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It's hard to escape the Lil Jon phenomenon. Listen to the radio and he crops up
in songs by countless hot artists. Flip
through the channels and you'll spot his
videos on MTV-or you'll see him in a
skit on Comedy Central (although you
might have to look closely to tell whether
it's Lil Jon or the talented
Dave
Chappelle, with his dead-on impersonation). It's usually pretty easy to 1.0. Lil
Jon, though, with his long dreads, gold
teeth, and ever-present liquor-filled chalice. But the man behind the dark
shades claims UI Jon is really a character that happened to catch the interest
of music fans everywhere. So who's the
guy behind the Lil Jon facade-and
how did he become the self-proclaimed
"King of Crunk"?
Jonathan
Smith grew up in an
upscale Atlanta neighborhood and had
a surprisingly normal upper-class childhood. His first foray into the music biz
came as a teenager, when he'd host
rowdy bashes at the family home. Soon
he started working as a deejay at local
clubs. He teamed up with pals Big Sam
and Lil Bo-together
known as the East
Side Boyz-and
began his crunk
career. (FYI: Crunk is a type of Southern
hip-hop that's characterized
by loud
beats and chant-inspiring lyrics; it usually results in lots of dancing and often
at least one or two brawls.) The group
released its first album, Get Crunk, Who
U Wit: Da Album, in 1996.
The trio first hooked up with TVT
Records in 2001 with Put Yo Hood Up,
which sold almost 700,000 copies. Not
bad-but
a drop in the bucket compared to their next album, which
dropped the next year. Kings of Crunk
sold more than two million copies. It was
that album's third single, "Get Low," that
made the mainstream audience take
notice, hitting the No.2 spot on the
Bil/board singles chart.
Following that success, Lil Jon spent
some time on his other musical passion:
producing
hit songs and albums for
other artists. He also chimes in with a
few key phrases on a number of hit
songs. You know that song by Usher
called "Yeah!" that you can't seem to get
out of your head? Thank Lil Jon for that.
There's beeri a recent trend of artists
of all genres adding a touch of rap or
hip-hop to their songs. Witness the
66
PENTHOUSE
unlikely-yet
surprisingly successfulpairing of country star Tim McGraw and
Nelly for the hit song "Over and Over."
Pop stars also have jumped on the
bandwagon in an effort to gain some
street cred .. Britney Spears enlisted the
Ying Yang Twins to spice up a song on
her In the Zone album. But nobody is
more in demand than Lil Jon. It seems
everYGne who's anyone in the music
world wants a piece of him. Maybe
they're hoping some of his crunk karma
will rub off On them. This is, after all, the
guy the New York Times called "one of
the country's most exciting, and most
successful, electronic composers."
After spreading the love and lendin'g
his Lil Jon touch to other artists, he got
back to the pgs.iness of cranking out
some hits of his own. Joined once again
by his crunky cohorts the East Side
Boyz, Lil Jon headed to Miami to put
toqether another album, Crunk Juice,
which hit stores this past November.
With so many artists enlisting Lil Jon's
help, it seemed only fair that he call in a
few favors himself. The album features
such bi.g names as Ludacris, R. Kelly,
and Chris Rock.
And though Lil Jon claims that suburban moms love his music, there are a
few tracks on the album that you might
want to hide from Grandma.
"Real
Nigga Roll Call," for instance, features
Ice CUDe making it clear in colorful
terms that if you mess with him and his
boys, well, something bad is gonna
happen. Then there's "Don't Fuck Wit
.Me," a friendly little ditty that gets a helping hand from legendary producer Rick
Rubin and includes
samples from
Slayer.
Pettthouse sat down with the artist
Chris Rock once jokingly called "a black
Cousin It" to find out what's up next for
the man with the musical Midas touch.
I
How did the last album do?
Well, it went platinum in four weeks.
We shipped double-platinum
and we
'sold platinum, and [that was] only on the
first singlfl. The second single is "Roll
Call," featuring Ice Cube.
oen you deectibe this CO for anyone who hasn't checked it out yet?
