created hip-hop style that developed in the late '80s, early '90s.
I've been dying to do something with Ms. Patti LaBelle because she is so iconic. I grew up listening to her with my mom in the house. She is such a big inspiration to me.
Definitely practice in the mirror before you attempt it. You have to use your body in the upright position, you can use your knees for support and that's the only way you can twerk.
Freedom to me can be so many things; freedom to be myself, to express myself and do the things I want to do, freedom to go in any direction I want to go in order to accomplish my goals.
I was on subsidized housing for many years before my financial situation changed. I quickly found myself in a new economic structure and, frankly, knew little about how to handle my money.
If I'm just trying to get to different levels... and it takes levels to get to levels, and I just have to do what I have to do to keep on climbing the charts and getting where I need to be.
I'm an artist. I'm a gay artist. My preferred identity is, 'any of the sort.' My fans like to identify me as 'she,' but I'm comfortable with who I am, I know who I am and it's all fine with me.
I met Icona Pop by chance because we were both recording at the same studio. I was a fan so when I heard they were in the next room, I went to say hi. Next thing I knew, they were on two songs.
Some of my friends really rock out: Matt and Kim, Diplo, when RuPaul was performing. Beyonce... there's tons of people I saw perform and was like, 'I just want my crowd to be awesome like this!'
You know, being the artist and not knowing when you sometimes create a song, you don't think about whether it's gonna start controversy or whatever. Sometimes you just write and you're in the zone.
There's no such thing as 'sissy bounce.' We don't separate it here in New Orleans at all. It's just bounce music. Just because I'm a gay artist, they don't have to put it in a category or label it.
Duffy is go hard or go home. It's just a concept that I wanted to have when we're doing different things. When me and my dancers go in, we usually go hard or we go home. We're not here to play. We go duffy.
Everything changed after Katrina. It's a new New Orleans now and I think it's better. It was a wake-up call and it rebuilt and cleaned up the city. It all happened for a reason. I'm now grateful for Katrina.
I truly believe there needs to be more programs for artists and musicians to teach basic financial literacy and planning. Coming from where I came from, I know that I could have used that kind of assistance.
I mean you have to work hard to earn respect and make people respect you. When I come to the presence of any room or any place, people give me the most high respects and I'm gracious and appreciative of that.
I've grown in tremendous ways with enhancing my music, my ability to perform on stage and travel all around to spread bounce music. I've come so far from being that little black boy growing up in New Orleans to now.
About 1998, my best friend, Katey Red, was the first transsexual male to come out with bounce music. And I background Katey for about two years. And then that's when the game totally switched when me and Katey jumped in it.
That was one thing my mama instilled in me: to be well trained in the kitchen. Growing up, I was always in the kitchen with her. You name it, I make it: red beans and rice, lasagna, chicken, pork. I am the queen of cooking.
Twerking is just limited to a certain, specific dance where it's hand on the knees and you're busting open. With bounce music, we do a whole lot more and everyone is so unique in the way that they move and their personality.
The first 10 years of my journey, I was still figuring out who I was, and then I had to redo it all over again when I became bigger. So instead of saying, 'I'm gay and this is me,' I started telling the story through my music.
I was so big, so I had to always come up with my own creations. Like, when I would do junior prom and stuff, I would have stuff specially made or added to my outfit. I definitely was always into trying to do something a little over and beyond.
Twerking - and it's a lot more than twerking - comes from a long history of music and dance in New Orleans. Twerkin' happen around the world for a long time now, so I'm very excited that it's coming into the public eye, as long as it's respected.
I came out at a very early age. I sat my mom down at my 12th birthday party and told her in front of my friends. She said, 'Baby, mama already knows, and I'm going to love you regardless.' Once I got my mom's support, there was nothing else I needed.
The journey after Katrina, it opened a lot of doors for a lot of people. Coming from a rooftop to going to Hollywood and around the world, internationally teaching people about bounce music, definitely God is good and amazing about what he can do with your life.
You can see yourself in the mirror. You can see how you want your body to move. Everybody wants to look sexy when they're dancing, so that mirror will be, you know, that reflection of yourself of how you will look in the club, so definitely use the mirror at home.
I still feel like there are so many things that I have to do to really become an icon. I've done a lot and laid down a lot of groundwork, but there's so much more work to be done. There's a lot more that I want to do, LGBTQ centers that I want to open. After I leave my legacy, then I will be that icon.
It has to do a lot more than just twerking. It's feel good music; it makes people have a good time. It doesn't matter what type of situation they're in, we bounce all around New Orleans. Weddings, birthday parties, funerals. The whole nine yards, and it's a happy music, it turns people from a frown to a happy smile.
I was young so when I had that job at Burger King, I was still in high school and I just needed to help out my mom. And help myself because I needed to buy some of my clothes. I did that for about three years and I had became a shift manager working at Burger King, doing my thing. I was young and excited to make my own money.
I would love to do something with many artists, you know: Fantasia, Cardi B, Lil Wayne, J.Lo, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson. There's so many of them! All of them are iconic in their own way and to collaborate with any of those artists of that magnitude would be such an honor for me because I grew up listening to them and I love their music.
The first club that reopened in New Orleans was Caesar's, and they called me immediately and said let's do a regular night with you here. So we started FEMA Fridays. It was the only club open in the city, and a lot of people had a lot of money from Katrina, the checks and stuff, so the joy inside that club - I don't think that'll ever come back.