† Lil Jon †
Jonathan Mortimer Smith is better known as Lil Jon he was born on January 27, 1971 , He is an American rapper, hype man, and 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, Disco music, Southern hip hop and bass music). His group, The Eastside Boyz, which includes Big Sam and Lil Bo, is one of crunk’s most notable acts. He is also a prolific producer for other groups, and frequently makes guest appearances.
Lil Jon was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated from Douglass High School in 1989.[3] He worked for So So Def between 1993 and 2000.
Lil Jon is a big fan of the Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL and writes a blog on NHL.com. He has also stated on the blog that his son plays hockey. Atlanta Trashers goalie Kari Lehtonen also has a picture of Lil Jon on the back of his helmet.[6] He also has his own energy drink, called CRUNK![7], and has his own line of Oakley Sunglasses.
Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz returned in 2002 with "Put Yo Hood Up". "Bia Bia", the single from the album featuring Ludacris, Too Short, and Chyna Whyte, became a hit in clubs throughout the U.S., and also made the top twenty downloads on MP3.com.
In 2002, Lil Jon looked onto old school Miami bass artist Rick Taylor (also known as Disco Rick), one of the bass music kings and legends of Miami, who gave Lil Jon his first MPC-3000 in 1996. Taylor was then called by Lil Jon to come down to Rick’s studio in Miami and work with him on The Kings Of Crunk LP. 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 dance floor 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 chart (compiled from U.S., German, French R&B charts) in 2003 and Internet download charts. It also went into the top 40 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 Part II 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. Lil Jon also did some work with Youngbloodz with the songs Damn! but beside that hasn’t been much more work with YoungBloodZ.
In 2004, Lil Jon produced what would be his breakthrough, Usher’s hit single Yeah!. The track which featured Ludacris quickly skyrocketed to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. 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 in 04. Lil Jon also helped produce Petey Pablo’s Freak-A-Leak. Another song was for R&B singer Nivea that was called "Okay" in 05.
Lil Jon released his new album called Crunk Juice, which features contributions from protégé Lil’ Scrappy and Bo Hagon, Grammy Award-winning record producer Rick Rubin, R. Kelly, Ice Cube, Timbaland, Usher, Three 6 Mafia, Gangsta Boo, and Ludacris, and one of Lil Jon’s punk heroes, Bad Brains. The double-CD Crunk Juice includes remixes of Daddy Yankee’s Reggaeton hit "Gasolina", Terror Squad’s "Lean Back", and others. The biggest hit from this album was the Usher/Ludacris collaboration "Lovers & Friends", which reached #3 on the Hot 100. Lil Jon worked with KoЯn for a track on their album released later in 2005.
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 Bo Hagon. In this year, Lil John also released his first spoken word album, Atlanta to limited fanfare.
Albums
- 1997: Get Crunk, Who U Wit: Da Album
- 2000: We Still Crunk!!
- 2001: Put Yo Hood Up
- 2002: Kings of Crunk
- 2004: Crunk Juice
- 2008: Crunk Rock
Solo singles
- 2002: "Get Low" (featuring Ying Yang Twins)
- 2003: "Play No Games" (featuring Fat Joe, Trick Daddy & Big Sam)
- 2003: "I Don’t Give a Fuck" (featuring Mystikal & Krayzie Bone)
- 2004: "What U Gon’ Do" (featuring Lil’ Scrappy)
- 2004: "Real Nigga Roll Call" (featuring Ice Cube)
- 2006: "Snap Yo Fingers" (featuring E-40 & Sean P of The YoungBloodz)
- 2006: "Act a Fool" (featuring Three 6 Mafia)
- 2007: "I’m a J" (featuring Gucci Mane and Fabo)