It's a mixture of everything that Lil Jon
and the East Side Boyz have done and
HII of the production I've__
done for different
people, all the hit records I've given people. There's a mixture of all that stuff on
one album. I had to compete with myself
because I had so many hits last year. So
basically I just tried to give us some of
those same type of hits with our album.
Can you explein crunk?
Crunk is high-energy Southern rap
music with a lot of chants. We kinda
compare it to punk-rock music, you
know what I'm saying? Because in a
crunk club, you have slam-dancing,
mash pits, people wildin' out, So it's the
same type of energy, but it's rap music.
We're crunk artists. We don't consider
ourselves rappers. We don't really have
a book of rhymes. We don't freestyle.
We just come into the studio and sing,
and make people chant what we sing.
You have your name on everything
from sunglasses to porn movies.
Yeah, we got the Oakley Thumps,
which is the MP3-player sunglasses, the
Lil Jon version with the red and black ..
You got the Lil jon Oakley Zeros sunglasses, which are hot tOQ. We also got
the T-shirt merchandising,
with the
"Yeah!" T-shirts. We got the porno, Lil
Jon and the East Side Boyz: American
Sex Series, which was nominated for
two AVN Awards, best ethnic video and
best music. And then we got the labels,
Warner Bros. and BME/TVT. With
BME/TVT, we're probably gonna be
dropping our female R&B artist Ooh
Baby this year, as well as Chyna White,
and then with Warner Bros., we're
gonna have Trillville, Lil Scrappy, and
E-40. There may be some movies and
more television. Who knows? There's a
lot going on. We're just getting started.
Wasn't there some talk about you
doing an animated series?
We were talking with MTV, but we're
probably not gonna do [that]. We're
probably gonna do it on our own and
take it to a network.
You love discovering new artists and
giving them their big break. Is there a
trick to finding the next big star?
Nah, you just look for somebody with
a distinct voice and listen for nice lyrics
and hooks. That's it.
What kind of music do you listen to?
I listen to everything-from
2 Live
Crew to Alicia Keys to Maroon 5 and
Blink-i82.
You never go anywhere without your
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trademark cup. Whats the story behind that?
One of my homeboys, Pimpin' Ken,
who's also on the album, he gave me a
cup one day, and then it just became a
part of how people see me. A part of my
character. So I always have a cup with
me when I go out. It's just trademark Lil
Jon now.
And what's usually in it?
Crunk juice.
Which is?
It's a mix of Crunk Energy Drink plus
whatever kind of liquor you like. That's
where we got the name for this album,
because [the songs are] a mixture of a
lot of things that people like. And it does
kinda get you intoxicated.
Anything you can say about your
groupies?
Um, just the normal shit.
ginseng, horny goat weed ...
We hear that you test out your new
music at strip clubs.
The strip clubs are like the first real
test. If it goes over good with the Atlanta
strip-club crowds, you know it'll be a hit.
There's a rumor that you guys will be
on The Apprentice. True?
Maybe. You just gotta watch.
You could teach them some business lessons, right?
I guess so. I made a lot of money last
year.
You said you were voting for John
Kerry Are you disappointed with how
the election turned out?
Yeah, but hey, shit happens. A lot of
people got registered to vote, though,
so that was good. More people voted
than in a lot of years, so something
good happened.
I've heard you advise other guys to
stay away from that scene.
But you have to admit, Bush seems
like he'd be more fun to party with.
Yeah, you gotta watch it nowadays,
with the Kobe Bryant stuff and Mike
Tyson. I'm just nice to all my fans, you
know? I don't really deal with the chicks
like that, but I'm nice to everybody.
Yeah, Kerry does seem kinda lame.
But Bush, he's playing golf all the time
and wild in' out with the superrich dudes.
His daughters are wild too.
How did the porn video happen?
What was it like working with Rick
Rubin on this album?
