About Lil Jon
Jonathan H. Smith , better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, DJ, and record producer. He was instrumental in the commercial breakthrough of the hip hop subgenre crunk in the early 2000s and is often credited as a progenitor of the genre. He was the frontman of the crunk group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, with whom he has released five albums. In addition, Lil Jon served as a producer for most recordings by artists who popularized the genre; these include Pitbull, Too Short, E-40, Ludacris, Ciara, and Usher.
Lil Jon has produced several Billboard Hot 100 hit singles including "Salt Shaker", "Cyclone", "Get Low", "Snap Yo Fingers", "Damn!", "Freek-a-Leek", "Lovers and Friends", "Goodies" and "Yeah!". The lattermost won Lil Jon a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Performance as part of his five Grammy Award nominations.
In 2013, Lil Jon released "Turn Down for What" , an EDM single which was certified octuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America . The song went on to win the Billboard Music Award for Top Dance/Electronic Song. The accompanying music video was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, and passed the milestone of 1 billion views on YouTube seven years after it was released. Listed as one of the Top Billboard Music Award Winners of All Time in 2016, Lil Jon has amassed his eight number one singles on Billboard's Rhythmic chart.
Smith was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in a middle-class neighborhood located in Southwest Atlanta. He is the oldest of five children born to his father, an aerospace engineer with former military service, and his mother, with a medical career within the military. Three of his siblings would later follow their parents' lead and also serve in the United States military.
Smith attended Beecher Hills Elementary School and Southwest Middle School, both located within the Atlanta Public School district. His mother described him as a high achiever early on in addition to being independent and a passionate reader. While in middle school, Smith became lifelong friends with Robert McDowell, Dwayne "Emperor" Searcy , and Vince Phillips , who would become business partners. The foursome quickly became immersed in the skateboarding culture and would later work at Skate Escape, a popular skate and bicycle shop near the city's iconic Piedmont Park. While his best friends attended Benjamin E. Mays High School, Smith attended Frederick Douglass High School for their magnet program and was a member of the marching band. They also began to frequently attend concerts at the Masquerade, to see their favorite bands, including Agent Orange and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
At the age of 15, Smith taught himself how to DJ, and although his parents were strict, they gave him a chance to work on his DJ skills by allowing him to have house parties in the basement of the family home, citing that they would rather have him under their watch than for him to "be in the street somewhere". The parties, hosted by Smith and Searcy "Old E and Chicken Parties", became popular with local teens. In addition to working at the skate shop, Smith also began spinning at house parties and working in local dance clubs as a DJ. Eventually Smith became an in house DJ at Phoenix, a popular Atlanta nightclub at the time. It was there he would meet established music artists such as Jermaine Dupri, TLC, the Notorious B.I.G., Craig Mack and Mary J. Blige.
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