The East and West coasts are bling bling, the rural acts are celebrating their country grammar, and the Dirty South just wants to keep the party going, but when you get to New Orleans, it’s specifically about the bounce.

The Crescent City (and, to some extent, Baton Rouge) is the only place in the U.S. where hip-hop is first and foremost a dance phenomenon. The rest of the rap world hasn’t looked back since the Furious Five took the glitter off.

Choppa’s firmly in the New Orleans tradition—he shares a label (Take Fo’ Records) with “King Of Bounce” DJ Jubilee, and his show features the Sho Boys (Paulie P, Mike, Jason, and Keddy B), his crew of dancers who help get the crowd moving. But even with one major hit (“Choppa Style”) under his belt, he aspires to be more than just a bounce act, and he hopes to convince the world of that during this year’s Jazz Fest performance.

West Bank born and bred, Choppa spent his childhood in Harvey and Marrero, streets that were just starting to turn mean during his formative years. “It was hard,” admits Choppa, who doesn’t lay claim to any one rapper’s influence. “I didn’t have no favorite. Back then, I was 9 or 10, just with your fam, you know, rappin’ about Mike Tyson Punch-Out Nintendo, spaghetti and meatballs,” he trails off, laughing. He left the kid stuff behind, however, when he moved to the slightly more affluent Terrytown in his teens (“I was still a hot boy, just different surroundings”) and started to call radio station WQUE FM at night to demonstrate his freestyle prowess. It was these unannounced stints on Q 93’s “9’O’Clock Props” show that got him noticed by Take Fo’, and the rest is danceable history.

Now, with the hit “Choppa Style” and the resulting CD getting airplay all over the South, word is starting to get out across the country, including airplay on BET’s “Uncut,” touring with the likes of Jay-Z and local hero Juvenile, and good notices in the strangest places (The New York Times, for one). Last year’s Jazz Fest appearance was another breakthrough for Choppa, although he admits to being nervous at first. “These people don’t even know nothing about you,” he says now. “But they gonna be looking at me different after this summer. There’s plenty more where that came from.”

The title of his upcoming summer-2002 CD, What’s Next, reflects that strategy—not just more music, but more Choppa and slightly less bounce. “They always askin’ ‘What’s next?’” says Choppa. “You’re gonna hear me shootin’ at new stuff, hear me really rappin’. It’s gonna be like a magazine, a good variety of songs.” Expect him to preview his somewhat new style at the Fest this year, along with a bit more confidence, but don’t look for any nouveau riche posing: Choppa prides himself on keeping it real in the strictest sense. “I want people to know that I’m real down to earth, so holla,” he declares. “I mean, I’m not even ‘a rapper.’ I still have my delights. Somebody’ll catch me, they might see me and say, ‘That’s not the same person that was jumpin’ around on stage.’ You can holla at me. They speak to rappers like they think the rappers gonna play ’em like that. I ain’t like that. I’m a performer.” And, apparently, a committed one. “Get used to me,” he laughs. “I done had me a Snicker and I’m gonna be here for a while.” Choppa performs his set at this year’s Jazz Fest on Sunday, April 28th.

As Jazz Fest expands, urban artists like Choppa have gotten more stage time, and this year is no exception. Hip-hop doesn’t get the space or time at the Fest that a lot of other musical styles do—as with rock bands, you have to be an extremely popular local act or a national superstar to even make the bill—but unlike rock, the hip-hop vibe permeates a lot of the younger bands to some extent, no matter what they’re putting down. So we end up with acts like the perennial Fest favorite All That (appearing on the 26th), whose ragged-but-right, culturally aware brand of fun funk incorporates rap into its brass-rock lineup. On the 28th, the incomparable ReBirth Brass Band does what it wants to in a slightly more traditional brass-band vein, and Lil’ Rascals Brass Band buck it like a horse while following suit. That day also provides the Furious Five, who may be minus Grandmaster Flash these days but who can still deliver that old-school rap vibe. For the purest and most relevant hip-hop, the true fan’s best bet comes on Saturday, May 4th, which features a set from one of No Limit’s tightest rappers, Souljah Slim, and the Jazz Fest debut of rapper MYSELF, a locally-born and Brooklyn-raised multigenre master who promotes hip-hop as a spiritual and political instrument of change. Potential superstar material, in other words. No cynicism intended.