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
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
Jon features
U.G.K. on the
rock-influenced
"Diamonds," and those who find that
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. ~ Alex Henderson
