Put Yo Hood Up (Parental Advisory) [PA] - Lil' Jon & The East Side Boyz > Reviews > Git Crunk: They Be Back In This MFer One Mo' 'Gain

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Mediocre
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	The best Crunk tunes ever
Disadvantages:	Lots of skits

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

"Put Yo Hood Up" is the third album by Lil' Jon and The Boyz. Released in 2001, it was the first time when I heard the style of Crunk which Lil' Jon pioneered as his production fused several 'Dirty South' sub-genre of Hip Hop to form the style which is named after a fusion of the words 'Crazy' and 'Drunk' (well it's thought to be so). The production of Lil' Jon puts together the main sound from the southern region with some of Miami's 'Booty Bass', a the general sound of the south, which was heard mostly by rappers from Atlanta, such as Ludacris and OutKast. using both of these, Lil' Jon makes a great, high-energy club sound in the form of Crunk which has been a big part of Hip Hop ever since the release of the first single off this record, "Bia Bia".

Lil' Jon himself isn't a rapper, contrary to popular belief, it would be more accurate to call him a hype amn, because his only role (outside of production) is to call out instructions to the crowd, as if he was DJing live to the listener. This shows how the call-and-response from early Hip Hop has carried on, after being altered slightly, to suit more modern times. Here these tend to be dance moves (usually directed towards the females), diplaying it's influence from Caribbean dancehalls too. All of the guests (and the Eastside Boyz) supply the raps, and at times they aren't really neede, but it shows how much support this somewhat unknown producer had at the time (but Atlanta has always been united)

1. Yall Aint Ready (Intro)

2. Uhh Ohh (feat. Khujo, and Bo Hagon)

When you think of Crunk music, this is exactly what you want from it. This one was the hard, gritty type of Crunk, which is directed to the male fans (but I know that the shawties in the Dirty South are down with it too). Lil' Jon and the Eastside Boyz tear up the place with their grimey voices, which suit the production perfectly. I couldn't find anything weak in this as a Crunk hea, and so if it's your genre, you will love it.

**Five Stars**

3. Put Yo Hood Up

As the title track for the record, you expect to hear something big from this tune, and as I hadn't heard it prior to buying this album, I didn't know what to expect ("Bia Bia" was my only experience of Crunk before it), and I have to say that I really liked what was brought here.

This is yet another club blazer, and it appears that he has mastered this style, even so early in his career. The main idea is that listeners of this in a club are provoked by Lil' Jon to throw up their sets and represent where they are from; just waht you want in this type of album.

**Five Stars**

4. Bia Bia (feat. Ludacris, Too $hort, Big Kap, and Chyna Whyte)

This was the first that I heard of Crunk and the use of collaborating guest rappers was a large part of this happening, as without being a big fan of Luda in his early days, I probably wouldn't have heard of Crunk until it had been watered down and gone into R&B with Usher's "Yeah!".

**Five Stars**

5. Bia Bia Check In (Lude)

6. Who U Wit

This one has Lil' Jon chanting out a series of dance moves to the girls throughout the track on a looped beat. You may think that this would make for quite a boring, and uneventful tune, but I waasn't the case as I was fully engaged from start to finish by one of the hardest Crunk productions you will ever hear, and the use of shouting out instructions to the crowd was all that seemed relevant to the beat.

I must admit that this definately doesn't suit being a single, but it would tear up the clubs around the final hour as it is perfectly suited to a time where you are running on final reserves, but want to keep it going like ever before.

**Five Stars**

7. Let My Nuts Go (feat. Too $hort, Quint Black, and Nation Riders)

With a title such as that, I'm sure that you expect a quite unconventional tune, and this is something which is brought to the table. I felt that the change was partly down to the influence which one of the featured rappers, Too $hort, had on this particular track.

It's quite clear, if you posses knowledge on the various sub-genre in Hip Hp, that Lil' Jon takes on Too $hort's rapping and forms a tune around his West Coast style. From this, Lil' Jon is able to display how he can do more than just push his new style forward, as he is also capable of going back into the ninetites and bringing some Dr. Dre-esque G-Funk in his own material.

**Four Stars**

8. Move B***h (feat. Three 6 Mafia, Gangster Boo, Youngbloods, Chyna Whyte, and Don Yute)

This is the remix to one of Ludacris' most popular tracks to date in "Move B***h" , which featured Mystikal. This one didn't use either of these rappers, and so the hype of the original was completely lost as everything about it was replaced with a new Crunk beat and a new range of Dirty South rap acts, but even the quality of the Three 6 Mafia was so weak that they couldn't carry this one through. However, the Crunk beat is waht kept it together, so it wasn't a total flop.

