* LIL JON  *

Jonathan Smith (born January 27, 1971), better known as Lil Jon, 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). His group, Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, is one of crunk's most notable acts.

Biography

Lil'Jon was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, but graduated from Atlanta's Douglass High School in 1989. Lil'Jon also hosted a radio show on BET. He started doing remixes for artists Jamaal, Too $hort, Xscape, and Total. He worked for So So Def between 1993 and 2000. He has been married since November 4th 2004. He has one son, who plays hockey. Lil Jon was married at the Wyndham El Conquistador Resort and Golden Door Spa in Fajardo, Puerto Rico.

Professional life

Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz returned in 2001 with Put Yo Hood Up. This caused controversy because of the cover which featured Lil Jon wrapping himself in a confederate flag. "Bia Bia" the single from the album featuring Ludacris, Too $hort, 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 & 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 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.

In 2004, Lil Jon produced what would be his breakthrough, Usher's hit single Yeah!. The track which featured Ludacris quickly skyrocket to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lil Jon also helped produce two other big hits of the year. Also in this year Lil' Jon received the award for the worlds blackest man. 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 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," Terror Squad's "Lean Back", and others. as well as skits from comedians Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock. He has worked with KoЯn for a track on their album released later in 2005.[1].

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 Bo Hagon. He also went through protracted renegotiations with TVT, hinting at the likelihood that he would leave the label.

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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."[2] The "work" in question is his first solo album, Crunk Rock, the release of which was planned for 2006. After numerous delays, Crunk Rock remains unreleased. The hit single Snap Yo Fingers received heavy radio and TV airplay.

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. Lil Jon's "Get Low" features on the 2003 videogame Need For Speed Underground, but was heavily cut due to explicit lyrics.

His Likeness, voice, and music is used in the video game Def Jam: Icon completely uncensored. He is also a playable character.