Exuberant, loud-mouthed, and regularly adorned with a
bejeweled pimp chalice at hand, Lil Jon was the charismatic figurehead of the
Dirty South crunk movement that arose from the Atlanta area around the turn of
the century. Born Jonathan Smith on January 27, 1971, in Atlanta, GA, the
producer/rapper began his rap industry ascension as part of Jermaine Dupri's So
So Def label, for which he worked from 1993 to 2000. In the mid-'90s Lil Jon
began making a name for himself as a producer with a knack for club remixes.
Before long he formed his own group, Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz,
comprised of Big Sam and Lil Bo, in addition to himself. "Get Low"
was a club phenomenon throughout 2003; Part II, a CD/DVD EP released toward the
end of the year, featured dancehall and merengue remixes of the song, along
with additional material. Lil Jon's production style became ubiquitous on urban
radio thereafter, as "Salt Shaker" (a production for the Ying Yang
Twins), "Goodies" (Ciara), "Yeah!" (Usher),
"Freek-a-Leek" (Petey Pablo), "Shorty Wanna Ride" (Young
Buck), "Damn!" (YoungBloodZ), "Let's Go" (Trick Daddy),
"Culo" (Pitbull), "Head Bussa" (Lil Scrappy), "Neva
Eva" (Trillville), and "Shake That Monkey" (Too Short) all
garnered significant airplay in 2003-2004. By this point, the celebrity of Lil
Jon was such that comedian Dave Chappelle was memorably satirizing him
(especially his signature "yeaaah!" and "whaaat!?"
expressions) on a couple episodes of The Chappelle Show.Listen song here:YouTube
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