Lil' Jon Kings Of Crunk CD

Additional personnel includes: Eightball, MJG, Big Tymers, Chyna Whyte, E-40, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Krayzie Bone, Mystikal, Oobie Pastor Troy, Petey Pablo, Roy Jones, Jr., Too $hort, Trick Daddy, UGK, Ying Yang Twins.

Hailing from Atlanta, GA, the hardcore trio Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz are the premier practitioners of the southern rap sub-genre colloquially dubbed "crunk." The style is exemplified by forceful, primal beats, over-the-top, chanted vocals, and a bad-boy/party-hardy attitude that bypasses gangta cool in search of a pure visceral, hedonist high. Accordingly, there's little subtlety to be found on KINGS OF CRUNK, and rightfully so. Would you really want to hear a tender love ballad from leather-lunged badass Lil Jon? Wisely, Jon and his Boyz stick to their strengths, to such an extent that the weak of heart should have a physician on hand when listening to KINGS OF CRUNK, just in case they should be overcome by the sheer fierceness of it all.

There was a time when southern rappers felt marginalized. That was before the rise of 2 Live Crew and their bass colleagues in the late '80s; southern rap has long since become a huge industry, and Dirty South MCs who hit big in cities like New Orleans, Memphis, and Miami can easily sell a ton of CDs in the South alone. While some Dirty South rappers have a gangsta/thug life agenda and some are into serious sociopolitical messages, Atlanta rapper Lil Jon and his two East Side Boyz (Lil Bo and Big Sam) have tended to favor rowdy, in-your-face, profanity-filled party music. Kings of Crunk, like the trio's previous releases, is full of the sort of hook-filled call-and-response jams that southern hip-hop clubs are known for. The list of guests reads like a who's-who of Dirty South rapping -- Mystikal, Petey Pablo, Trick Daddy, and Pastor Troy all have cameos -- and Lil Jon's trio works the crunk formula to death on relentlessly energetic tunes such as "Knockin' Heads Off," "Throw It Up," and the single "I Don't Give a Fuck." At times, the group sounds like it is recycling hits from previous albums, but one is inclined to be forgiving because even the CD's most formulaic tracks are infectious -- the Atlanta residents do have a way with a hook. And to their credit, not every track is formulaic crunk. Kings of Crunk detours into more of a Texas-type sound when Lil Jon features UGK on the rock-influenced "Diamonds," and those who find that Lil Jon's up-tempo material can be exhausting will be surprised at how much his group chills out on "Nothin's Free" and a few other smooth, R&B-drenched items. Arguably the trio's most well-rounded album, Kings of Crunk will keep crunk fans happy, but has enough variety to keep listeners from calling them one-dimensional. [This album was also released in a clean version, edited for content.] ~ Alex Henderson

Personnel: Pitbull (vocals); Rob McDowell, L-Roc (keyboards).

Audio Mixers: John Frye; Vincent Alexander; Don "DJ Snake" Brown; Lil Jon; Ray Seay.

Recording information: Audio Vision Recording, Miami, FL; Cotton Row Studios, Memphis, TN; Doppler Studios; Flamingo Studios, Atlanta, GA; Liveson Studios, Yonkers, NY; PatchWerk Recording Studios, Atlanta, GA; Quad Studios, NY, NY; Soundlab Studios; Stankonia Recording, Atlanta, GA; Streetlight Studios, NY, NY; The Den; The Orange Room.

Photographer: Michael Blackwell.

Personnel: Lil Jon, Big Sam, Lil Bo, Eightball, MJG, Big Tymers, Chyna Whyte, E-40, Styles P, Krayzie Bone, Bun B, Big Gipp, Bo Hagon, Luke, Devin "The Dude", Pitbull, The BME Allstars, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Krayzie Bone, Mystikal, Oobie, Pastor Troy, Petey Pablo, Too $hort, Trick Daddy, UGK, Ying Yang Twins (rap vocals); Pimpin' Ken (spoken vocals).

Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz: Lil Jon, Big Sam, Lil Bo (rap vocals).

Vibe (1/03, p.130) - 3 out of 5 - "...Jon & the Boyz build their project around distorted, heavy-hitting beats and riot-inducing hooks....The production remains solid..."