Crunk music’s been a staple in my playlist since I was a teen. Three 6 Mafia, Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, and the Ying Yang Twins-some of crunk’s most widely known names-and their 808-laden songs rattled systems from their hometowns of Memphis, Tennessee and Atlanta, Georgia all across the country, to include my neck of the woods in Detroit. Although some gave it a bad rap for being “violent”, in my opinion the music wasn’t much different than the rock songs kids were jumping in mosh pits to. Now a days you can hear crunk’s influence across not just hip-hop, but in pop and other genres too. Project Pat is being sampled on Billboard charting songs. Lil Jon’s voice is heard on electronic music mega hits. Phonk, a sub-genre of lo-fi hip-hop, often slows down drum breaks or other elements of crunk instrumentals in its architecture.

With that being said, Duke Deuce was right in exclaiming “Crunk Ain’t Dead” in his single titled the same. Deuce is a Memphis emcee keeping crunk alive for the New School, known for his high energy music and music videos, and funny shorts on social media. If you’re a fan of “Triple 6” and the like, definitely give him a listen. In “Crunk Ain’t Dead” Duke Deuce shouts out fifteen states:
– Tennessee
– Georgia
– Texas
– California
– Louisiana (The Boot)
– Florida
– Arkansas
– The Carolinas
– Mississippi
– Alabama
– Illinois
– Kentucky
– Washington
– Missouri
All are symbolized in a deep blue as a nod to the music video, which is edited to mute all colors to gray-scale except for blue.