Lil Jon

It takes a special combination of ego, bravado and, to be fair, guts to proclaim yourself the king of anything, but to declare yourself the king of a musical genre that had scarcely claimed any kind of validity, let alone been around for longer than two minutes? That requires extreme quantities of all three aforementioned qualities, and that’s certainly not something that Lil Jon has struggled with in the past. He’s probably still best known, to the public at large at least, for his fleeting appearance on Usher’s number one hit ‘Yeah!’ back in 2004, but to others, he is the bona fide king of crunk, bringing a personality and charisma to the genre that only helped to bolster it during its, short-lived, mid-noughties heyday. With the East Side Boyz, he’s turned out five studio records, with the final instalment, Crunk Juice, considered a classic of the genre almost immediately after its release in 2004. It contains the track ‘Roll Call’, notable for its Guinness World Records-challenging level of profanity; it remains a staple of Jon’s live sets to this day, as he continues to deliver raucous - and often debauched - live sets across America. His UK fans, though, have been waiting far too long now for another dose of crunk juice; with no new album since 2010, he might well be on the verge of hitting the road in earnest again if another album is in the works.

Even if you aren’t a fan of current rap, there is no denying the energy that Lil Jon has when he is performing on stage. He pumps up the crowd, and gives everything he has on the stage. I caught him because my friend really wanted to see him while he was performing at the University of California, Riverside’s annual Heat music festival. Most of the music that I knew that came from Lil Jon was only what I heard on the radio, so thankfully I wasn’t completely “left out” from the excitement of the set. Since Lil Jon does a lot of producing for other artists like The Ying Yang Twins, or Petey Pablo, a lot of his set also included these songs.
The venue was an outdoor stage in the middle of winter, but the energy on stage, equaled by the energy in the crowd made the tent the warmest place in the festival. Lil Jon was all over the stage, even climbing up parts of the light rafters. It also helped that he had at least four or five hype guys up on stage as well, to really keep all the energy up. By the end of the set, I was swallowed up by the crowd and had taken in all the energy and was just as excited as everyone else for the closing song. Lil Jon definitely made me a fan, however short lived it may have been.

Jonathan Smith better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, record producer and DJ who started his hip hop career as a member of the East Side Boyz. Since beginning his solo career in 2010, he uses what he learned with the group to continue to entertain his loyal flock of fans.

From the moment the bass kicks in and the stage lights dim, the cheers are continuous until Jon confidently steps onto the stage along with a selection of hype men and dancers. He has been a frequenter of the charts throughout his career so his setlist is varied yet the crowd goes wild for the introducing tones of 'Saltshaker' and 'Get Low'. Lil Jon encourages them along with his hype men to keep dancing and jumping as he raps along with these cult favourites.

A snarling rendition of 'Outta Your Mind' keeps the crowd grinding and dancing as the rapper stands looking out across the mass of sweating people with their hands in the air. He raises his own hands to the roof before finishing an energetic set with 'Turn Down For What'.

Awful! The music wasn't loud enough,and he wouldn't stop turning it down to scream at the microphone. And he took ages to show up. So by the time he did, people were already leaving. The Dj before him was much better.