Oh, snap!

"Everybody knows now that it's time to put it on the table, like, who's really the man," says Richard "K-Rab" Sims Jr. one hot afternoon. It's a bold assertion, especially for a 21-year-old producer.

K-Rab isn't the first to claim he's the man. Every artist who strikes gold with a snap music-styled record, whether it's D4L ("Laffy Taffy"), Dem Franchize Boyz ("Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It") or Yung Joc ("It's Going Down"), asserts they are the leader of the movement. Even Mr. Collipark, who produced quiet-crunk hits such as the Ying Yang Twins' "Wait (The Whisper Song)" and David Banner's "Play," gets credit from some people for originating the style.

K-Rab bills himself as the original "snap music king," a title built on producing "Laffy Taffy," Trap Squad's "What's Happenin'" and his material with BHI (Born Husslers Inc.), "Do It, Do It (Poole Palace)" and "Bubblegum." When asked if Mr. Collipark devised the snap music beat, K-Rab says, "The 'Wait' song was made after a lot of these songs. You got guys like the Ying Yang Twins — I'm sure they keep their ears to the street because we see them in the street all the time. They know what's going on. They go to the club, we do shows at the club, we might even open up for them. Then here comes the song 'Wait,' and it got snaps in it. OK, so you guys already [famous], so you can claim it?

"But it's all good," says K-Rab, who adds that he doesn't have beef with Ying Yang Twins or Mr. Collipark. "It's gonna come to the light."

During the interview, K-Rab and his manager, KD, sit in a small, VIP-sized room at Toe Jam Music, a record store on Donald Hollowell Parkway in Bankhead. The shop, which KD owns, is temporarily closed for renovations, but in the past it served as a hub for the neighborhood's rappers. "Right over there, right across the street is Poole Palace, where everything started at," points out K-Rab, referencing the nightclub made famous by Dem Franchize Boyz's "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It" video. Later, KD shows me a folder filled with CD-Rs of material by groups like Baker Road Click, Classified, Young Money and 80 Babys — all local groups who recorded their songs and mix tapes inside the store.

"You wouldn't come in that club and hear the Ying Yang Twins all night, you wouldn't hear 50 Cent," says K-Rab of the Poole Palace. "You would come in there and hear some songs that sound like they came out the basement — air popping in the back, you can hear the microphone moving. But that was what everybody liked. So then it turned into a movement."

BHI, whose members include Hard Head, Yung J, Skeet and K-Rab, issued its debut album, 30318 Project, on KD's Strictly Bizness Records early last year. (You can still purchase the disc at online music store CD Baby). After "Laffy Taffy" blew up, several major labels attempted to sign K-Rab to a solo production deal. He eventually settled with Lil Jon's BME Records, which is distributed by Warner Music Group, with the stipulation that BHI be signed, too.

"At the moment, all the labels were just interested in K-Rab," says KD. "He turned down a deal [with a different major label] to get his group a deal." BHI's major-label debut, Born Husslers Inc., is tentatively scheduled for release this summer.

Asked about his inspiration for creating snap music, K-Rab says, "I've got an anime type of mind." He's not referring to Japanese animation, but rather American slapstick like Loony Tunes, and even cell phone ring tones. After all, a lot of kids like bubble gum and Laffy Taffy.

K-Rab recalls playing drums in school bands, and dabbling in gospel rap while attending various churches with his family. "I still go to church," he says, noting that he attends Elizabeth Baptist Church. How does he reconcile his Christian faith with making snap music? "We'll live our life. Almost everybody knows that you can repent. I'm not saying you can [sin], and then say, 'Oh, now I'm gonna repent,'" he says. "With snap music, it goes a lot of different ways. But the thing I do try to do is keep the negative and the violence out, and keep the party going."

Editor's note: The print version of this article incorrectly identified the group Baker Road Click. Baker Road Click and Classified are in fact two separate groups.