**Three Stars**

9. Heads Off (feat. M.O.P.)

With all the hype which M.O.P. when the brought the world "Ante Up", I was confident that despite being East Coasters, they would be able to make the transision to this new club style effortlessly, and they showed that they could. hs was one of a few actual rap tracks in the album, and showed real quality.

**Four Stars**

10. Sexlude (Lude)

11. Can't Stop Pimpin' (fea 8Ball & MJG, and Oobie)

Although the ultra high-energy of the album is slightly relaxed for a while as we go into this track, you shoulnd't think it's that calm, and the only reason why this is done is to allo for a more rap-friendly environment, and the roaring Crunk is sometimes too much for rapping to be effective.

Here you were never ging to have a flopwhen you see the legendary Memphis Hip Hop duo of 8Ball & MJG bringing their "Space Age Pimpin'" to the ATL(anta). I was happy to see the support which was given to Lil' Jon by this group, as with them, they will push sales from those who tend to go for the street raps more than dance rap.

**Fve Stars**

12. Bounce Dat (feat. Chyna Whyte)

This sounds more like something more common in today's Crunk, not that it's too differnt to back here, but this one doesn't sound as experimental as the rest of the LP; it seemed as though Lil' Jon knew exactly what was wanted by his fans. I felt that it contrasted to how a lot of the other tracsk on the album sounded as if he was just Djing in a club and calling out to the crowd.

Here Lil' Jon makes full use of the resources avaliable to himself by adding female rap vocals to it as well, just to show that he can fit into the modern trends as well as pioneer his own unique sound.

**Four Stars**

13. Nothin's Free (feat. Oobie)

This must be the first proper Crunk & B track, so let's forget about Ciara and Cherish being queens in this fusion sub-genre, as Oobie, back in 200, came with this track. It has all the characteristics of a Jazzy Pha produced track of modern times, but this was waht inspired what he did later on as the female R&B singer adds here vocals onto a normal Crunk track, but without any aid from any others.

**Four Stars**

14. Searcylude (Lude)

15. Where Dem Girlz At (feat. Skyy)

Lil' Jon comes with a club-suited track, as usual, and once again he make sure that he brings out the best that he could (knowinbg that "Bia Bia" got his name out across the States). I felt that he didn't disappoint, but those who enjoy lyricism in Hip Hop are in the wrong place.

You hear call-and-response from start to finsh as the King of Crunk shouts out to the girls to find out what the yare about, to which they always answer either "Yeah" or "No". Many will read this and not think much to it, but trsut me; it's a big tune.

**Four Stars**

16. I Like Dem Girlz (feat. Jazze Pha) (Lude)

17. Nasty Girl (feat. Oobie)

Lil' Jon utilises a range of old-school samples for this track, but this is what let it down. Usually when producers take elements of early Hip Hop, the resuls are astonishing, but things change for this one as Lil' Jon was attempting to push Crunk as a new , fresh sound, and so by doing this, it holds it back.

Although I felt that thie main problem of the producion hindered the track, I thought that the great hype which Lil' Jon brought alone was able to carry it through. However, takign everything into consideration, club music is all about the beat, and witout a strong one, I can't possibly be seen as a potentially successful one.

**Three Stars**

18. DJ Hershey Live At The Blue Flamelude (Lude)

19. Go Shawty Go (feat. Kilo Ali)

Just when you think that the album has chilled down, as this is the final track on the LP, the mood is brought straight back up. I really liked the decision to continue the club feel to this album by coming with yet another high-energy tune, displaying that they just can't be stopped.

**Five Stars**

20. Outro Chynalude (Outro)

Despite being released back in 2001, I feel that this album does not get old, and it is still relevant to today. Obviously as the late '90s to early '00s had a lot of experimental elements for southern rap, you can tell that Lil' Jon was on the right track as this style has stuck around ever since without being changed at all.

To the backpack Hip Hop heads, I think that this record would be considered to the start of the decline for the genre as southern Hip Hop was considered to be the main focus on the "Hip Hop Is Dead" movement, but at the time I expect that everyone really enjoyed this fresh, original sound, and I think that it's still great now.