The East Side Boyz

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The East Side Boyz · Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz were a hip hop group from Atlanta. Jonathan Smith, who became known as Lil Jon, formed the group in 1995 with Big Sam and Lil' Bo. Smith was first a club DJ and worked for Jermaine Dupri's label So So Def. His group called its music crunk: an energetic, club-oriented style of hip hop. Their first single Who U Wit? from 1996 is seen as the song that brought the word crunk into hip hop. In 1997 the first album was released, Get Crunk, Who U Wit: Da Album, and in 2000 the breakthrough album We Still Crunk!!.

Music and breakthrough

Bryan Leach, an A&R man who saw the group perform in Atlanta, compared the energy to that of the young Beastie Boys, a rock group that rapped. In 2002 the group signed with TVT Records. The second studio album brought Get Low, with Ying Yang Twins, which was a success in the nightclubs and reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. The last studio album, Crunk Juice (2004), contained Lovers and Friends with Usher and Ludacris, which reached number three on the Hot 100. In 2005 the group split up.

Influence

In the 2000s Lil Jon also produced for others, including Yeah! by Usher and Goodies by Ciara. In this way he defined the sound of crunk and brought the style out of the clubs of Atlanta and into the charts.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 2016All-Stars