Review Summary: What? Yeah? Okay
Lil Jon in my book is one of the few mainstream rappers around that I really enjoy. I first heard about him through
The Dave Chapelle Show in which I enjoyed the recurring sketch of “WHAT! YEAH! OKAY!”, and I gave him much kudos for showing up on one episode (and later wisely made it into his catchphrase). I soon later heard “Get Low” which most of my friends disgusted, but I personally found it a infectious romp and later gave a listen to his album (actually him and his group
The East Side Boyz ) “Kings of Crunk” and found it not a terrible listen as many has made it. It was exactly what I expected it to be from the lead single, it was fun, infectious, and catchy, but at the same time very stupid, stereotypical, and at times frustrating.
It was on a long road trip my friend decided to download a handful of albums he thought would be an interesting listen, and added this little album as merely a joke that he planned to pull out after a few songs. The plan however backfired as I found some of the songs to have a lot of entertainment to them. I decided to take a look over the guest list and it ranged from wise choices to “just why?”. The wisest choices being
The Ying Yang Twins,
The Game, and
Ice-Cube, to the stupidest being
3OH!3,
Soulja Boy. and
LMFAO (though to be honest the latter turned out to be much better then expected). And with this mixed guest list, I get a mixed album at times this is exactly what it should be fun, catchy, and enjoyable, but other times cringe worthy, and ultimately forgettable.
From the intro I knew Jon was in the hitting the right track when he calls out to his fans with “can I get a WHAAAAAT?...can I get a YEEEE-AAAH!”, and the first track “Throw It Up pt. 2” seems to going to what he knows best. However he soon tries a strange updating with “G Walk” which seems to be a dance song similar to the guest star's
Soulja Boy's works, it seems to lack energy that was very apparent in the first track. And here we come to the awkward songs ahead “On De Grind” may have worked on another album, but it just doesn't work with Jon yelling over everyone ruining the melody, and “Ms. Chocolate” may have sounded nice on your regular
Usher album, but not here. It's songs like “Outta Your Mind”, “Ride Da G”, and “Like A Stripper” seem to all play on Lil Jon's strengths to his advantage with fun results.
In the end we get one of the most confusing, inconsistent albums of the year thus far, but interestingly enough one of the most fun, and catchy. With the rising of all the “crunk” artists nowadays (
Ke$ha,
Brokencyde, etc.) Lil' Jon manages to still make the best out of it, and as a result truly still be the King of Crunk. As the man said himself “If you're just standing in da club. Get the *** outta here”. Now if that just made sense to you, I'd give this album a listen.
