Hurricane Chris

Weeks after Hurricane Chris scored a Top Ten hit single with "A Bay Bay," Rap-a-Lot released "You Hear Me?" in hopes of capitalizing on the teenage rapper's overnight rise to fame. The album's packaging is an instant giveaway that this isn't Hurricane Chris' major-label debut (that would be 5150 Ratchet, which hadn't been released yet), for the CD is so cheaply packaged, it looks homemade. Slyly billed to simply "Hurricane" rather than Hurricane Chris, presumably for legal reasons, "You Hear Me?" is comprised of old, previously released underground recordings, the best known among them "You Hear Me?" and "Yep." Unfortunately, the sound quality is poor, as if the songs were unmastered or perhaps dubbed from CD-R mixtape sources. This is unfortunate because the songs aren't bad at all -- they just sound bad. Granted, the productions are low-budget and the raps OK at best, but there's a lot of youthful energy in these songs as well as a lot of singsong hooks à la "A Bay Bay." Besides the aforementioned underground hits, "Get Out Yo Mind" is notable for its Pimp C guest feature. Though "You Hear Me?" is a curiosity at best, it's one that devoted fans of Hurricane Chris might want to hunt down. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide