b. Howard Bailey Jnr., 9 March 1979, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. This US rapper burst into the mainstream charts in summer 2003 with the anthemic "Right Thurr', a catchy slice of southern hip-hop that briefly threatened to unseat the reigning king of pop rap, Nelly. Chingy first began rapping in the early 90s, and before long had established a reputation on St. Louis" underground scene, releasing several independently pressed CDs with his group Without Warning. Adopting the moniker Chingy (slang for money), he signed a contract with fellow southern rapper Ludacris' Disturbing Tha Peace imprint and recorded his major label debut Jackpot with up-and-coming production team the Trak Starz. "Right Thurr" was tailor made for club success, combining lazy Dirty South beats with Chingy's leering rap about beautiful women, and after enjoying constant radio play was released nationally in June 2003. The track climbed into the US Top 5 shortly after the release of Jackpot.
The singles "Holidae In" (featuring Ludacris and Snoop Dogg) and "One Call Away' (featuring J. Weav) maintained Chingy's presence in the upper regions of the US charts, although a second album (Powerballin") was less successful. The album was released on Chingy's Slot-A-Lot Records label, which he had founded after falling out with Disturbing Tha Peace. The rapper returned to the upper regions of the singles chart in late 2006 with "Pullin' Me Back" (featuring Tyrese), while the attendant Hoodstar featured a number of club-orientated tracks. The following year's Hate It Or Love It was released through Disturbing Tha Peace, the rapper having settled his dispute with the label.
DISCOGRAPHY: Jackpot (Disturbing Tha Peace/Capitol 2003)***, Powerballin' (Slot-A-Lot/Capitol 2004)**, Hoodstar (Slot-A-Lot/Capitol 2006)**, Hate It Or Love It (Slot-A-Lot/Disturbing Tha Peace/Island Def Jam 2007)***.
FILMOGRAPHY: Beef 3 (2005), The System Within (2006), Scary Movie 4 (2006).

Encyclopedia of Popular Music
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