The Ying Yang Twins are an American hip hop duo consisting ofKaine and D-Roc. They are not actually twin brothers. The group 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, Ying Yang Twins became more popular with party singles "Salt Shaker", "Wait ", "Shake" and "Badd". They have received notoriety for their song "Halftime " 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. As recently as 2013, the Ying Ying Twins released the Ass in Session and Twurk or Die mixtapes.
Career
Ying Yang Twins debuted in 1996 and started originally after being inspired by "The Secret" by Rhonda Bryna which inspired them to create "The Whisper Song" by Shhh Records as well as the single "Whistle While You Twurk", which was played on urban and pop radio stations and peaked at #17 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. Immediately after discovering fellow Atlanta hip hop artist Lil Jon, A&R Bryan Leach began talks with representative Michael 'DJ Smurf' Crooms about signing the Ying Yang Twins to TVT Records. Protracted negotiations meant that a deal was not finalized in time for the label to release their next album, ', which instead appeared in 2002 on Koch. The album was successful among hip-hop fans in the Southern United States. The same year, the group appeared on the albumKings 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. Their first album for TVT, Me & My Brother, was certified platinum on April 12, 2005, and yielded three more hits — "Whats Happnin!", "Naggin'" and the popular Lil Jon collaboration "Salt Shaker". The same year the duo appeared on Britney Spears' album In the Zone singing the song "I Got That " and her television special of the same name. In 2004, TVT released My Brother & Me, an album composed largely of remixes which featured a bonus DVD of the group's videos. A new album U.S.A. appeared in the summer of 2005 as its singles "Wait ", "Badd", and "Shake" were dominating popular music and rap radio stations, and U.S.A. , 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. period. 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. The first two singles were the Hall & Oates-sampling "Dangerous", featuring Wyclef Jean, and "Jigglin'". 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 " 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, even though it has been a staple at Saints games since 2006. This song was performed live during the victory parade. 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 NBA's San 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 top ten Billboard'' hits "What's Happinin", "Shake", "Salt Shaker", and “Wait ” plus three new tracks. On June 29, 2012, Ying Yang Twins revealed on Twitter that they had signed to Epic Records, and released their first single from their new untitled album, "Fist Pump, Jump Jump", featuring singer Greg Tecoz. The Ying Yang Twins are a featured act on the 2019 Millenium Tour, with B2K, Chingy and others. Their Christmas song, "Deck Da' Club" featured heavily in the 2019 Christmas show of comedy paranormal podcast The Unbelievers Podcast.
