The Ying Yang Twins are an American hip hop duo consisting of Kaine (born Eric Jackson on December 16, 1978) and D-Roc (born Deongelo/D'Angelo Holmes on February 23, 1979). Despite the name, the duo are not twin brothers.
They debuted in 2000 and rose to mainstream popularity in 2003 collaborating with Britney Spears on her album In the Zone and with Lil Jon on "Get Low". In 2004 and 2005, the Ying Yang Twins became more popular with party singles "Salt Shaker", "Wait (The Whisper Song)", "Shake" and "Badd". They have received notoriety for their song "Halftime (featuring Homebwoi)" which is played at New Orleans Saints homegames after most touchdowns. In 2008, the hip hop duo released The Official Work mixtape. In 2009, they followed with their Ying Yang Forever mixtape. Just three months later, the duo released Legendary Status: Ying Yang Twins Greatest Hits. In 2013, the Ying Yang Twins released the Ass in Session and Twurk or Die mixtapes.
Career
Their debut single "Whistle While You Twurk" was played on urban and pop radio stations and peaked at #17 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. They toured with Juz tha King, Kat Nu and Demo Dil. Their full-length debut album Thug Walkin' was released that year.
Immediately after discovering fellow Atlanta hip hop artist Lil Jon, A&R Bryan Leach began talks with representative Mr. Collipark about signing them to TVT Records. Protracted negotiations meant that a deal was not finalized in time for the label to release their next album Alley: The Return of the Ying Yang Twins, which instead appeared in 2002 on Koch Records.[1] The album 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", and the song was a huge club and radio hit. As Crooms had negotiated only a one-album deal with Koch, the duo was free to finally submit to the advances of TVT, who had impressed them with their recent work with Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz.[1][2]
Me & My Brother, their first album for TVT, was certified platinum on April 12, 2005,[3] and yielded three more hits — "What's Happenin!", "Naggin'" and the Lil Jon collaboration "Salt Shaker".[4] The same year the duo appeared on Britney Spears' album In the Zone on the song "I Got That (Boom Boom)" and her television special of the same name.[2] In 2004, TVT released My Brother & Me, an album composed largely of remixes which featured a bonus DVD of the group's videos.[5]
A new album U.S.A. (United State of Atlanta) appeared in Summer 2005 as its singles "Wait (The Whisper Song)", "Badd", and "Shake" were dominating popular music and rap radio stations,[2] 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. (United State of Atlanta) period.[6]
In 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.[7] The first two singles were the Hall & Oates-sampling "Dangerous", featuring Wyclef Jean,[8] and "Jigglin'".[9] In 2008, the Twins released the mixtape The Official Work and a promo single titled "Drop". A highlight of the Ying Yang Twins' tour includes a visit to the Epsilon Mu chapter of Sigma Chi. Here they performed all their hits live in front of a sold out Texas crowd. All of the proceeds from the show went to charity. In 2009, the Twins released their latest album with Deep Records, Ying Yang Forever, and started a tour titled "Ying Yang Forever Tour".
Their song "Halftime (Stand Up and Get Crunk)" is now a standard in many National Football League football stadiums, and it is considered to be the unofficial anthem of the New Orleans Saints during their Super Bowl victory season, but it has been a staple at Saints games since 2006. This song was performed live during the victory parade.[10] The song has also been used in NFL Street 2 and Madden NFL 11 as well as the opening tip at home games for the National Basketball Association'sSan Antonio Spurs throughout the majority of the 2000s.
On November 3, 2009, Ying Yang Twins released their greatest hits album via The Orchard and BOOTY Records. The album includes "What's Happenin!", "Shake", "Salt Shaker", and "Wait (The Whisper Song)" plus three new tracks.[11]
On June 29, 2012, Ying Yang Twins revealed on Twitter that they had signed to Epic Records and released their first single from their untitled album "Fist Pump, Jump Jump", featuring singer Greg Tecoz.[12]
The Ying Yang Twins were a featured act on the 2019 Millenium Tour, with B2K, Chingy and others.[13]
Their Christmas song "Deck Da' Club" featured heavily in the 2019 Christmas show of The Unbelievers Podcast.
