Christopher Dooley, Jr. earned the moniker Hurricane Chris during his early days as a battle rapper, when he would leave his opponent silent, not unlike the aftermath of a massive tropical storm. Hailing from Shreveport, a small city situated in upper northwestern corner of Louisiana, over 300 miles from New Orleans, Chris broke out in 2007 with an irresistible slew of club bangers. By 2010, he had all but disappeared from the national hip hop consciousness. The rap game is a fickle beast.
Click through the gallery to revisit Hurricane Chris' most potent tracks that he released from 2007 to 2009.
"A Bay Bay" (2007)
Chris released his debut single "A Bay Bay" less than two months after his 18th birthday. Few could resist its charm: it peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, by far the biggest hit of his career. (His next highest-charting single: "Halle Berry," at #52.)
He spoke on "A Bay Bay" in a 2007 interview with DJ Booth:
Man, it’s a word that everybody can use. Everybody use some kind of positive vibe word. Everybody use a word like “fo sho, that’s right, that’s hot, that’s what’s up.” It’s just a new one, “a bay bay.” It don’t sound like nothing else but it mean the same thing, all it mean is “fo sho.” It’s a positive vibe thing. If you see anything you like, say “a bay bay” to it. “We hittin the club tonight, we gonna have a good time? A bay bay.
"Hand Clap"
Hurricane Chris was one of the first people to popularize the now-ubiquitous term "ratchet." On "Hand Clap" he raps that he's "In the club we get ratchet 'til we fight," and later, "Well I hope you ain't tired of clapping your hands cause we just got in the club / I spent 75 dollars on this shirt just for the club" -- and later, "Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream." This is legendary stuff, and this track still goes hard as ever 10 years later.
"Playas Rock" feat. Boxie
If you though Hurricane Chris was only good for ratchet music, he raps over a Earth, Wind, & Fire flip on the highly underrated "Playas Rock."
"Momma"
Hurricane Chris' first big purchase was a half-a-million dollar home for his mother. But he wasn't done there. He crafted an ode to his mother, "Momma," in which he raps tenderly over a Southern-fried casserole of wah guitar and cowbells.
Baby Bash - "Cyclone" (Remix) feat. T-Pain, Hurricane Chris and Gorilla Zoe
2007 was by far the best year of Chris' career, and his lack of longevity can be partially explained by his unwillingness to embrace the power of the internet. He spoke on his relationship with MySpace in a recent interview with Noisey:
I had zero understanding of the importance of the internet. When they were trying to make me do Myspace, I was like, “What the fuck? Get out of my face with this shit. I don’t want to do this shit.” I told him to let my media guy do it, and the media guy did it, and I didn’t even really fuck with Myspace.
Mike Jones - "Drop & Gimme 50" feat. Hurricane Chris
Mike Jones never recreated the massive success of his 2005 debut Who is Mike Jones?, though his 2009 follow-up The Voice did contain a few special moments, including the Mr. Collipark-produced club masterpiece "Drop & Gimme 50," whose signature Hurricane Chris hook will easily whip the bar into a frenzy on a Saturday night.
"Doin Our Thang" w/ Lil Boosie
Boosie is an important figure in Hurricane Chris' career. He rapped on the "A Bay Bay" remix and he is the only rapper with whom Chris has made a collaborative mixtape. Their 2009 mixtape Category 7: A Bad Azz Hurricane is loaded with gems, including the incorrigible "Doin Our Thang."
Lil Josh & Ernest - "Jigga Juice" feat. Diamond and Hurricane Chris
Internet dance crazes are a dime a dozen these days. Baton Rouge duo Lil Josh & Ernest sparked one of the first in 2008 when they invited Hurricane Chris to join them on "Jigga Juice."
Chris' 2009 sophomore album Unleashed produced the radio single "Headboard," which featured the diabolical duo of Mario and Plies. Plies and Chris are currently embroiled in a major beef.
"Halle Berry (She Fine)" feat. Superstarr
If "Headboard" represented Chris deigning to radio trends, his other Unleashed single, "Halle Berry," represented a glorious return to his roots as the ratchet prince of Louisiana. in his DJ Booth interview, Chris explained what distinguished ratchet from crunk, snap, and hyphy music:
The ratchet movement is a movement we got coming from Shreveport, Louisiana. It’s gonna be all the way 51/50, it’s our culture. Our music is called ratchet too. Ratchet is how we walk, talk, eat, sleep, dress, how we do our music, sing. It just means do you to the fullest and don’t care what nobody else think. Just do you. Do your own thing, you ratchet.