Crunk Totally Explained

Everything about Crunk totally explained

Crunk is a slang term with various uses; more specifically, crunk is a genre of hip hop music. Unlike the East Coast and West Coast style of hip hop, crunk has a high-energy and club-oriented feel. While other hip hop styles might involve a more conversational vocal delivery, crunk usually involves hoarse chants and repetitive, simple refrains. Lyrics are based on a rhythmic bounce, which is very effective in a club environment.
Looped drum machine rhythms are usually in the forefront of the mix, with the Roland TR-808 being especially popular. A typical crunk song uses four bars of music generated by electronic drums and synthesizers that repeat throughout the song, but sometimes includes a break towards the end of the song. Many of the drum machines and rhythms they produce were previously well known in specialty genres of dance music.

Overview

The crunk genre originated in the early 1990s in Memphis, TN after DJ Paul produced Tear Da Clup Up in 1993. This is noted as the first ever crunk song. Crunk didn't become mainstream until the early 2000s. In the year 2003, the crunk genre had surprise hit singles with "Never Scared" (Bone Crusher, featuring Killer Mike and T.I.), "Salt Shaker" (Ying Yang Twins, featuring Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz), "Damn!" (YoungBloodZ featuring Lil Jon, and produced by Lil Jon), and most notably "Get Low" (Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, featuring the Ying Yang Twins), which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. By 2004, crunk was in such high demand that superstar R&B singer Usher enlisted Lil Jon to produce his single "Yeah!" which went on to be the biggest hit of 2004, according to Billboard magazine. Lil Jon produced another number-one hit in 2004 with "Goodies" by R&B singer Ciara, featuring Petey Pablo. The release of Hustle and Flow and its Oscar for best original song, "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp", helped crunk reach mainstream American culture.
Lil' Jon and the Eastside Boyz have several albums with crunk in the title, such as "Kings of Crunk", "Crunk Juice", "Get Crunk" and "We Still Crunk". Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz often claim (with little objection) to be the "Kings of Crunk".. Petey Pablo is referred to as the "Godfather of Crunk", Ciara as the Queen of Crunk & B, Rasheeda as the Queen of Crunk as well as Lil Scrappy being referred as the Prince of Crunk.

Etymology

Traditionally, crunk meant a hoarse, harsh cry. The term is often used as slang to mean intoxicated. Folk etymology suggests the modern usage of crunk originated as a portmanteau of the words "crazy" and "drunk" or having been "cranked up" to a level of excitability at which one becomes "crunk". Rapper Lil Jon defined crunk as a "state of heightened excitement".
The first popular figures to use the word were Atlanta rappers Outkast, who in their 1993 song and accompanying video "Player's Ball" said, "I gots in crunk if it ain't real ain't right". Outkast also mentions "crunk" in the song "Hootie Hoo" (which was released in 1994 on the same album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik) and B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad). Webster's Dictionary defines "crunk" as a "word of fluctuating meaning used during the 1990s in lyrics of the rap groups OutKast and Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz, a style of Southern rap music featuring repetitive chants and rapid dance rhythms."

Notable Performers

Further Information

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