Ciara
The First Lady of Crunk&B. Ciara arrived in 2004 with "Goodies" and a run of singles that owned school dances for half a decade — icy vocals over crunk beats, and choreography so sharp the music-video channels basically belonged to her.
#Crunk
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Lil Jon
Crunk's king — jeweled goblet, dark shades, dreads, and a three-word vocabulary delivered at maximum volume. Jonathan Smith came up through Atlanta's rap scene and spent the mid-2000s making the loudest, most fun records on the radio. He didn't just ride the decade; he supplied its energy.
Three 6 Mafia
A Memphis horrorcore crew from 1991 that ended up on the Oscar stage in 2006, winning Best Original Song for "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp" while "Stay Fly" was all over the radio. Nobody saw it coming, least of all the Academy.