The 13 Most Famous Alcohol Brands From Celebrities Including Jay-Z, Drake, Travis Scott, and More

Crunk Juice

There was Nelly’s Pimp Juice, Ice-T’s Liquid Ice, and 50 Cent’s Street King Energy Shots. But none of these energy drinks really made as much noise as Lil Jon’s Crunk Juice. Although Crunk Juice was not originally released as an alcoholic beverage, it was conceived as a mixer to make one. As Lil Jon himself explained, the original “Crunk Juice” was a mixed drink consisting of Red Bull and Hennessy—Crunk is also shorthand for “crazy drunk.” After inventing Crunk Juice while touring on the road, Lil Jon realized he could turn it into a great business. “Damn, if we made our own energy drink everyone would buy it,” he said in an interview. “Because if everyone thinks they could get crunk like me, they would buy our own energy drink.” The drink was a pomegranate-flavored energy drink released in 2004 that coincided with the release of Crunk Juice, the fifth and final studio album released by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz. Although the beverage was by all means an energy drink, it was not really advertised as such throughout the album. “One bottle of that moo, galla-gallon of that Henny, mix it with that crunk juice will have a n—a spinnin,” Lil Jon said on “Da Blow.” To further promote the drink, Lil Jon would hold diamond-encrusted chalices labeled “Crunk Juice” in music videos and photo ops. He even made Big Sam of the East Side Boyz guzzle Crunk Juice out of gasoline cans any time a camera was nearby. Although Crunk Juice was advertised as an insane beverage to jumpstart your morning, who knows what it really did to your insides. I mean, the drink had a list of ingredients you could barely pronounce and placed a huge emphasis on containing Horny Goat Weed. If you don’t know what Horny Goat Weed does, go to your local bodega and ask for one of those sus pills behind the cash register to find out. Eventually, Lil Jon went on to make his own wine called “Little Jonathan Winery,” which was a merlot wine that won a silver medal at the 2009 LA Wine and Spirits Competition and received a raving review from Wine Spectator. Crunk Juice is still widely available today, sans Horny Goat Weed, and comes in five different flavors. The idea behind Crunk Juice eventually influenced a brand to produce its own alcoholic energy drinks similarly named “Crunk Juce,” which stirred controversy in the United Kingdom for getting folks too crunk. —Lei Takanashi