We went to the AVN Awards and met
up with Christian Mann, who's got his
own video company, Video Team, and
connected with him. We'd already been
putting a movie together on our own,
and he helped us finish it It was one of
the top sellers for the year.
It was cool. We had met at a Chris
Rock concert through my homeboy from
Video Team, and we stayed in contact
until we got in the studio and made it
happen.
Are you more critical of other porn
now?
I wanted to work with Cube on the last
album, but we couldn't make it happen.
He listened to me and really let me produce him. He was open to ideas.
Sometimes legends aren't really that
open to you. But he let me do my thing,
and he did his thing, and we made
some classic stuff.
No, I just look at stuff that maybe we
can do in our next movie.
Any favorite porn films besides your
own?
There's this one series called Black
Swallow. That's a pretty good series.
I know you even give tips to the
ladies on the best sex toys.
Women should try the Phallixes.
They're the glass dildos that you can
heat up or put in the freezer and it gets
cold. That's a good line of dildos for the
ladies.
Is it true that you've been told your
Crunk Energy Drink is an aphrodisiac?
Yes. I had a woman come up to me one
time and say it made her so horny -she
had to masturbate. Maybe we should put
that on the label. But there's a lot of good
stuff in it that's like natural aphrodisiacs:
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PENTHOUSE
And you got Ice Cube back into the
studio.
People were probably surprised that
you also worked with Korn.
It's funny, because me and [Korn lead
singer] Jonathan Davis [had] a lot of
similarities once we connected
and
talked. All the way down to our sons
having the same name and shit. It's really crazy. But that was fun doing that
song. We're looking at putting that song
in the new XXX movie.
You also worked with Paris Hilton.
How was that?
She's real cool. We met at the MTV
Movie Awards. We hooked up, hung
out, had some meetings, and she's
working with one of my writers, We're
gonna get her some hot stuff,
Anyone else that you really want to
work with?
The only person that we really ain't
worked with yet is Dr, Ore, And hopefully
we'll do that one day.
You hung out with Joe Simpson at
the Video Music Awards. Any plans to
work with his daughters, Jessica and
Ashlee?
We was talking about maybe me
doing stuff with Ashlee. He's good people. I met his wife at the same time as I
met Paris, and we were all hanging out.
And then I met him at the music awards,
and he's cool.
Youhave al/ kinds of fans. Even middle-aged white women tell you they
love your work. Is there a secret to
attracting all kinds of fans?
Yeah, Dave Chappelle.
He really
helped to make me less offensive to
people and put me out to the households that I would have never reached
just with my music.
So you owe him a debt of gratitude.
lowe him a whole lot. He's part of
what helped me get to where I am this
year. Him and all the production I've
been doing. He made me a pop icon
this year by immortalizing my phrases in
his sketches. And then also allowing me
to come in and do this thing with him.
Being a part of the sketch was amazing.
You say you always put at least one
song on the album for the ladies. Is
that a key to success?
Yeah, because if the women are
dancing and the women like your music,
then you'll sell records. Because women
control the household, and the dollars in
most households.
You're from the same neighborhood
as Andre 3000 and Big Boi of Outkast.
It seems like artists from the South are
really taking over the music charts
these days.
I guess it's just our time right now. All
we're really doing is trying to go into the
studio and make hot records for the
clubs. It's just paying off right now.
You recently spent a few months in'
Miami. How's the party scene in South
~ Beach?
It's all good. A lot of big clubs. Mixed
crowds. Definitely cool.
69
Do yo: e. er get sick of people using
out cetcnpnreses
Yeah!, What?, and
O""ay constantly?
Qe' n'tely. People don't understand
'lear that all day and all night. I
oo=': really say it as much as I used to.
.e oeen using those sayings for two or
+-ee years. Anej then when it became
000 ....ar. I couldn't get away from it.
;:)eoole say it to me and try to get me to
SG./ it and I'm just like, "Hey, what's up?"
oecacse I'm so tired of saying it. That's
a tney expect me to say now, those
sar-e old catchphrases.
