In 1995, Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter were scheming ways to get past the TV censors on Conan's late night talk show, and they settled on an all-purpose, suitable replacement for the infamous seven dirty swearwords that they couldn't say on TV: Crunk. The choice to use that word was definitely not random. Ice T just happened to be on the show that night, and he likely fed the word to them beforehand and certainly helped fuel its popularity during the telecast ("That was seriously crunked up, right there."). But Ice never claimed to have come up with the word--he probably got it from Dirty South rappers, who had been using it for years as a euphemism for getting really crazy and fucked up on marijuana and alcohol (stoned and drunk. Chronic plus Drunk = Crunk). Or maybe crack and drunk. Or coke and drunk. Or maybe just being crazy and drunk. Whatever it is, it means getting really crazy and fucked up. And with Conan's introduction of the word to northern suburban audiences, Crunk came into its own as the recognized sound of the new generation of Dirty South Rap, prompting white college fratboys everywhere to wander around going "WHHHUT!! OKAAY!! YEEEAAHHH!!" like annoying dipshits. and it's all thanks to Lil Jon, and by Lil Jon I mean Dave Chappelle.

Everybody here is wrong, it is not getting crazy and drunk. It's smoking chronic (marijuana) and getting drunk.

Chronic + Drunk = CRUNK

its a mixture of the word crazy and drunk

Some common uses:

1. To get Crunk is To have a good time.

2. Crunk is also thought to be derived from a combination or a portmanteau of the words "crazy" and "drunk", or a combination of "chronic" and "drunk", referring to the state of being both drunk from alcohol and high on marijuana, at the same time.

3. A style of music most commonly made by rap artists from the southern states, aka the Dirty South. Some crunk artists (or groups) are Lil' Jon, Pitbull, Lil' Scrappy, Trillville, and David Banner.

4. Something at a high level, as in volume.

Originally coined by Dr. Suess in 1972, in his book "Marvin K. Mooney will you please go now!".

The term originated in the early to mid 1990s in Memphis Tennessee.
Many will tell you it is a combination of crazy and drunk, combining to form "crunk". That is false.
It is more or less a derivative of crank that was bastardized by youth.
The best way to relate it is to compare it to a wind up toy. You crank it repeatedly, if you crank it too much you passed the point of "crank" and have moved on to "crunk". It is a level that was not intended by design and the potential energy contained now is off the charts. When unleashed there is an unstoppable wave that is almost beyond comprehension or measurement.
If you are "crunk" you are basically a juggernaut of energy and nothing will stop you and you won't care what happens until such point that you decide to stop.

the word crunk DOES NOT refer to how intoxicated a person is, nor does it refer to the devices used to become intoxicated.

simply put, crunk means cranked up, or already cranked up. it is the past tense of crank up. suppose you are hosting a party at your house. then at some point, you decide to crank it up. then it is crunk.

think of it this way:
if you do something, then it's done.
if you find something, then it's found.
if you sink something, then it's sunk.
and if you crank something, then it's crunk.

i know you don't believe me. please just go to youtube, search "lil jon chelsea lately", and watch the interview.