51/50 Ratchet [PA]

Performer: Hurricane Chris
Producer: Stunt N' Dozier; Bigg Redd; The Package Store; Phunk Dawg; Mr. Rogers; Mr. Collipark
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Additional personnel: Hollyhood Bay Bay, Bigg Redd, Angie Locc, Baby 3, E-40, Jadakiss, Lil' Boosie, Nicole Wray, The Game, Baby, Boxie, Big Poppa. A tender 18 years old at the time of his major label debut, 51/50 RATCHET, Hurricane Chris seems set to take up the torch for New Orleans rap. Not to be confused with YOU HEAR ME?, an underground on-the-cheap release of Hurricane Chris tracks also released in 2007, 51/50 RATCHET has all the trimmings of a big-league splash. A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Hurricane Chris puts his own twist on a crunk-influenced Dirty South style. The album contains the hit "A Bay Bay," the instant and infectiously catchy track that catapulted Hurricane Chris to recognition. 51/50 Ratchet, the major-label debut of young Shreveport, LA, rapper Hurricane Chris, features his breakthrough single, "A Bay Bay," and a bunch of songs that are very similar in style. No other song here can match the chant-along catchiness of "A Bay Bay," though "The Hand Clap" comes fairly close. Both songs are produced by Phunk Dawg, who knowingly sticks to the same winning formula that resulted in innumerable Southern rap hits in 2007 (e.g., Soulja Boy's chart-topping "Crank That"). The one song on 51/50 Ratchet that breaks from the snap-rap mold is "Playas Rock," a Mr. Collipark production built atop a sample of Earth, Wind & Fire's "Love's Holiday." ~ Jason Birchmeier 51/50 Ratchet, the major-label debut of young Shreveport, LA, rapper Hurricane Chris, features his breakthrough single, "A Bay Bay," and a bunch of songs that are very similar in style. No other song here can match the chant-along catchiness of "A Bay Bay," though "The Hand Clap" comes fairly close. Both songs are produced by Phunk Dawg, who knowingly sticks to the same winning formula that resulted in innumerable Southern rap hits in 2007 (e.g., Soulja Boy's chart-topping "Crank That"). The one song on 51/50 Ratchet that breaks from the snap-rap mold is "Playas Rock," a Mr. Collipark production built atop a sample of Earth, Wind & Fire's "Love's Holiday." Like the formulaic productions, Hurricane Chris delivers the same style of raps over and over. He's gifted for his age, especially in terms of delivery, but his immaturity is well evident in his raps, which lack substance and are clich� at best. The potential is there for Chris to grow into an impressive rapper; at this point, however, the teenage rapper's skills are rudimentary. The album-ending, seven-minute remix of "A Bay Bay" is an ample showcase of this, as big-league rappers like the Game, E-40, and Jadakiss step up to the plate and sound mighty impressive relative to the preceding hour of rapping. ~ Jason Birchmeier

With a simple drawling style and delivery tailor-made for the tricked-out crunk beats (or in his case, the Louisiana subset genre called "rachet"), Hurricane Chris became a hitmaking machine in the late '00s. Rapping since he was just nine years old, the Shreveport MC burst onto the national scene in his late teens in 2007 with his catchy single "A Bay Bay." He proved himself neither one-hit wonder nor bubblegum-teen when he returned two years later with the smash "Halle Barry (She's Fine)."

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.25