Crunk - History - Origin of Crunk

Origin of Crunk

Crunk music arose from miami bass music before 1996 in the southern United States, particularly in African American strip clubs of Memphis, Tennessee. One of the most prominent pioneers of crunk music, Lil Jon, said that crunk appeared as he decided to fuse hip hop and electro with electronic dance music like house and techno.

Memphis-based Three 6 Mafia were "instrumental for the emergence of the crunk style" in the mid-to-late 1990s. Two mixtape DJs from Memphis, DJ Paul and Juicy J, started making their original music, which was distinctive with its "spare, low-BPM rhythms, simplistic chants . . . and narcotically repetitive, slasher-flick textures". This duo soon became known as Three 6 Mafia. Frequently featuring rappers such as Project Pat, Lord Infamous, and Gangsta Boo on their releases, they became instrumental in the formation of crunk music.

In 1996, now in Atlanta, Lil Jon, with his group The East Side Boyz, released their first album, titled Get Crunk, Who U Wit. Lil Jon said that they were first to use the word crunk in a song hook; he claimed that they had started to call themselves a "crunk group" on account of this album. However, The New York Times denied that Get Crunk, Who Are You With was the first crunk album ever. He was one of the key figures in popularizing crunk during 1998 and 1999, and produced two gold records independently, before signing to TVT Records in 2001.

Nevertheless, crunk was not exclusively associated with Lil Jon and Three 6 Mafia. In its early stages such artists as Ying Yang Twins, Joey Cutless, Bone Crusher, and Pastor Troy from Atlanta, and David Banner from Mississippi also helped to popularize crunk music.