Crunk is a subgenre of southern hip hop that emerged in the early 1990s and gained mainstream success during the early to mid 2000s. Crunk is often up-tempo and one of Southern hip hop's more nightclub-oriented subgenres. Distinguishing itself with other Southern hip hop subgenres, crunk is marked and characterized by its energetic accelerated musical tempo, club appeal, recurrent chants frequently executed in a call and response manner, multilayered synths, its pronounced reliance on resounding 808 basslines, and rudimentary musical arrangement. An archetypal crunk track frequently uses a dominant groove composed of a nuanced utilization of intricately multilayered keyboard synthesizers organized in a recurring pattern, seamlessly shifting from a lower to a higher pitch that encompasses the song's primary central rhythm, both in terms of its harmonic and melodic aspects. The main groove is then wrapped up with looped, stripped-down, and crisp 808 dance claps and manipulated snare rolls coupled and accompanied by a bassline of thumping 808 kick drums. The term "crunk" was also used throughout the 2000s as a blanket term to denote any style of Southern hip hop, a side effect of the genre's breakthrough to the mainstream. The word derives from its African-American Vernacular English past-participle form, "crunk", of the verb "to crank". It refers to being excited or high on drugs.
Kings of Crunk is the fourth studio album by American Southern hip hop group Lil' Jon & the East Side Boyz. It was released in October 2002 through BME Recordings/TVT Records. There are conflicting reports about the album's release date, with different publications claiming it was released on October 8, October 22, or October 29. Recording sessions took place at Stankonia Recording, Soundlabs Studio, Flamingo Studios, The Zone, Patchwerk Recording Studios in Atlanta, at Audio Vision Recording in Miami, at Liveson Studios in Yonkers, at Piety Street Studios in New Orleans, at Cotton Row Studios in Memphis, at Quad Studios, Streetlight Studios and TMF Studios in New York, at The Orange Room, at The Den, and at Doppler Studios. Production was handled solely by Lil' Jon, who also served as executive producer together with Bryan Leach, Emperor Searcy, Rob McDowell and Vince Phillips. It features guest appearances from Oobie, Bun B, Chyna Whyte, 8Ball & MJG, Big Gipp, Bo Hagon, Devin the Dude, E-40, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Krayzie Bone, Mystikal, Pastor Troy, Petey Pablo, Styles P, Too $hort, Trick Daddy, Ying-Yang Twins, Luke, Pimpin Ken, Pitbull and T.I.
Armando Christian Pérez, known professionally as Pitbull, is an American rapper. He began his career in the early 2000s and recorded reggaeton, Latin hip hop, and crunk music under a multitude of labels. He signed with TVT Records to release his debut studio album, M.I.A.M.I. (2004), which was executive produced by Lil Jon. It moderately entered the Billboard 200, along with his second and third albums, El Mariel (2006) and The Boatlift (2007). His fourth album, Pitbull Starring in Rebelution (2009) was supported by the singles "I Know You Want Me " and "Hotel Room Service", both of which yielded his mainstream breakthrough and peaked at numbers two and eight on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, respectively.
Jonathan H. Smith, better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American musician, rapper, DJ, and record producer. He was instrumental in the commercial breakthrough of the hip hop subgenre crunk in the early 2000s and is often credited as a progenitor of the genre. He was the frontman of the crunk group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, with whom he has released five albums. In addition, Lil Jon served as a producer for most recordings by artists who popularized the genre; these include Pitbull, Too Short, E-40, Ludacris, Ciara, and Usher.
Crunk Juice is the fifth and final studio album by American Southern hip hop group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz. It was released on November 16, 2004, under BME Recordings and TVT Records. The production was primarily handled by Lil Jon himself, who also collaborated in the executive production, alongside Bryan Leach, Rob McDowell, Emperor Searcy, Vince Phillips, the Neptunes and Rick Rubin. The album includes guest appearances from rappers and singers, like R. Kelly, Ludacris, Ice Cube, Usher, Bun B from UGK, Jadakiss, Nas, T.I., the Ying Yang Twins and Pharrell.
"Yeah!" is a song by American singer Usher featuring American rappers Lil Jon and Ludacris. The song is written by the featured artists alongside Sean Garrett, Patrick "J. Que" Smith, Robert McDowell, and LRoc. The song incorporates crunk and R&B—which Lil Jon coined as crunk&B—in the song's production. The song was released as the lead single from Usher's fourth studio album Confessions (2004) on January 10, 2004, after Usher was told by Arista Records, his label at the time, to record more tracks for the album.
U.S.A. is the fourth studio album by the American hip hop duo Ying Yang Twins. It was released on June 28, 2005 via ColliPark Music and TVT Records. A chopped and screwed version done by Michael "5000" Watts was released later the same year.