:.'ell. you're pretty good at coming
ut: .vith catchphrases that really take
0"". Any new slang we should know
aoaut?
'\lah. all that stuff just came out of being
,1->6 studio and just ad-libbing. Those
,',ere just ad-libs on the microphone when
was recording. And it became sometn ng that everybody recognized. I don't
'eally have any new ones.
You say it's important to get the very
best hotel rooms so you can get any.~ '1g you want at any time. How does
-"e common guy get these five-star
a gs at swank hotels?
Just go to a travel agent and tell them
you want the very best rooms in the city.
~"'d be prepared to write a big check.
4nd you also think it's important to
.~.a:
n
have an entourage with you when you
hit the clubs.
You always gotta have at least a couple of people with you to drink all the
alcohol.
Can you tell us anything about your
love life? Surely you do pretty well with
the ladies.
I like to keep my private life to myself.
Lil Jon is the guy in the public eye.
That's Lil Jon. Jon is the guy behind
closed doors. I keep all of that separate.
We don't hear too many scandals
about Lil Jon. How do you stay out of
trouble?
I just do good. I just do what I'm supposed to do. Stay away from the negativity, basically.
What are you working
on now?
What's coming up?
Right now we're just focusing on
Lil Scrappy's album, Trillville's album,
E-40's album. Finishing Ooh Baby's
album. And working on Bo Hagen's
album. All of our artists got stuff going
on now.
Which do you like better, doing your
own albums
or being behind
the
scenes producing other artists?
I like everything. It just depends. The
only thing is, it's hard for me sometimes
to jump out of different roles. I have to
be an executive and then also be a pro-
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ducer and then be an artist sometimes.
It's hard to go from one to the other. I
have to try to concentrate on being one
person at a time. Be a producer for a little while. I had to do all the production
and get that out of the way. Then I could
just concentrate on being an artist.
You're making lots of cash now.
What do you like to spend a/l that
money on?
I don't really spend money. I don't like
to spend money. I might spend money
in the club, but that's about it. I don't
really buy a lot of jewelry or nothing like
that. I have jewelry, but I don't really like
to buy a lot of it. And I'm not really into
buying a lot of hot cars either. I like old
cars. I just bought a '68 Cadillac Deville.
But I don't really spend that much
money. The only thing I really spend
money on is DVDs. When I'm at home,
me and my family watch DVDs on the
couch and chill.
00 you have any favorites?
City of God is like my favorite movie
right now. And I've been watching I,
Robot. That's pretty good.
I guess it's easier to stay home and
watch movies than go out and worry
about people bothering you.
Exactly.
00 you think the East Side Boyz ever
get mad that you get all the attention?
I'm sure. Anybody would get mad
eventually if somebody's getting all the
attention. I mean, you got the whole
world saying, "Yeah!" "What?" and
"Okay!" I'm sure sometimes they get a
little pissed with my being such a popular character that people maybe don't
notice them. But it's just my character
that's so popular. So it's cool. You just
learn to live with it and keep on moving.
Right now it's about Lil Jon and the East
Side Boyz, so we keep pushing that.
Selling this group. Selling this album.
Do you think people would be surprised at what you're like offstage?
Yeah, because I just want to chill out
and watch movies and not be screaming. People think I'm just screaming all
the time. That's the biggest misconception. It's a lot of pressure to be like that
all the time. Wherever I go, they want
me to start the party, even if I'm dead
tired or hungover or whatever.
Speaking of which, as a guy with a
lot of experience in this area, do you
have any hangover cures to recommend?
Alka-Seltzer. Drink it at night before
you go to bed. Or drink it in the morning
and then go back to sleep for an hour or
two. Then you'll be all right.
Anything else you want people to
know about?
Just log on to the Website
at
LiIJonOnline.com for any Lil Jon information, merchandise.
Be sure to get
your CRUNK OR DIE T-shirts.OI--m