 After collaborating on hits
with Usher, Ying Yang Twins and a host of others since the release of
2002’s double platinum plus Kings Of Crunk, Lil Jon & The
East Side Boyz were regularly greeted with the same question by fans.
"Everybody always wants to know what’s in our cup and Crunk
Juice is what we drink," Lil Jon explains.
As the sponsor of Crunk!!!
energy drink, the trio of Lil Jon, Big Sam and Lil Bo felt that Crunk
Juice would make a great title for their fifth album. "It’s
perfect because the album has so many different kinds of stuff on it
that it’s like a mixed drink, something that’s musically
intoxicating."
Crunk Juice,
a stirring 20-song collection that starts off strong with "Get
Crunk" and sustains its explosive energy through the album-closing
"Grand Finale" with Nas, T.I., Bun B and Ice Cube will make
long-time hip-hop fans remember hip-hop’s early years, when an album
was potent from start to finish. "It’s back to where you like the
whole album," Lil Jon says. "The sorriest song on the album is
still a hit record. That’s how sick this album is."
Lil Jon & The East
Side Boyz remain true to their gritty, club-ready roots with lead single
"What U Gon’ Do," which features Lil Scrappy. Releasing such
a hard-core record was important to the group because Lil Jon as a
producer has enjoyed so much commercial success through his work with
Usher and Ciara, among others. "Most people probably thought I was
going to come back with something commercial instead of what we do,
which is always come out with a street record first. That’s our base.
We just wanted to come with the same stuff that people know and love us
for and keep it moving. That’s why ‘What U Gon’ Do’ is the
perfect set-up. It’s classic Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz."
The same can be said for
"Roll Call," a rousing song with hip-hop icon Ice Cube.
"Cube is on there spitting like old Ice Cube from N.W.A, straight
hard-core," Big Sam (Eastside Boyz) says. "It’s a gutter
street track," adds Ice Cube, who makes his first appearance on a
crunk cut with "Roll Call." "I’m talking about, if you
mess with us, stuff’s going to happen, just basically rapping,
bragging, talking trash. Whenever I get a chance, I like to do records
like this that are built straight for underground hip-hop. It’s has
that underground feel that makes you want to rhyme."
The song’s eye-popping
video is equally arresting. It features LisaRaye, Tamala Jones, Will Yun
Lee (from Torque, Die Another Day) and Ice Cube, making it
one of the best-cast hip-hop videos of all time.
Crunk Juice
keeps its rowdy vibe alive on "White Meat" with 8 Ball &
MJG and "Don’t F*** Wit Me." The latter was produced by Rick
Rubin, features a sample of rock group Slayer and is the first crunk
song with a storyline. Working with Rick Rubin, who produced many of the
classic recordings from LL Cool J, Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys, among
others, was a special thrill for the East Side Boyz. "Rick doesn’t
really get down with rappers," Lil Bo (Eastside Boyz) says.
"He only worked with Jay-Z on ‘99 Problems,’ that’s the only
rapper he has worked with since back in the day. For him to work with us
was an honor. We got together and the song we did is incredible. It’s
going to reach out to the white kids and the black kids. The concept
based on an old Suicidal Tendencies song and I relayed that into an
urban setting."
Lil Jon reconnects with
Usher and Ludacris on "Lovers & Friends." But it isn’t a
sequel to "Yeah!," Usher’s smash song that Lil Jon produced
and on which Ludacris appeared. Instead, it is a ghetto ballad with
heavy thump. The trunk-rattling thump also appears on the Neptunes-produced
"Stick That Thang Out (Skeezer)," an up-tempo cut for the
ladies.
Lil Jon & The East
Side Boyz then show their creativity by delivering blistering songs that
cater to virtually every type of hip-hop fan. Screwed fans will enjoy
the chopped "Da Blow" featuring Gangsta Boo, while players
will revel on the pimpish "Contract." Go-go fans will eat up
"Aww Skeet Skeet" with DJ Flexx and club hoppers will storm
the dance floor once "In The Club," featuring R. Kelly and
Ludacris, comes on. For West Coast fans, there’s also "B*****s
Aint S**t" with Nate Dogg, Snoop Dogg, Suge Free and Oobie and
lyric fiends will savor "Grand Finale" with Nas, T.I., Bun B
and Ice Cube.
"Grand Finale"
was inspired by the legendary posse cuts featured on the final songs on
albums on Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records, whose roster included N.W.A, The
D.O.C. and Above The Law, among others. "Ruthless Records, they
closed out with the hottest dudes in their click rapping," Lil Jon
explains. "So we wanted to take it to the next level and take the
hottest cats from the East, the West and the South and put them on one
song. It’s no hook, just straight gangster lyrics."
Crunk Juice
also includes a 10-track bonus CD with remixes of "Lean Back,"
"What U Gon’ Do," Trick Daddy’s "Lets Go," and
"Roll Call," as well as other material. There’s also a bonus
DVD that shows Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz in the studio with 8
Ball, Rick Rubin, Bad Brains and others, as well as the trio at the MTV
Video Music Awards, on BET’s How I’m Living and performing at
Hot 97’s Summer Jam in New York.
Crunk Juice
is Lil Jon’s defining work as a producer. "You can talk about him
in the same breath as Dr. Dre, Jermaine Dupri, Pharrell, Timbaland,"
Ice Cube says. "Now it’s Lil Jon. He’s part of that click now.
He’s one of the producers that’s going to be around for a long time.
He knows what he’s doing. He’s the man right now."
"It seems like we’re
jumping 200 feet at a time," Lil Jon says of his group’s
progression since 1996’s Who U With, Get Crunk: Da Album, its
debut album. "Every album is so much better than the last album. We’re
doing the same thing that we did from the beginning. We’re just
tightening it up more and more and more."
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