Hurricane Season
H
Words by Randy Roper
urricane Chris isn’t exactly the easiest interview subject. You would think that questions about meeting Alicia Keys, groupie love and addressing haters would lead to interesting commentary, but the 18-year-old rapper from Shreveport, Louisiana seems disinterested in such juvenile debates. Instead, the artist discovered by A-Town impresario Mr. Collipark and signed to Bryan Leach’s J Records subsidiary, Polo Grounds Music, has other things on is mind. His “A Bay Bay” single shot up the charts and sold millions of ringtones but critics were quick to write him off as another song-and-dance Southern Hip Hop act. So Hurricane has something to prove, which probably explains the reason the teenaged rhymer barely ever cracks a smile. With his debut album 51/50 Ratchet in stores and the Shreveport ratchet music movement thrown upon his young shoulders, Chris is focused on running the game. Whoever feels differently can holla at Hurricane. You’re from Shreveport, Louisiana, which is the home of “ratchet music.” Can you explain what ratchet music is and the music scene in your city? I’m from Ratchet City, you know what I’m sayin’? Come to Shreveport, Louisiana and go to Club Cocoa Pevis. We got a movement behind it. We dance ratchet. Everything we do is ratchet. Ratchet is our culture, ya heard me? What exactly is ratchet? The ratchet movement is the movement I got coming out of Louisiana. It’s a lot of people that are a part of the ratchet movement. I’m putting it to the forefront. Ratchet is our culture, how we dance. Atlanta got crunk. The bay area got hyphy. We got ratchet. Your single “A Bay Bay” took off this year. What’s been your biggest adjustment to the success and fame? I ain’t had no big changes. I’m financially better. But for the most part I’m still the same dude. Can you explain the whole concept of “A Bay Bay?” The “A Bay Bay” ratchet movement comes from Shreveport, Louisiana. My OZONE MAG // 69