Crunk Rock is the debut solo studio album and sixth overall album by American rapper Lil Jon, released on June 8, 2010 by BME and Universal Republic. The characters at the bottom of the album's cover are Japanese katakana characters, which read "Kurunku Rokku", an approximation of the Japanese transliteration of the album's title. The album predominantly consists of guest appearances from artists including Ice Cube, Pitbull, the Ying Yang Twins, Waka Flocka Flame, The Game, Travis Porter, Damian Marley, Soulja Boy, R. Kelly and Whole Wheat Bread; the latter of whom assisted with its production alongside Drumma Boy, Benny Blanco, Dr. Luke, Steve Aoki, R. City and Shawty Redd, among others. Crunk Rock received mixed reviews and peaked within the top 50 of the Billboard 200.
Money Is Still a Major Issue is a remix album by rapper Pitbull. It was released on November 15, 2005, and features several of his guest appearances, remixes and some unreleased tracks.
"Bojangles" is a song by American rapper Pitbull. It was released in May 2006 as the lead single from his album El Mariel. It was produced by Lil Jon. The remix features Lil Jon and the Ying Yang Twins. It featured a controversial video featuring the Ying Yang Twins and Lil Jon.
El Mariel is the second studio album by Cuban-American rapper Pitbull. It was released on October 31, 2006 through TVT Records. The album was leaked onto the internet on October 27, 2006, four days before the album was released. The album features production from Lil Jon, Diaz Brothers, DJ Khaled, Mr. Collipark, The Neptunes and Jim Jonsin. It also includes guest appearances from Fat Joe, Wyclef Jean, Lil Jon, Rick Ross and Trick Daddy among others. A Spanish-language version of the album was also released on October 31, 2006 featuring the three singles from the album, along with twelve Spanish-only tracks.
"What U Gon' Do" is a song by Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz, released in November 2004 as the lead single from their album Crunk Juice and features Lil Scrappy.
"Knuck If You Buck" is a song by American Southern hip hop group Crime Mob. It was recorded at PatchWerk Recording Studios in Atlanta and released on June 29, 2004 via Reprise Records as the first single from their eponymous debut studio album Crime Mob (2004). Written by members Jarques "M.I.G." Usher, Chris "Killa C" Henderson, Jonathan "Lil' Jay" Lewis, Venetia "Princess" Lewis and Brittany "Diamond" Carpentero, it was produced by Lil' Jay, and features fellow rapper Lil Scrappy.
The discography of American rapper Lil Jon consists of seven studio albums and fifteen singles. Lil Jon was the lead vocalist for the group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz from 1997 to 2004. Since the group broke up, Lil Jon has continued to produce his own music and tracks for other artists.
"The Anthem" is a song by Pitbull, released as the second single from his 2007 album The Boatlift. It features rapper Lil Jon. The intro line, as well as the song's main hook, is taken from the 1970s Latin hit "El Africano" by Sonora Dinamita. It samples the song "Calabria" by Rune Reilly Kölsch.
"Lovers and Friends" is a song by American rap group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz featuring American singer Usher and American rapper Ludacris, from the group's fifth and final studio album, Crunk Juice (2004). The song was written by the artists alongside Michael Sterling, while produced by Lil Jon. It was released by BME and TVT Records in November 2004, as the third single from the album. An R&B slow jam, the song consists of a piano melody and hook, and contains a sample of Sterling's song of the same name. The lyrics depict the three artists attempting to seduce women.
Cuban-American rapper Pitbull has released twelve studio albums, four compilation albums, one soundtrack album, four official mixtapes, over 300 singles, over 1,000 songs, and over 200 music videos.
"Culo" is the debut single by Cuban-American rapper Pitbull. The song was produced by rapper Lil Jon who is also a featured artist. It served as the lead single from Pitbull's debut album M.I.A.M.I. The song uses the Coolie Dance riddim, which gained prominence from Nina Sky's hit "Move Ya Body". "Culo" also samples Mr. Vegas' song "Pull Up", for which Pitbull and Lil Jon were sued by Mr. Vegas. However, a mash-up of "Culo" and "Pull Up", named "Pull Up ", later appeared in Mr. Vegas's 2004 album Pull Up.
"Some Cut" is a song recorded by American hip hop group Trillville featuring guest vocals by rapper Cutty Cartel. The track was released as the second single from Trillville's debut album, The King of Crunk & BME Present: Trillville & Lil Scrappy (2004). "Some Cut" was the group's biggest hit single; it peaked at number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2005. The song was a popular ringtone for mobile phones in the U.S. at the time of its release; it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on the strength of those sales in 2006.
Original Hits is a retrospective compilation album by Cuban artist Pitbull, spanning the 2004 to 2008 period of his career when he was signed to TVT Records (now-defunct). It was released in the United States on May 8, 2012, by The Orchard who bought all of the rights to TVT's assets and previous catalogs, and later that same month in Australia and the United Kingdom. Original Hits features several of Pitbull's guest appearances, remixes and some unreleased tracks. It does not contain any of his more recent hit singles.
