Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz — Kings Of Crunk
Throwback Review | July 2024
Multiple artists helped Crunk music’s success, but not to the same level of Lil Jon. Along with The East Side Boyz, Kings Of Crunk took Crunk music from a popular Southern sub-genre to a cross over phenomenon.
Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz (Big Sam (left) and Lil’ Bo (right)
Crunk music’s origins starts within the mid-1990s where legendary southern acts such as Three 6 Mafia birthed the sub-genre and introduced what Crunk music would sound like sonically with tracks such as “Tear Da Club ‘97”. In the late 1990s and the first couple of years in the 2000s, Lil Jon and The East Side Boyz released their first three independent albums, and with every project they gained more traction and recognition. With the groups fourth album, Kings Of Crunk and the success of the album’s second single, “Get Low” featuring the Ying Yang Twins, Lil Jon and The East Side Boyz became cross over stars. “Get Low” reached number two on the Billboard 200, and is easily one of the most iconic and recognisable tracks of the 2000s. “Get Low” was so huge and loved even Bruce Willis was jumping up and down to it during the groups performance at the MTV Video Music Awards. The success of the single, led to Kings of Crunk going double platinum and in particular Lil Jon became household name as a producer. Lil Jon became an in demand producer and between 2003 and 2006 he produced countless hit songs. From the likes of “Damn!” for the Youngbloodz, “Freak-A-Leak” for Petey Pablo and “Blow The Whistle” for Too $hort. Incredibly Lil Jon also had huge success producing hit records for R&B acts, creating a crossover sub-genre, called Crunk&B. This includes singles such as Usher’s mega-hit “Yeah!” and Ciara’s “Goodies” featuring Petey Pablo.
Lil Jon and The East Side Boyz’s legacy has been built based off their singles, and in particular for Lil Jon the singles he produced for other artists as well. Album wise, there isn’t a classic album under the group’s belt. When it comes to Kings of Crunk there are a lot of fun tracks and bangers, however it does include a quite a bit of filler and is quite bloated at 19 songs. This isn’t shown more than the fact the first eight tracks are the best songs on the album, but after that the album loses steam and soon gains a lot of inconsistency. “Throw It Up” featuring Pastor Troy, is the first song off of Kings Of Crunk and it might actually be the best song on the whole album. It amazingly samples “Lux Aterna”, the theme song to the 2000 movie, Requiem For A Dream. If someone were to ask you what is Crunk music, “Throw It Up” might be the perfect song to showcase what the sub-genre is sonically. From the chanting chorus and ad-libs to the hard hitting instrumental, “Throw It Up” is one of the records that epitomises what Crunk music is.
Throughout the album you have a range of different rappers from the likes of Bun B, E-40 to Fat Joe. Jadakiss who features on “Knockin Heads Off” with Styles P, might have the best guest verse from the whole album, as his voice fits perfectly with beat. “I Don’t Give a F**k” features Mystikal and Krayzie Bone, and is another recognisable and beloved track during this era. Whilst, album cuts from the likes of “Rep Yo City” and “Push That Ni**a, Push That H**” keep the party going and just like the tracks before are just as fun and could get any crowd jumping. After this point however, this is where the Kings of Crunk starts to lose its steam as mentioned previously. The second half of the album seems to be an attempt at really pushing and creating a name for singer, Oobie. Oobie is featured on four tracks on the album, all back to back and simultaneously. All the tracks featuring Oobie are a push towards a more laidback and R&B-Hip-Hop sound, or what would soon be referred to Crunk&b. Frankly records such as “Nothin On” and “Ohh Na Na” are easily some of the weakest tracks from the album, and just doesn’t fit nor sit well with the record at all. The album soon starts drag on and does become slightly tiresome, especially due to all the unnecessary skits from various artists and individuals, that add nothing to the album. The only major highlight from the second half of the album is “Get Low”.
In the end, though Crunk music was an incredible phenomenon, that gave us a plethora of iconic and recognisable singles, I don’t believe it ever provided a classic album nor simply just a good one. The genre was meant for singles, album wise it could become tiring and at what point would someone want to or be in the mood to listen to a Crunk album? That being said however, what Crunk music did and what it achieved should always be given credit. Without it and without Lil Jon's impressive run, Atlanta's Hip-Hop scene may not be where it is today. Easily Lil Jon and Crunk music played a huge role in helping Atlanta become the number one city in Hip-Hop during the 2000s. With his production, he helped Atlanta artists in both the Hip-Hop and R&B worlds gain huge and successful singles that are still played to this day. Some may disagree or raise an eyebrow, however if you were to create a Mount Rushmore of the most important or impactful people for Atlanta's Hip-Hop scene, there is a strong case for Lil Jon to be placed on that mountain.