Lil Jon, real name Jonathan Smith, is known for performing a style of hip-hop called “crunk.”
“I like to go to the clubs. As long as the environment permits, and it’s not too knuckleheadish, I’m there, I go to the club. Because that’s where you get inspiration from.” – Lil Jon
“I’m just happy to be honored as someone who’s making music.” – Lil Jon
“I think I gave myself like a month and I had 150 beats so [the artists on my label] could pick the hottest [ones]. I have a catalog now of about 600 beats.” – Lil Jon
“[Miami] is just the perfect city. The good thing is you can go to two or three parties a night.” – Lil Jon
“I have no ill feelings for nobody, I wish everybody the best, and I’m cool with everybody.” – Lil Jon
“I speak to everybody. I’m one of those kind of artists that I’m cool with everybody. If they [fans] want to meet me, it’s cool. That’s as far as it goes. But I’m the cool artist. I shake everybody’s hand, try to sign all the autographs, take pictures when I can.” – Lil Jon
“They put us in these boxes, and they think you’re not supposed to go outside the box. When I grew up, you listened to the radio (and) you heard everything from Run-D.M.C. to Led Zeppelin. It was just radio. I grew up on all (these) different types of music. I should be able to make all different types of music.” – Lil Jon
“I grew up on N.W.A — N.W.A and Too Short were my favorite groups. So to just be in the studio, and for him to listen to me and let me guide him, ask me what I think … I still can’t believe I’m cool with Cube like that, ’cause that’s Ice Cube.” – Lil Jon
“[Jon’s been in the lab with Too Short as well.] Short is like ‘Uncle Short,’ … Short was the first person in the rap game to believe in me and give me a chance as an artist. I was signed to Short’s label and he let me out of the contract with no problems — he let me do my thing. Plus, he was always there for me whenever I needed him to get on some records.” – Lil Jon
“Me and my team got it down to science, … I just go in and do it. My job is to make beats and make something hot. When I go in, I catch a vibe. If the beat feels like it don’t make you move right, I scrap that and go to another track. Sometimes it takes 10 minutes, sometimes it takes an hour to get one done. I just keep spitting them out. I got all these artists, and we gotta get these albums out. If I don’t do beats, we don’t put no damn albums out. That’s my motivation right there.” – Lil Jon
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