Videos by According2HipHop
Following Lil Jon’s recent Breakfast Club interview where he failed to credit Three 6 Mafia and Memphis, Tennessee for creating Crunk Music, it’s time to revisit the history and give proper acknowledgment to the true originators of one of Hip-Hop’s most electrifying sub-genres.
Let’s set the record straight: Crunk Music was born in Memphis—not Atlanta.
Long before the world heard “Get Low” or “Knuck If You Buck,” Memphis had already laid the foundation. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, DJ Spanish Fly, DJ Squeeky, and DJ Zirk were pioneering a raw, bass-heavy, chant-driven style of Hip-Hop on underground mixtapes that circulated through the South. Their sound—dark, aggressive, and hypnotic—formed the DNA of what we now call Crunk Music.
Then came DJ Paul and Juicy J, the architects of Three 6 Mafia. They took that underground Memphis sound and elevated it—adding cinematic horrorcore elements, club-ready bass, and anthemic chants that ignited chaos wherever they played. Tracks like “Tear Da Club Up,” “Who Run It,” and “Sippin’ on Some Syrup” weren’t just hits; they were blueprints for a movement.
When “Tear Da Club Up ’97” hit, it changed everything. Clubs across the South were shutting down from the sheer energy that record created. But what many don’t realize is that Three 6 Mafia had already released multiple underground versions of “Tear Da Club Up” as early as 1995, dominating Memphis before the rest of the country caught on. That song was “Knuck If You Buck” years before “Knuck If You Buck.”
Even Lil Jon himself has acknowledged in the past how much Three 6 Mafia influenced the club sound and the energy that shaped his production approach. His 1997 album “Get Crunk, Who U Wit: Da Album” followed the Memphis formula—high-octane beats, repetitive chants, and mob-style energy. What Lil Jon did brilliantly was take that Memphis-born sound and amplify it nationally through collaborations with artists like Usher, Jadakiss, Ice Cube, and Fat Joe—bringing Crunk to the mainstream. But amplifying and originating are two very different things.
The word “crunk” itself appeared in Southern vernacular years before the genre exploded. The first time many remember hearing it in a rap song was André 3000 on OutKast’s “Player’s Ball” (1993). But the first time “crunk” appeared in a song title was Three 6 Mafia’s “Gette’m Crunk” from their 1996 album The End.
From there, the Memphis blueprint spread to Atlanta. Artists like Pastor Troy (“No Mo Play in GA”), Big Oomp Records’ Sammie Sam, and Baby D carried that energy into Georgia’s underground, setting the stage for Lil Jon, Trillville, Lil Scrappy, and eventually Crime Mob. When “Knuck If You Buck” dropped in 2004, it was the mainstream arrival of a style Memphis had been perfecting for over a decade.
So let’s be clear in 2025: Three 6 Mafia and Memphis didn’t just influence Crunk—they created it. The sound, the energy, the chants, the bass—it all originated from the 901.
Lil Jon made Crunk global, but Three 6 Mafia made Crunk possible.
