Five years in the making -- and for all the wrong reasons --
Lil Jon's
Crunk Rock isn't the crunk-meets-rock collection originally promised. Instead, it's a scattershot set of tracks that just barely fit together, but take into consideration the label problems and legal issues the producer has faced since the album's conception and it becomes a scruffy mess you just might cheer on. Come at it from the return-to-form sleaze angle and you can mark the “so creamy” “Ms Chocolate” with
R. Kelly and the ridiculously raw “Ride da D” with
the Ying Yang Twins as winners, and maybe even “G Walk,” which finds the previously presentable
Soulja Boy spitting “I gave your girl a hug and she got wetter than a tub” over a hulking
Shawty Redd beat. Look for a genre-mashing, very 2010 effort from slick ringleader
Jon and there's the reggae-fied “On de Grind” with
the Marley Brothers, or the freaky robot-dance “Get in Get Out” with producer
Laidback Luke at the controls. As far as
Jon's own productions, “Killas” is the gorilla-grinding example of the album's original concept as
Ice Cube,
Game, and
Elephant Man lock and load over lurching guitars. The unholy marriage of crunk and frat-electro is less successful but amusing as
Jon loans his “Heeeeyyy!”s and “Yeaaaaahhhhh!”s to what are essentially
LMFAO and
3OH!3 cuts. It's a shame that desirable early promo singles like “Snap Yo Fingers” and “Act a Fool” didn't survive the bankruptcy hearings of
Jon's previous label, but as far as albums rescued from lawyers go,
Crunk Rock deserves a “Heeeyyy!” and a couple “Yeaaahhhhh!”s to boot. [A 20-track edition was also released.] ~ David Jeffries