Lil Jon & East Side Boyz

Crunk Juice

Kings Of Crunk Volume 2

Review Score:

(8/10)
As one reviewer previously stated, when you're dealing with Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz, you get what you get. When you're listening to their music, don't expect Jay Z, Nas, Common or Talib Kweli type lyrics. They have one goal in mine and that is to keep the place crunk. That's it, no more, no less... Their last CD, "Kings Of Crunk" went virtually unnoticed until they released their collaboration with the Ying Yang Twins, "Get Low". Anyone who didn't know Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz before that track, was clearly introduced to them after "Get Low" was all over the radio waves. My other favorites on the "Kings Of Crunk" CD included "Throw It Up" w/Pastor Troy, "Knockin' Heads Off" w/Styles P and Jadakiss of The LOX and "Diamonds" w/Bun B from UGK and MJG.

Lil Jon & The Eastside Boys even released "Part 2" which included remixes of "Get Low" with Elephant Man & Busta Rhymes and one with Pitbull. "Part 2" also featured "Get Your Weight Up" w/TI & 8Ball and a remix of "Throw It Up" that featured Young Buck of G Unit. Once both of these CDs were released, Lil Jon started to capitalize on the fact that he was known for his music. He would go on to produce his biggest smash to date, "Yeah!" w/Usher & Ludacris, "Damn!" w/Youngbloodz, Petey Pablo's "Freek A Leek", Ciara's "Goodies" and collaborations with 8Ball & MJG, TI, Twista, Trick Daddy and others.

"Crunk Juice" clearly takes advantage of the momentum of Lil Jon's success over the past few years. The first single "What U Gon' Do" features Lil Scrappy, who with Trillville released a CD earlier this year entitled "Lil Jon & BME Presents Trillville & Lil Scrappy". The two biggest hits from that CD were "Neva Eva" w/Trillville & Lil Scrappy and "No Problem" w/Lil Scrappy. "What U Gon' Do" was made to keep the people crunk in the club just as other Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz' songs have done in the past. The next single "Roll Call" features Ice Cube and serves the same purpose that "What U Gon' Do" serves. At the same time, we get a inspired Ice Cube, who has been busy making movies. It appears as if Ice Cube is ready to get back in the studio as he gives us the pre Jheri Curl & pre Hollywood fire on this track. Not only does Ice Cube deliver fire on this track but on Crunk Juice's last song entitled "Grand Finale", he steals the show as well. This song features an all star cast of MCs with Bun B, Jadakiss, TI, Nas & Ice Cube collaborate on the same track. All of the MCs have decent verses but Ice Cube comes in at the end of the track and steals the show. "Lovers & Friends" features Usher & Ludacris and will definitely be the next single as Lil Jon even chimes in at the end of the track with a verse. This song will put this CD at another level just as "Get Low" did for "Kings Of Crunk".

On "Don't F With Me", Rick Rubin who produced Jay Z's "99 Problems", assists Lil Jon in having a national anthem of just plain having a bad day and what to do with all that rage. Many men will be able to relate to what Lil Jon is saying or should I say yelling in this song. This track is definitely different from the majority of the tracks that you would usually hear on typical Lil Jon CDs. "Aww Skeet Skeet" takes things to my part of town, DC as Lil Jon and DJ Flexx make a song with the DC Go Go music scene in mind. You can tell that Lil Jon is attempting to be more versatile with his music. "White Meat" features 8Ball & MJG and is actually a pretty good song until Lil Jon comes in at the end and tries to jump on the mic himself.

This bings me to one of the negatives on this CD as Lil Jon, Big Sam and Lil Bo's talents are clearly not rapping. Lil Jon needs to stick to what he does best which is producing tracks and Big Sam and Lil Bo need to stick to being hype men. Some of the tracks on this CD are not needed as well. "Stick That Thing Out" sounds as if it was just made to have an obligatory track with the Ying Yang Twins. Although the Neptunes produce the track, the beat isn't as good as most songs from them. Although, "In Da Club" which features R Kelly and Ludacris, is a decent song as well, it seemed as it was a forced collaboration. Lil Jon, Usher & Luda have already formed a good team so there is no point trying to add R Kelly to the bunch.

Overall, if you liked "Put Your Hood Up" and "Kings Of Crunk" then you will like "Crunk Juice". This CD is not too much different from the previous two. You just hope that one day that Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz will stick to producing tracks and giving their infamous chants during the song and not actually tring to rap.

James' Top 5

1) Grand Finale w/Bun B, Jadakiss, TI, Nas & Ice Cube
2) Lovers & Friends w/Usher & Ludacris
3) What U Gon' Do w/Lil Scrappy
4) White Meat w/8Ball & MJG
5) Roll Call w/Ice Cube

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