Chu'Zu

If it is one thing that the South knows how to do very well, it’s party. And everybody knows it. Each and every year, folks flock from all over the country to southern cities just to get loose and have a good time.

Whether the magical Memphis in May month-long parties to the freaky forays of New Orleans’ Mardi Gras or the much-talked-about Labor Day in Miami, below the Mason-Dixon line is where America comes to let her hair down.

Providing the perfect musical soundtrack to every jam-packed club, backyard bar-b-que and ghetto block party with his swagger-ific flavor and hypnotic sound, Texas-bred musical wonder Chu Zu is all about putting a smile on your face and making you feel good.

“Me and my friends just like to go out to the clubs and have fun. And we got a lot of swag so I make music for people like us,” relates Chu Zu. “I made ‘Cranberry and Vodka’ because that’s what I drink when I go out. And I’m not even old enough to drink. But when that song comes on in the club, it’s rocking. Once they hear that song, it’s a wrap. The club turns into a whole different mood. Everybody around here loves it.”

Real name Nigel Ross, the artist most known as Chu Zu was born into music on the north side of Tyler, Texas. Many of his closest friends coming up were aspiring rappers and his uncles even made music from a studio they built in their home.

Chu started tinkering with his uncles’ equipment as early as elementary school. And by the time he was 12, the eager, young entertainer had his own studio setup. He mastered the beat-making computer program FL Studio to produce his own tracks and record himself.

“When I was about nine, I studied how my uncles and older friends made their music,” Chu thinks back. “But when I got old enough to do music, I added my own swag to it and went from there.”

He was only in the eighth grade when he put his first few songs on MySpace. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the response he had hoped for. “They really didn’t like it. They said it was wack,” Chu admits. “It wasn’t that good but it was a start but all that has changed. They’re all hopping on the team like bullfrogs right about now.”

Refusing to give up, he kept making music over the years. And before long, he had gained Internet fans. By the time he had made it to high school, Chu upped the ante and began passing out his homemade mixtapes in school. He would produce all the tracks, lay the lyrics and sit up all night burning CDs on his laptop. By the time he graduated last year, he had so many different mixtapes floating across the school that he couldn’t even keep up with them.