What Does the Word ‘Ratchet’ Mean?

You've heard it in Juicy J's 'Bands Will Make Her Dance' and probably a dozen other songs, but what does the word "ratchet" mean?

I know of some my co-workers who are not familiar with the term and are starting to hear it more frequently.  Instantly I get asked, "What does ratchet mean?" Lets break down the term ratchet for people who are clueless.

Let me first start out by saying that breaking down the term ratchet will not be easy.  The term ratchet is a noun and adjective.  This means pretty much anything or action can be classified as ratchet.  Lets narrow it down as far as we can.

Ratchet basically means from an adjective perspective; the act of being stupid, reckless, inelegant, disrespectful, rude, and down right nasty. From an noun perspective; ratchet seems to be synonymous with females but not necessarily limited to gender.  As a noun, any person, place, or thing that has a reputation of being wretched.  So as you see, ratchet can be anything.

According to Urbandictionary.com, ratchet is defined as but not limited to,

adj. a term for someone who is either 1. a whore 2. dirty/nasty 3. ghetto as HELL 4. being annoying 5. busted

noun. The girl who thinks she's hot she's actually ugly and unflattering, probably being sloppy and obnoxious, and has a big attitude.

Flint, we need your help with some examples of ratchet behavior to fully explain to people who are left out of the loop.  Local comedian Chris Hampton did a video breaking down ratchet.  Before you watching I have to warn you the video is NSFW.

Listen to Hurricane Kris' song 'Halle Berry (She's Fine)' and see if you can catch him using the term Ratchet