Still, The King of Crunk

L’Officiel Arabia: Since this interview is for L'Officiel Arabia, have you visited any Arab countries? What was your experience like?

Lil Jon: I have been to Dubai many times, and it was great. Dubai is always amazing and fun with the food and people. I have also visited Turkey.

 

LOA: You started as a DJ in Atlanta, Georgia. Can you tell me more about your roots?

LJ: I had the biggest house out of all my friends, and I used to host house parties in my basement. One day, I was amazed at how DJs could control crowds by playing certain songs and records that would make them go crazy. I wanted to learn how to do that, so we got a little setup in my house. The DJ I originally learned from ended up going away for two years to join the navy, and by the time he came back, I was the number one DJ in the city. I basically got my name up by DJing at house parties and around the city. I eventually made my way to this one club called The New York Sound Factory in Atlanta, and that was the start of me getting into nightclubs. From that club, I went to Club Phoenix, which was the premier club at that time. That’s where I met Jermaine Dupri. TLC and Pockets used to also perform at that club. We brought Notorious B.I.G., Craig Mack, Mary J. Blige. It was the hotspot club, and that’s where I made my name in the city of Atlanta.

LOA: You are often credited for making crunk mainstream. For those who may not know what that is, can you briefly explain that genre? How did you manage to stay so energetic when performing any of those songs?

LJ: After the nightclub, I started working for Jermaine Dupri’s record company So So Def. I worked there for seven years and executively produced these albums called So So Def’s Bass All-Stars. The first album we put out had a song called “My Boo” by Ghost Town DJs. At So So Def, I met Playa Poncho, who hung out with two guys named Sam and Bo, who later became a part of East SideBoyz. We were hanging out one night, and we started this chant in the club, and then we noticed that the whole club started to chant what we were saying. I look at Sam and tell him we need to make a song out of this, and that’s how Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz and the crunk movement got started. I had never been an artist before; I had never wanted to be an artist. I had never recorded a song, but after that day, I went and found someone to make our record. The sound just developed from the first song we did in 1996, called “Who U Wit?”

We wanted to make a song to make Atlanta people get hyped up in the club. As the years progressed, and our style progressed, we started to say that we get people crunked. We’re not rappers. We don’t freestyle. We just get people crunked. Crunked is a word we use in Atlanta to mean hyped up. We took that word, and we were the first ones to say that this is a genre of music. We coined that term for our first album, Get Crunk, Who U Wit: Da Album.

LOA: Being such an animated person in hip-hop, what are your thoughts about today’s music that people often describe as more laid back and “mumble rap?”

LJ: It’s funny because the [studio version] songs may be laid back, but when they perform the songs, they have a lot of energy - from mosh pits, stage dives, crowd surfing. Live shows don’t always match the music all the time. Music is constantly evolving and changing. There’s still a lot of hype rap songs out there, like Drake and Travis Scott on his song “Sicko Mode."

 

LOA: What is your favorite project you’ve worked on?

LJ: I co-produced “Turn Down for What” with DJ Snake, and I would say it’s one of my favorites because it came ten years after the biggest record of my career, which was “Yeah” with Usher and Ludacris in 2004. In 2014, DJ Snake and I had the number one EDM record and one of the biggest songs of that year. It was quite an accomplishment because people don’t normally have careers that have lasted as long as mine. I started producing songs in 1993, and then 1996 was when I officially became an artist. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and to still DJ at clubs around the world while also making music is truly amazing.

LOA: Do you have any plans of releasing an album any time soon, considering how your last album was released in 2010?

LJ: I’ve been working on a lot of music, but I want to put singles out. I think that we sometimes put too much emphasis on albums, but we’re in a different world now. If you put singles out and give those singles time to mature, it’s better than putting an album out. You could break those songs up and release them over a certain amount of time, and they would have more impact, rather than just putting an album out only for it to go away in a couple of months. I’ve worked on a lot of music last year that I’m setting up to drop in 2022 with EDM songs, Latin songs, and some rap songs - I did produce some songs on Saweetie’s album too.

 

LOA: How different are you from your Lil Jon persona?

LJ: Lil Jon is always partying - he’s loud, rowdy, and crazy. When I come off the road, I don’t drink at all. I’m detoxing, drinking water and tea, exercising. Jon and Lil Jon are total opposites. Jon is quiet and intelligent; Lil Jon is crazy, boisterous, rambunctious, and at parties. Jon likes to spend time with family when he’s off the road.

LOA: You used to appear on many tv shows, but the last time you made a television appearance was in 2019 on The Rap Game. Any plans to be on TV again in the future?

LJ: I have been working on a tv show this year that HGTV picked up and will air in the spring called Lil Jon Wants To Do What? It is a home improvement show where I do over people's houses, and I give them an incredible kitchen, family room, outdoor living space. It will be another chapter in my life, and the network is excited about it.

I'm basically changing people’s lives and pushing people out of their comfort zones. It’s fun to come up with the ideas of these places as well because I generally come up with them as soon as I walk into a space. I feel that the spaces talk to me - I listen to the universe and what it tells me. With my partner Anitra Mecadon, we go in and sit down with the homeowners to catch a vibe from them. We also pay attention to everything and how they decorate their home. Using what we learn, we design a space that they would like and fits their personality while also pushing them out of their comfort zone.