Ying Yang Twins
In Afghanistan in November 2008
Background information
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Genres	Southern hip hop Crunk Snap Dirty Rap
Years active	2000-present
Labels	Deep Records
Associated acts	Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz Three 6 Mafia Mr. Collipark The HoodRatz Pitbull
Website	Yingyangmusic.com
Members
Eric "Kaine" Jackson DeAngelo "D-Roc" Holmes

The Ying Yang Twins is an Atlanta-based American crunk rap duo consisting of Kaine (born Eric Jackson on December 16, 1978) and D-Roc (born De'Angelo Holmes on February 23, 1979). The group debuted in 2000 and rose to mainstream popularity in 2003 collaborating with Lil Jon in his single "Get Low". In 2004 and 2005, Ying Yang Twins became more popular with party singles "Salt Shaker", "What's Happnin", "Shake", and "Badd".

Career

Ying Yang Twins debuted in 2000 with the single "Whistle While You Twurk", which was played on urban and pop radio stations and peaked at #16 on the US R&B/Hip-Hop chart. They grew even more famous when they toured with Juz tha King, Kat Nu and Demo Dil on the tour called King Me. Their full-length debut album, Thug Walkin', came out later that year. Their next album, Alley: The Return of the Ying Yang Twins was released in 2002 and was successful among hip-hop fans in the Southern United States. The same year, the group appeared on the album Kings of Crunk by Lil Jon on the single "Get Low". The song was a huge club and radio hit, and the duo subsequently signed a deal with TVT Records.¹

Their first album for the label, Me & My Brother was certified platinum on April 12, 2005² and yielded three more hits — "Whats Happnin!", "Naggin'" and the popular Lil Jon collaboration "Salt Shaker".³ The same year the duo appeared on Britney Spears' album In the Zone singing the song I Got That (Boom Boom) and her television special of the same name.¹ In 2004, TVT released My Brother & Me, an album composed largely of remixes which featured a bonus DVD of the group's videos.⁴

A new album U.S.A. (United State of Atlanta) appeared in the summer of 2005 as its singles "Wait (The Whisper Song)", "Badd", and "Shake" were dominating urban radio¹, and U.S.A. (Still United), a collection of outtakes, remixes, and collaborations similar to My Brother & Me followed in December 2005. It too was accompanied by a DVD featuring music videos and other footage from the U.S.A. (United State of Atlanta) period.⁵

On 2005, D-Roc and his younger brothers, Mr. Ball, and Da Birthday Boy, formed the group Da Muzicianz and released their first single, "Camera Phone". Their self-titled album was released on February 28, 2006.

The group's fifth album Chemically Imbalanced was released in November 2006. For this album the Twins collaborated with producers Wyclef Jean and Keith Duplessis in addition to Mr. Collipark, who produced a majority of the songs on the group's previous album.⁶ The first two singles were the Hall & Oates-sampling "Dangerous", featuring Wyclef Jean⁷, and "Jigglin'".⁸ In 2008, the Twins released the mixtape The Official Work with a single "Drop". Ying Yang Twins are ready to release their latest album with Deep Records, Ying Yang Forever and have started the Ying Yang Forever Tour.

Their song "Halftime (Stand Up and Get Crunk)" is now a standard in many NFL football stadiums, and is considered to be the unofficial anthem of the New Orleans Saints during their Super Bowl victory season. This song was performed live during the victory parade.⁹

On November 3rd, 2009, Ying Yang Twins released their greatest hits album via The Orchard and TVT Records. The album includes top ten billboard hits “What’s Happinin”, “Shake”, “Salt Shaker”, and “Wait (the whisper song)” plus three new tracks.

Discography

Studio Albums

• Thug Walkin' (2000)
• Alley: The Return of the Ying Yang Twins (2002)
• Me & My Brother (2003)
• U.S.A. (United State of Atlanta) (2005)
• Chemically Imbalanced (2006)
• Ying Yang Forever (2009)

Compilation & Remix Albums

• My Brother & Me (2004)
• U.S.A. Still United (2005)
• Legendary: Ying Yang Twins Greatest Hits (2009)

Mixtapes

• The Official Work (2008)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ying Yang Twins

• Ying Yang Twins' Social Networking Community YingYangTwinsRadio.com
• Official website
• Ying Yang Twins at MySpace