Katey Red is a Bounce artist, rapper, and entertainer from New Orleans, Louisiana. Over the last two decades, she’s been responsible for some of the most relentless, high energy, and unafraid club music ever heard. Working at the frontier of Bounce music – the fiercely local New Orleans genre of party music – Katey led a new generation of artists who pushed the rhythmic complexity and narrative possibilities of the style.

Katey Red was raised in the Melpomene Projects, Uptown New Orleans, where her strong sense of self emerged almost immediately. In her own words, “I had to be like four or five when I found out I was going to be a little diva.” But it was her shameless freestyle delivered at a block party that brought the teenaged Katey to public attention. “I’m a punk under pressure,” she announced, “when we finish leave my money on the dresser.” Just three weeks after debuting these lines to an audience, Katey had a record deal.

Perhaps the most arresting of Katey Red’s acts was her decision to perform as an out, gay and transgender woman from the start of her career. In 1999, when her first CD was released, the possibility of a gay rapper was unfathomable, and the effect was both profound and immediate. “When Katey came on the scene so flamboyant and full-blown,” recalled rapper Sissy Nobby of his own beginnings, “I’m like, ‘Hell I can do this! I’ma just come out too!’” Katey opened the doors for a host of gay Bounce artists including Big Freedia, Vockah Redu, and Nicky da B.

Since her debut, Katey Red has released two albums, collaborated with Magnolia Shorty, Akron/Family, and Galactic, appeared as herself on the HBO television show Treme, and toured the world. To mark the 20th anniversary of Katey Red’s first CD, Melpomene Block Party , Know Wave takes a close look at the beginning of her career: her groundbreaking early performances and records, and the effect she had on New Orleans, Bounce music, and liberation.

Please note: because of the destructive force of Hurricane Katrina, many of the photos and documents relating to this story no longer exist. We have worked with the participants in this review to provide the best possible materials, but some of the images below will show the effect of this loss.