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Hurricane Chris, a previously obscure 18-year-old rapper from Shreveport, LA., scored one of the summer's biggest and most addictive hip-hop hits with...
Shreveport rapper Hurricane Chris has recruited a star-studded team of artists from various regions for the remix to his hit single "A Bay Bay."
The new version of the track features cameos from The Game (Compton, CA), Baby (New Orleans), E-40 (Vallejo, CA), Jadakiss (Yonkers, NY), Lil Boosie, (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), Pitbull (Miami, Florida), Lil Jon (Atlanta) and new comer Angie Locc, also of Shreveport.
According to Hurricane Chris, the remix’s diverse roster falls in line with the direction his Shreveport -based genre of Hip-Hop titled "Ratchet music" is expanding towards.
"All of the artists featured on the remix were people I've wanted to work with for a long time," Hurricane Chris said. "With out hesitation, they all came through to the shoot and that was when I knew 'A Bay Bay' and Ratchet City was more then what's hot right now, but a cultural movement for Hip-Hop music."
The video for the “A Bay Bay” remix premiered Monday (July 30) exclusively on AllHipHop.com.
The single is currently in the Billboard Top 10 as well as the second most downloaded ring tone in the country.
Hurricane Chris is currently preparing for the release of his forthcoming album 51/50 Ratchet.
The project, executive produced by Mr. Collipark and Polo Grounds Music Bryan Leach, is slated to hit stores this fall. www.allhiphop.com
The 18-year-old rapper's song has taken just four weeks to breeze into the top 10 of Billboard's rhythmic airplay charts. It's also at No. 8 on the Hot 100 and No. 12 on the R&B/Hip-Hop charts. The title is fast becoming a catchphrase.
"It just means 'fa' sho,' " says Hurricane Chris (aka Chris Dooley). "Like, 'Are we going out tonight?' 'A bay bay.' Or you see a car you like. 'A bay bay.' It means 'I'm with that' or 'I'm riding with that.' "
The song pays homage to DJ Hollyhood Bay Bay, who spins records at KoKo Pellis, a club in Shreveport, La. The crowd would chant "Hey, Bay Bay, hey, Bay Bay" whenever he'd enter the club, and it soon became part of the local lexicon.
Chris, already known from his live shows in Louisiana and eastern Texas and mixtapes on his independent Go Live Entertainment label, tweaked the phrase for his track and soon picked up area airplay.
When producer Michael "Mr. Collipark" Crooms heard it in Atlanta, he contacted J Records imprint Polo Grounds Music, which signed Hurricane Chris this year. Mr. Collipark, known for his work with the Ying Yang Twins and Bubba Sparxxx, will executive-produce the rapper's debut album, 51/50 (as in 101% real). It arrives in November.
"You hear it once, and you can't stop saying it," says Chuck Creekmur, co-founder of hip-hop news site Allhiphop.com. "Once you get something that goes across all kinds of lines — it's funny, it can pull girls — it's going to catch on."
A Bay Bay should continue to heat up the charts, thanks to a star-studded remix and video featuring The Game, E-40, Lil Boosie and Jadakiss. The drum- and bass-driven track exposes Shreveport's ratchet movement to a national audience. "Ratchet is our whole swagger and our attitude about ourselves," says Chris, who wrote his first rhyme at age 8 for a school talent show. "This song is going to open the door for everybody else."
Shreveport's Lava House Records will release a ratchet compilation album under the Polo Grounds umbrella. Lava's Angie Locc appears in the A Bay Bay remix and video, while Big Poppa and Chris collaborate on the single Workout with A Bay Bay producer Phunk Dawg.
Ratchet has all the right elements for success, says Polo Grounds president Bryan Leach, who had a hand in regional movements such as crunk in Atlanta and Latin rap in Miami. "It was fun. It was edgy. It had the lingo."
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