“Everybody runnin’ ‘round town bitin’ Tucker rap /
Awright, awright, awright, awright, awright /
They just don’t know that I am the real /
Brotha, the Brotha Brotha, the Brotha Brotha /
So when I come on your set, it’s best for you to /
Boot up, trick! Boot up, trick, trick! /
When I bang your whole posse, everybody’s gonna say /
Where dey at? Where dey at? Where dey at? /
And you girls out there think I’m trickin’ for that honey /
Trick betta have my money! /
C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon /
C’mon, c’mon…”

In the wake of MC T Tucker and DJ Irv’s smash success with the definitive New Orleans Bounce debut “Where Dey At”, many a copycat was spawned, as referenced here by Everlasting Hitman (nee Floyd Blount) in his sole single “Bounce Baby Bounce”.

You’ll notice in addition to the standard Triggerman sample, Hitman sampled “Rock the Bells” by LL Cool J and “Express Yourself” by NWA. You’ll also notice Hitman’s knack for raunchy storytelling in the grand tradition of West Bank rappers like Bust Down and Tim Smooth. This storytelling style would later be adopted by Bounce artists like Lil’ Slim and Pimp Daddy, helping give a bit more dimension to Bounce records since artists could now do more than just shout out wards and call out dance moves.

According to the gcpress.com Bounce Timeline which has been quite helpful in my research, Hitman was himself from the West Bank, which surprises me seeing as his song seems to shout out the 9th Ward more than anything else. But I also see he was with Mobo Records, and damn near every artist on Mobo was from the West Bank, so I guess I’ll buy that for a dollar.

Honestly, this was never one of my favorite Bounce cuts. Something about Hitman’s nasally voice kind of annoyed me. My high school self did find some amusement in his little “shake-it-or-wash-it-douche-it” run, but all that “c’mon, c’mon” made me feel like I was being nagged to do chores by one of Martin Lawrence’s characters like Jerome or Otis. Also, the dirty version of the song is just ridiculously unreal. This dude was talking about how his penis could make the deaf speak, the blind see, and the handicapped walk. Still, the song was an important piece of the early Bounce puzzle, so I’ll give it its due respect.

Sadly, as with so many other New Orleans rappers (and New Orleanians in general), Everlasting Hitman had his life cut short far too soon. On February 3, 1996, he was shot to death in the Fischer Housing Development. He was 21 years old. Rest in peace to the Everlasting Hitman, and may he and his beloved Sweet Chung Wu enjoy everlasting bowls of yaka mein in Heaven.

Not every New Orleans rapper was a Bounce artist, but the wild success and attention earned by Bounce in its early 90’s advent had even some of the more lyrical and “gangsta” styled groups ready to “go off” into another direction and try their hand at a Bounce cut. (And if you think that was my way of hinting at the subject of the next entry, I will say, “Precisely…”)