Gourt Home::Gourt :: Lil Jon
Lil Jon (born Jonathan Smith in Atlanta, Georgia 1971) is an American rapper/hype man and hip hop producer. He is best known as a pioneer of the sub-genre of hip hop known as "crunk" (a combination of elements of Bounce Music, Southern hip hop and bass music), as well as for screaming 3 words repeatedly throughout songs: "What!!", "OKaaayyy" and "Yeaaah!". His group, Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, is one of crunk's most notable acts.
Biography
Lil Jon graduated in 1989 from Atlanta's Douglass High School. He was working in Atlanta when Lashonda discovered him and invited him to work at a Popeyes. Lil Jon also hosted a radio show on BET. He started doing remixes for artists Jamal, Too Short, Xscape from prison, and Total. He worked for So So Def between 1993 and 2000. He can be seen in the 1998 video "Bitches and Hoes" as the DJ stealing the TV.
In 2000, Lil Jon reemerged on the hip-hop scene with an independently recorded album entitled "We Still Crunk" that was distributed by the Atlanta based Southern Music Distribution.
Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz returned in 2001 with Put Your Hood Up. This caused controversy because of the cover which featured Lil Jon wrapping himself in a confederate flag. "Biatch Biatch" the single from the album featuring Ludacris, Too Short, and Chyna White became a hit in clubs throughout the U.S., and also made the top twenty downloads on MP3.com.
In 2002, Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz released their breakthrough album Kings of Crunk. The first single, "I Don't Give a Fuck" featuring Mystikal and Krayzie Bone became another dancefloor filler. However, it was "Get Low" with the Ying Yang Twins and its catchy hook that became a breakout hit. It reached the top five in a composite worldwide Reggaeton chart (compiled from U.S., German, French R&B charts) in 2003 and Internet download charts. It also went into the top forty in markets such as Germany and Australia in 2004. Based on the success of "Get Low", Kings of Crunk reached the top twenty of the U.S. album chart in September 2003. Lil Jon put out a compilation CD and DVD in 2003 called Alpha Nigga featuring remixes of "Get Low" featuring Busta Rhymes and Elephant Man as well as the Ying Yang Twins. Jon also produced the hit single "Salt Shaker" for the Ying Yang Twins.
In 2004, Lil Jon also helped produce two other big hits of the year. One was for the new R&B artist Ciara, also out of Atlanta. "Goodies" her debut single, featured Petey Pablo and reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lil Jon also helped produce Petey Pablo's "Freek-A-Leek".
Lil Jon recently released his new album called Crunk Juice, which features contributions from proteges Lil Scrappy and Bo Hagon, mega-producer Rick Rubin, R. Kelly, Ice Cube, Timbaland, Usher, and Ludacris, and one of Lil Jon's punk heroes, The Bad Brains. The double-CD Crunk Juice includes remixes of Daddy Yankee's Reggaeton hit "Gasolina," as well as skits from comedians Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock. He will also be working with KoЯn for a track on their next album for release later in 2005*.
In June 2005, Ashton Kutcher failed to "punk" Lil Jon. He was boarding a plane headed for Las Vegas, but Kutcher used actors to play customs agents to tell him that he was actually headed for Ecuador. Lil Jon quickly identified members of the "customs agents" from previous episodes of the program, and asked for Kutcher to reveal himself. Lil Jon is currently one of four celebrities to thwart an attempted "punking" by Ashton Kutcher. Later in an interview Lil Jon quipped, "You can't Punk the King of Crunk."
For most of 2005, Lil Jon concentrated on production, overseeing forthcoming records for several artists off of his BME Recordings including: Trillville, Lil Scrappy, Oobie, E-40, BHI and BoHagon. He also went through protracted renegotiations with TVT, hinting at the likelihood that he would leave the label.
In 2005, Lil Jon was in the videogame Tony Hawk's American Wasteland as a secret character.
On February 22, 2006, Lil Jon announced that he had settled business matters with TVT: "After a long battle and negotiations with TVT, we worked out our differences. TVT cut the check and now it¹s time for me to get back to work."* The "work" in question is his first solo album, Crunk Rock, the release of which is planned for later in 2006. The hit single Snap yo Fingers gained huge popularity through the debut of the music video on MTV.
Lil Jon also starred in a documentary for the music video of Twisted Transistor, a song by the nu-metal band Korn along with Snoop Dogg, Xzibit and David Banner. He also made a cameo in Date Movie and in Scary Movie 4. He has been married since 2004.
Lil Jon's "Get Low" features on the 2004 Videogame Need For Speed Underground, but was heavily cut due to explicit lyrics.
Dave Chappelle portrayed Lil Jon on Chappelle's Show. The segment(s) were called "A Day in the Life of Lil Jon". Dave explained on his show that Lil Jon's music got him "amp'd". In Lil Jon's music videos, he would usually yell "Yeah!" (usually multiple times) during the course of his songs. In Chappelle's skits, Dave mimicks Lil Jon's appearance with dreadlocks, a baseball cap, jewelry, and the infamous cup that Lil Jon is often seen carrying. The skits would usually comprise of "Yeaaah","OK!" and "WHAT?!" being screamed repeatedly. He yells these words during everyday activities or interviews and occasionally talks in a normal voice (with a bit of an English accent). In one skit, the real Lil Jon talks to Dave's Lil Jon on the phone.
Discography
Albums
| Album cover | Album information |
|---|
| Get Crunk, Who U Wit |
| We Still Crunk!! |
| Put Yo Hood Up |
| Kings of Crunk |
| Part II |
| Crunk Juice |
| Crunk Rock |
Music sample
External links
1970 births | Living people | African American musicians | American rappers | People from Atlanta | Hip hop producers | Grammy Award winners | Rhythmic Top 40 acts | Atlanta rap artists | Scary Movie actors | Chappelle's Show | People known by pseudonyms
ليل جون | Lil Jon | Lil Jon | Lil' Jon | Lil' Jon | Lil' Jon | Lil Jon | Lil Jon
"Lil Jon"