Coming off of a double platinum effort in their Kings of Crunk album, it’s only natural to continue the same style that made you sell so many copies. Sometimes people take it to the next level in the next effort trying to outdo the previous album. In this case, the group did try to take that formula and move to another level; however, they seem to take their previous terribly commercial and seemingly ignorant style to the next level. Please note, that this is coming from a person who places a lot of emphasis on lyrical prominence, and less importance on if the beat will bump in the club. Although they have songs featuring the likes of Nas, Ludacris, and Fat Joe whose lyrical prowess has made each of them respected artists in the Hip Hop community, the album overall lacks much intelligent lyrical talent.
The first single off the album, “What U Gon’ Do (ft. Lil Scrappy)” is yet another example of an artist coming up with a beat that they think the predominant Pop culture will think is dope and support because of that, and don’t place any type of emphasis on making lyrics that say anything relevant. Through the whole song the group and featured artist, Lil Scrappy, only talk about what would happen if someone stepped to them in the hopes of fighting. Even with the seemingly pointless topic, they say absolutely nothing, trying to sound tough, and what’s even worse is that the hook is almost one of the dumbest imaginable in saying “when you roll up in the club, and them (insert name here) wanna fool, when you step up to they face, what they gon’ do? Sh*t!” It doesn’t seem like the group put much effort into enlightening their fan base, basically creating a pointless song, since the production is one of Lil Jon’s worst efforts.
If anyone could believe it, the second single, “Real N**** Roll Call (ft. Ice Cube)” is probably even worse. And what makes this fact even more disappointing is that a rapper who has a couple of classic albums under his belt, and is unbelievably respected in the history of Hip Hop, spits some of the worst lines of his career, if not the worst. Ice Cube has proven time and time again he can do so much better than this. To make matters even more terrible is the fact that the group uses “n****” at the end of each line, as if it’s going out of style, and they want to be able to say it as much as possible before it’s eliminated from people’s vocabulary. Why scream out so much ignorance hoping to sell more and more albums strictly for the sake of profit? Lil Jon is a great producer, but the lyrics to these songs seem to be thrown together just to get a beat out there that people will turn off their brains to, and not even think about how idiotic the words are.
Thankfully, there is one decent track on the album which is “Grand Finale (ft. Nas, T.I., Fat Joe, Jadakiss, & Ice Cube)” but that is simply because Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz made sure to get some of the most skilled rappers in the game together on the track. Each rapper’s flow is on point and the lyrics are clever because they aren’t limited to any particular topic. The production isn’t the best ever, but it’s good enough to compliment the style of the artists featured, even if their lyrics aren’t any of the best of their respectable careers.
Sadly, the highlights of Crunk Juice are comedy sketches by Dave Chappelle, whose comedy on his own TV show could make anyone laugh out loud, and Chris Rock, who has a few interludes of his own, instead of any of the songs. As mentioned earlier, throughout his career, Lil Jon has proven he’s a great producer, but this latest gathering together of songs seems have become a project full of efforts with little to no creativity and unintelligence in each topic discussion. Again, this is all coming from a person who loves clever lyrics, that have meaning, on point flows, and deliveries filled with passion and make the listener feel everything the artist is trying to say. Some people don’t even listen to lyrical content, so for that audience, the production is decent at best.
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