Happy Birthday, Frank Ocean!

Singer songwriter, rapper, record producer and photographer Frank Ocean (Christopher Breaux) was born in New Orleans on October 28, 1987. He is known for his idiosyncratic musical style, introspective and elliptical songwriting, unconventional production techniques, and wide vocal range. Music critics have credited him with revitalizing R&B, with his distinctive sound and style influencing numerous artists of various music genres.

Ocean began his musical career as a ghostwriter, and joined hip hop collective Odd Future in 2010. He released his debut mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra, achieving critical success, with the single "Novacane" peaking on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 82, and later achieving platinum certification. In 2012, Def Jam Recordings signed Ocean to a recording contract., and in July of that year, he released his debut studio album Channel Orange. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and was soon certified platinum. The album received universal acclaim from critics and won Ocean his first Grammy Award, for Best Urban Contemporary Album. 

Ocean’s second album, Blonde, was released in 2016 as was his visual project Endless. Blonde debuted at number one in several countries and was also highly acclaimed by critics. In 2017, he was featured on the Calvin Harris single "Slide", opposite Migos, which became Ocean's highest charting song in the US, peaking at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Happy Birthday to a true NOLA original talent!

Photo by: Rory - https://www.flickr.com/photos/73714450@N08/9280513387

Happy Birthday, Big Freedia!

Rapper Big Freedia (Freddie Ross Jr.) was born in New Orleans on January 28, 1978, and is known for the New Orleans genre of hip hop called bounce music. Freedia has been credited with helping popularize the genre, which was largely underground since developing in the early 1990s. 

Freedia started singing in the choir of her neighborhood Baptist church, and started her professional performance career around 1999. In 2003, she released the studio album Queen Diva, and first gained mainstream exposure in 2009. In 2011, his 2010 album Big Freedia Hitz Vol. 1 was re-released, and she was named Best Emerging Artist and Best Hip-Hop/Rap Artist in January's "Best of the Beat Awards," and was nominated for the 2011 22nd GLAAD Media Awards. In 2013, she got her own reality show on the Fuse Channel, which chronicles her life on tour and at home. On July 7, 2015, she released her autobiography God Save the Queen Diva!.

In 2016 Beyonce released a surprise single, Formation, sampling Freedia's voice. 2020 saw a collaboration with New Kids on the Block, Jordin Sparks, Naughty by Nature and Boyz II Men in their Song "House Party", a song written during social distancing during Covid-19 pandemic, and the video for which was shot on everyone's cell phones. She also provided additional vocals for Drake's 2018 number-one hit "Nice for What", though she is not credited as a featured artist. In the late 2010s she befriended Kesha with the two collaborating on each others' projects. Freedia was going on tour with Kesha in 2020 but it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But nothing can keep this energetic artist down! And today we celebrate Big Freedia’s birthday with her!

excerpted from Wikipedia

Photo: Kowarski

Happy Birthday, DJ Khaled!

Producer, rapper, songwriter, and record label executive Khaled Mohamed Khaled, better known as DJ Khaled, was born in New Orleans on November 26, 1975. A popular radio host at a hip hop station in the 1990s, he DJ’d at Terror Squad’s live shows and eventually gained production credits on their recordings. His 2006 debut album “ Listennn... the Album” achieved gold, and Khaled founded his own label, We the Best Music Group. He has continued to achieve great success with his subsequent releases, even garnering a Grammy nomination in 2016 for Best Rap Album for his ninth studio album, “Major Key”. Subsequent releases have also achieved great commercial and critical success, with his 2019 album, “Father of Asahd” achieving number 2 on the Billboard 200. Khaled is also a prominent media personality, an actor, and he is a New York Times bestselling writer with his book The Keys.

Photo by: Meghan Roberts - DJ Khaled, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46144938

Happy Birthday, Frank Ocean!

Singer songwriter, rapper, record producer and photographer Frank Ocean (Christopher Breaux) was born in New Orleans on October 28, 1987. He is known for his idiosyncratic musical style, introspective and elliptical songwriting, unconventional production techniques, and wide vocal range. Music critics have credited him with revitalizing R&B, with his distinctive sound and style influencing numerous artists of various music genres.

Ocean began his musical career as a ghostwriter, and joined hip hop collective Odd Future in 2010. He released his debut mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra, achieving critical success, with the single "Novacane" peaking on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 82, and later achieving platinum certification. In 2012, Def Jam Recordings signed Ocean to a recording contract., and in July of that year, he released his debut studio album Channel Orange. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and was soon certified platinum. The album received universal acclaim from critics and won Ocean his first Grammy Award, for Best Urban Contemporary Album. 

Ocean’s second album, Blonde, was released in 2016 as was his visual project Endless. Blonde debuted at number one in several countries and was also highly acclaimed by critics. In 2017, he was featured on the Calvin Harris single "Slide", opposite Migos, which became Ocean's highest charting song in the US, peaking at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Happy Birthday to a true NOLA original talent!

Photo by: Rory - https://www.flickr.com/photos/73714450@N08/9280513387

Happy Birthday, Lil Wayne!

Rapper, singer, songwriter, record executive, entrepreneur and actor Lil Wayne (DeWayne Michael Carter, Jr) was born on September 27, 1982, in New Orleans. He was discovered in 1995 at age 12, and was part of several groups, and he released his debut solo album in 1999, which was certified platinum. His popularity grew and he gained prominence, with albums being certified gold, and culminating in a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album in 2008. Lil Wayne’s success continued but was interrupted by an 8-month jail sentence in New York due to a 2007 weapon possession incident. His 8th studio album was released during his incarceration in 2010, and another was released following his release from jail. In September 2012, Lil Wayne became the first male artist to achieve 109 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, surpassing Elvis Presley. Lil Wayne has sold over 15 million albums in the United States, and more than 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. He is also the CEO of his own label, Young Money Entertainment.

By Megan Elice Meadows - IMG_0534, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54753000

Happy Birthday, Big Freedia!

Rapper Big Freedia (Freddie Ross Jr.) was born in New Orleans on January 28, 1978, and is known for the New Orleans genre of hip hop called bounce music. Freedia has been credited with helping popularize the genre, which was largely underground since developing in the early 1990s. 

Freedia started singing in the choir of her neighborhood Baptist church, and started her professional performance career around 1999. In 2003, she released the studio album Queen Diva, and first gained mainstream exposure in 2009. In 2011, his 2010 album Big Freedia Hitz Vol. 1 was re-released, and she was named Best Emerging Artist and Best Hip-Hop/Rap Artist in January's "Best of the Beat Awards," and was nominated for the 2011 22nd GLAAD Media Awards. In 2013, she got her own reality show on the Fuse Channel, which chronicles her life on tour and at home. On July 7, 2015, she released her autobiography God Save the Queen Diva!.

In 2016 Beyonce released a surprise single, Formation, sampling Freedia's voice. 2020 saw a collaboration with New Kids on the Block, Jordin Sparks, Naughty by Nature and Boyz II Men in their Song "House Party", a song written during social distancing during Covid-19 pandemic, and the video for which was shot on everyone's cell phones. She also provided additional vocals for Drake's 2018 number-one hit "Nice for What", though she is not credited as a featured artist. In the late 2010s she befriended Kesha with the two collaborating on each others' projects. Freedia was going on tour with Kesha in 2020 but it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But nothing can keep this energetic artist down! And today we celebrate Big Freedia’s birthday with her!

excerpted from Wikipedia

Photo: Kowarski