Crunk
(sometimes spelled Krunk)
hip hop music subgenre

Atlanta-based Lil’ Jon & the East Side Boyz often refer to themselves as the Kings of Crunk. Three of their five album titles to date contain the word crunk.This article is about the hip hop music subgenre and its related state of the mind. For information on the swear word, see Krunk (profanity). Crunk is a specific type of hip hop music, based out of the southern United States, particularly Atlanta, Georgia, and Memphis, Tennessee. While most crunk-style music could be called Dirty South or southern rap, the reverse is not necessarily true. Eightball & MJG for example have a more Southern funk sound.

Unlike the East Coast style of Hip-Hop, Crunk (sometimes spelled Krunk) music is a mix of repetitive chants and drum machine rhythms, the Roland TR-808 being especially popular. Many of the drum machines and the rhythms they produce were previously well-known in specialty genres of dance music. The delivery of the lyrics, as with other Southern rap, is based on a rhythmic bounce which is very effective in clubs. In fact, several crunk songs have been banned in venues due to how wild the crowds can get.

Popular crunk-style acts include Bone Crusher, Lil’ Scrappy, Lil’ Jon & the East Side Boyz, Three 6 Mafia, White Dawg, and Ying Yang Twins. Lil’ Jon & the East Side Boyz often claim to be the Kings of Crunk. Lil’ Scrappy is referred to as the Prince of Crunk. Chyna Whyte is sometimes known as the Queen of Crunk. Ciara is often referred to as the Princess of Crunk. While these artists have embodied the term crunk in the hip-hop industry, the term was more widely exposed when Lil’ Jon named his albums "Kings of Krunk" and "Crunk Juice".

In the hip hop world, crunk rappers have been criticized for lacking any lyrical content and all using essentially the same beats and styles. Others, while agreeing that the subject of the lyrics are all more or less identical, say that the music is specifically designed for the rowdy clubs in which it thrives, and serves this purpose admirably. In any case, crunk has established itself as a major sub-division of hip-hop and should enjoy greater success due to the increased number of crunk albums being released.

Etymology :
The term crunk itself is allegedly a portmanteau of the words crazy and drunk, and it may very well be. Although one entry in the Urban Dictionary says the word crunk may actually have Yiddish origins, Urban Dictionary is not a reliable source. There is no evidence crunk comes from the Yiddish and German words meaning sick or ill (krank in both languages), despite the phonetic similarity of the words (see this LanguageLog post for information on the high probability of chance similarity among languages). There is also no evidence it was brought into the Southern Black vernacular through the presence of European Jewish immigrant shopkeepers in black neighborhoods in cities such as Atlanta.

According to evidence provided by the Double-Tongued Word Wrester dictionary, crunk as a modern English slang adjective predates the musical genre crunk.

Another theory suggests that it is the Southern/Ebonic past tense of the word crank, like Dizzy Dean’s famous use of slud. This origin suggests that it does not exclusively deal with drugs and alcohol, but simply refers to acting crazy and energetic.Can be used in the sense of messed up as in these forks are crunk, and spread to messed up as from controlled substances.

Crunk as a state of mind :
Crunk can also be used as a term meaning both high on marijuana (chronic) and drunk on alcohol at the same time or for being both crazy and drunk. This has also led to the term being used as a general synonym to ’getting wild’ or excited. It is, for example, used this way at Indianapolis Colts home games at the RCA Dome. Achieving this status is known as getting crunk, commonly not using the usual -ed suffix. Liquids that aid in this process can be referred to as crunk juice (popularized by Lil’ Jon). L’il Jon’s particular form of crunk juice is a cocktail composed of Hennessy and Red Bull.

Selected Songs
Songs that contain "crunk" in their titles :

"Crunk Juice" - Lil’ Jon & the East Side Boyz
"Crunk Muzik" - Jim Jones
"Get Crunk" - Lil’ Flip
"Get Crunk" - Lil’ Jon & the East Side Boyz featuring Bo Hagon
"Get Crunk Tonight" - Joe Thomas
"Get Some Crunk in Yo System" - Trillville
"Let’s Get it Crunk" - Playa Fly
"So Crunk" - C-9 and Tommy Wright III
"We Get it Crunk" - Cool Breeze
"Get Crunk Remix" - White Dawg
"Represent (Get Crunk)" - Lecrae

Source  : Wikipedia
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