When you hail from the East like myself and you’re asked to do a story on cats from the South who usually don’t spit bars, it’s a challenge. Yet when the cats have created their own brand of Hip Hop and have a following of 500,000 fans plus, the challenge becomes an easy task. If you’ve ever read any of my stories you know that I am a true aficionado of Hip Hop music, so when a squad like Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz explained to me that this brand of crunk music was something that they created for the love of Hip Hop, I gave them the credit they deserve.
Now if you don’t remember the smash joint “Bia Bia” from last year featuring Ludacris, Too Short, Big Kap and Chyna White you must not have been a club hopper. The track was a mesmerizing chant anthem which spawned mad rowdiness at clubs across the country and firmly established Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz as the original tear the club up kats in many new circles. I know a lot of you are probably saying “So what? They had one hit. That doesn’t make them legends.” Well, if you check your history, you would know that this is Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz’ third album and that they get respect from every major artist who frequents clubs. The reason for the respect is simply because they have mastered the crunkness which so many kats put in their music today. Now with their new album, Kings Of Crunk, Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz are set to continue to show the world how to party and to let you know that if it ain’t crunk it aint right.
When I think of a title like Kings Of Crunk I also think back to the classic Kings Of Rock by Run-DMC. So if you’re gonna use that type of title, your mission has to be to make a wave that will splash everyone. Lil Jon says, “We are the ambassadors of crunk and the people started callin’ us that so our mission is to make crunk music its own genre of music. We were doing shows and people accepted the music so it was natural that we took it to the next level.” With the new single “I Don’t Give A Fuck” featuring Mystikal and Krayzie Bone, Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz have proven why they remain as the ambassadors of this new genre of music which blends with Hip Hop so well.
Now when I said that I had a major problem with kats who didn’t spit, the feeling was mutual for a lot of people. Lil John tells me that they also had a hard ride in getting their music to the public as well. “Initially we got a lot of flack. People were like ‘They just hollerin’ on the track, what are they doin?’ but it grew and the clubs followed and now there is no negative responses.”
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Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz have done the smart thing by teaming up with the hottest spitters in the game on their latest album. After the success of the “Put Ya Hood Up” remix with Jadakiss they re-team up with Jada and Styles on “Knockin Heads Off.” The album also features Pastor Troy, who is steaming up blocks right now with Ms. Jade on “Are We Cuttin’?” from the XXX Soundtrack. Other guest appearances include Petey Pablo, MJG, UGK, 8-Ball and E-40. John says, “We worked with just about all the artists we wanted to except for Bobby Brown. With Bob it just didn’t happen for us on this one”
So what else are The Kings of Crunk doing with their time in the limelight? Lil also says, “We got Porno movies coming out. The first one is titled “Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz Worldwide Sex Tour” and I’m also messin’ with the idea of starting my own sunglasses line.” Porno and Sunglasses mmmm…OK, get ya paper dog. So when the music has come to the end of the road how do Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz want to be remembered? “We’re the ones that when they played our records you wanted to dance. We’re the motherfuckers that got yo ass crunk.” Nuff said.
