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.
Jonathan H. Smith, better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. 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 of whom 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.
"Goodies" is the debut single by American singer Ciara featuring hip-hop rapper and Jive recording artist Petey Pablo for her debut studio album of the same name. The song was released as the album's lead single on June 8, 2004, through LaFace Records. It was written by Ciara, Sean Garrett, LeMarquis Jefferson, and Craig Love, and Lil Jon the song's producer. The song was recorded as an answer song to the featured performer's hit single, "Freek-a-Leek." The song's lead woman refuses men's sexual advances, proclaiming that they will not get her "goodies" because "they stay in the jar."
"Lean Back" is a song by American hip hop group Terror Squad. It was released as the second single from their second studio album, True Story, on June 1, 2004. An uptempo hip hop song built for the club environment, it contains vocal performances from group members Fat Joe and Remy and production from Scott Storch. It topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, starting on August 21, 2004, and topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart for seven weeks. Worldwide, the song reached the top 20 in several other countries, including Denmark, where it peaked at number five.
"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.
"Snap Yo Fingers" is a 2006 American hip hop single by Atlanta-based rapper/producer Lil Jon. It was originally intended to be the first single from Lil Jon's solo debut album, Crunk Rock. However, the release date of Crunk Rock was subsequently delayed. In August 2006, Lil Jon's label TVT Records released the second volume of its Crunk Hits rap compilation, and "Snap Yo Fingers" was the opening track. When Crunk Rock was finally released four years later, the song was left out of the album.
"Hot Boyz" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Missy Elliott featuring American rapper and singer-songwriter Lil' Mo. The remix version of the song was an urban hit featuring Nas, Eve and Q-Tip. The remix broke the record for most weeks at number-one on the US R&B chart on the issue dated January 15, 2000; as well as spending 18 weeks at number one on the Hot Rap Singles from December 4, 1999, to March 25, 2000, a record not broken until "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X in 2019. The song also reached number 5 on the US Hot 100 on January 15, 2000. In the UK, the song became the biggest hit from the Da Real World album; it peaked at #18, being Missy's sixth top 40 and fourth top 20 solo success. On February 4, 2000 the song was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
"Get Low" is a song by American rap group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, featuring American hip hop duo Ying Yang Twins, released as a single in 2003. It first appeared on the 2002 album Kings of Crunk. "Get Low" peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 20 on the Hot Digital Songs chart. It was number five on the top Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs of 2003. Outside of the United States, "Get Low" peaked within the top ten of the charts in the United Kingdom, the top twenty of the charts in Germany and the top forty of the charts in Australia, Austria, and New Zealand. It is also known as a breakthrough song for the crunk genre, as the song's success helped it become mainstream. It is listed number 99 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip-Hop.
"Touch" is a song by American singer Amerie from her second studio album of the same name (2005). Written by Amerie, Lil Jon, Sean Garrett, Craig Love, LRoc, and LaMarquis Jefferson and produced by Lil Jon, the track was released on May 31, 2005, as the album's second single. While "Touch" reached the top 20 in the United Kingdom and Ireland and number 33 in Australia, it failed to match the success of "1 Thing" in the United States, missing the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching number 95 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
"You" is a song by American R&B artist Lloyd, featuring rapper Lil Wayne. It was the lead single from Lloyd's sophomore studio album, Street Love (2007). "You" was produced by Big Reese and Jasper Cameron, and recorded in their basement. Lloyd himself reportedly leaked the track to an Atlanta radio station with the intention to receive airplay. Originally, the single featured Atlanta rapper Tango Redd, who was replaced with Lil Wayne before the official release. Notably, the chorus of "You" features an interpolation of Spandau Ballet's "True" (1983).
"Real Nigga Roll Call" is a single by Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, off their album Crunk Juice featuring Ice Cube.
The discography of American hip hop recording artist 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.
"Freek-a-Leek" is an American hip hop song co-written and recorded by American rapper Petey Pablo. It was released on December 1, 2003, as the second single from his second album, Still Writing in My Diary: 2nd Entry (2004). It was produced by Lil Jon and is an example of a crunk song. The single peaked at number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100 in July 2004.
"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 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.
"Let's Go" is a song by American rapper Trick Daddy, released as the first single from his 2004 sixth studio album Thug Matrimony: Married to the Streets. It features Twista and Lil Jon and was produced by Jim Jonsin and Bigg D. The song became a top ten hit, reaching number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Trick Daddy's most successful single of his career. The song samples "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne. It was used in the films Stomp the Yard (2007) and Neighbors (2014) in addition to the extended trailer for Megamind (2010). In 2019, the song is heard during the trailer for a new mode in Gears 5 called Escape. Despite the sample already being cleared with Osbourne's publishing, Osbourne had not listened to the song until February 2021 when producer Andrew Watt played him the song to his approval.
"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.
"All Girls Are the Same" is the debut single by American rapper Juice Wrld. It was officially released as the lead single from his debut studio album, Goodbye & Good Riddance on April 13, 2018, after its music video premiered in February. Produced by Nick Mira, the song has amassed more than one billion streams on Spotify. It was his second song to achieve this, after "Lucid Dreams" reached the one billion stream milestone in December 2019. The song debuted at number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 41.
"Lucid Dreams" (formerly "Lucid Dreams (Forget Me)") is a song by American rapper Juice Wrld. It was officially released by Grade A Productions and Interscope Records on May 4, 2018, after previously being released on SoundCloud in June 2017. The song was produced by Nick Mira and debuted at number 74 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 2 on the chart. The song has over 2.3 billion streams on Spotify, being one of the most-streamed songs on the platform. In February 2022 the song was certified Diamond by RIAA for selling over 10 million units in the U.S. The song has since come to be regarded as Juice Wrld's signature song.
Patavious Lashun Isom, better known by his stage name Duke Deuce, is an American rapper. He is from Memphis, Tennessee. Formerly signed to Quality Control Music, he is best known for his song "Crunk Ain't Dead", which received a remix with fellow Memphis rappers Juicy J and Project Pat, as well as Atlanta rapper and record producer Lil Jon. He released his debut studio album, Duke Nukem, on February 26, 2021, which debuted at number three on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.
