It's all about personality when it comes to Chris Crayzie: part MC, part comedian, part father and hustler. Crayzie is from the original 206. Now it's the 253, and when you're on Hilltop you will hear Chris Crayzie's music. It's in the barbershops. It's in cars rolling by. Crayzie is the definition of hood famous. Sure, gone are the days when hip-hop was on every corner and stretch of Hilltop, and there are no more independent music stores, music label offices or studios. But one name is synonymous with Hilltop hip-hop and that is Chris Crayzie. On flashy Internet hip-hop websites other local artists may get the shine, but on these streets Crayzie is in the spotlight. There is a rumor the Tacoma City Council even watched a Chris Crayzie video, probably to try to understand Hilltop better.

Crayzie got his start on Ash Street. If you're not familiar, Google "Ash Street Shootout Tacoma," and bug the fuck out. This is where Crayzie grew up, throwing parties that marked the beginnings the famous party-promotion capabilities he hones to this day. Crayzie calls himself the "Black Van Wilder of the Tac." He tells me one time he got pulled over by the Tacoma police and they knew who he was.

Little kids know and love Chris Crayzie, too. He recalls hanging out with a homie one time and going pick up a woman-friend. When the two of them were waiting for her to get ready, her kids came out of their bedrooms and immediately recognized Crayzie. They began running, jumping, and singing his songs as young kids do.

Once I was doing a spoken-word and poetry workshop at Lincoln High School. As soon as the kids found out I rapped, the only question they had for me was, "Do ya know Chris Crayzie?"

Crayzie first gained notoriety as a stand-up comedian. He actually toured the country doing comedy before he made music. He says having to take on the crowds at comedy shows is what gave him his edge. Crayzie's grandmother moved to Tacoma's South 23rd and K Street in the 1960s. Crayzie calls it "The world-famous, world-renowned Hilltop Town."

Like Hilltop, Crayzie has gone through his hip-hop phases. He remembers buying bootleg X-Clan African medallions across from the 7-Eleven on South 19th and K Streets. These days it's the Speedy-Mart on South 19th and M.L.K., and it's bootleg DVDs.

I ask Crayzie what his first MC name was. He tells me he's too high to remember. No one smokes more than Crayzie. He tells me, "I remember the days of Criminal Nation, High Performance, DJ Freeze, and Rap Brown well though. (And) Little Record-Mart, where every artist from Ice Cube, to D.J. Quick, Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill all got sweated by the Hilltop Crips."

Crayzie says he remembers 23rd Street when it was, "Nothing but black-owned business," like Rhinelanders, The Bluebird, The Office Tavern, 23rd Street Tavern, Browns Star and Grill and many more.

"All the Kings of Hilltop, the boss-ballers, and the billions made from the crack-game. It's all gone," he says.

Crayzie tells me he'll, "Never sell-out to make-it. I want to get big, but I'm happy to be the Al Davies/Fish House Legend."

Some people think Crayzie is just some out-of-control crazy, drugged-out Crip-comedian, so they don't take his music seriously. However, Crayzie's music is as authentic and real as it can get. It's all stuff he's really done. Crayzie talks about hardcore issues - he's just naturally funny, so even the darker side of Tacoma is seen and expressed through this lens. Crayzie makes an effort to use humor to take the edge off the realities of his environment and life.

You can catch Chris Crayzie on Thursday nights at Club Kalifornia on 56th and Portland Avenue, except for the 3rd Thursday of every month when he's chilling at "Word 3rd Thursday" at Hell's Kitchen.