Atlanta and the surrounding area had always been a hotbed for party rap and bass music throughout the '90s, and more than anyone else, Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz took these styles to the masses with a cutting-edge Dirty South attitude perfect for the burgeoning club scene of the time. Crunk is a new hip-hop style taking its name from a combination of the words ‘crazy’ and ‘drunk’, these being the ideal conditions in which to appreciate the music. It is typified by a shouty, hectoring vocal style that always kicks up a notch when it’s time for the chorus to create uncomplicated, bombastic club-friendly tracks. More than any other hip-hop genre in the last ten years, crunk shamelessly combines all the things that we secretly look for in hip-hop and, indeed, pop (volume, anti-social values, punk attitude) with all the stuff we don’t (gaudy chain-jangling posturing, rudimentary lyricism, gratuitous guest slots, terrible sleeves).

Crunk Juice is the aural equivalent of the alcoholic concoction it is named for – strong, infectious and having the potential to start a riot. The kinetic lead single, What You Gon' Do (featuring Lil Scrappy), is a prime example. At the same time, Jon, Lil Bo and Big Sam also have a few surprises up their sleeves. The trio teams with Usher and Ludacris on the grooving ballad Lovers and Friends. They also mine go-go funk on the DJ Kool-featured Aww Skeet Skeet. The result is a non-stop party. Real Nigga Roll Call is agreeably vast and contains some well-deployed bad language, while the rock-tinged White Meat packs an air of creeping menace and a fantastic shout-along chorus that next track Don’t Fuck Wit Me then takes to a deafening all-out heavy-metal-with-added-Tourette’s extreme. The trademark futuristic blend of Miami bass, Jamaican dub, electronica, and punk is in full force on Crunk Juice, Get Crunk, and Da Blow. More impressively, Lil Jon's broadened his crunk palette to include a brilliant rocked-out Rick Rubin collaboration, along with more conventional R&B tunes featuring R. Kelly. The vulgar yet hilarious Chris Rock comedy cameos help make this album a winner, even if it's intentionally zany and lyrically vacuous.

Lil Jon may look like an insane drugged-out dreadnought from the future, and he may sound like he’s going to explode to death any second, but he really is a workaholic with an obsessive attention to his craft. Production by production, record by record, Lil Jon has become a more detailed producer. Crunk Juice is the payoff of every single that's come before it. The East Side Boyz are a worthy support crew and gel with their resident superstar as well as G-Unit does with 50 Cent. Running 75 minutes long and with too many highlights to mention, the worst thing you can say about Crunk Juice is that it's overwhelming. Funny skits from Chris Rock and E-40 tie it all together if you can stand over an hour of crunk pummeling, but Crunk Juice is best taken in two or three glorious listens. That's a lot of top-notch crunk, and more than enough to justify Lil Jon's "King of Crunk" title.

11.07.2005