About
Also known as: Cuervo Jones, J. Smith, Jonathan H. Smith, Jonathan “Lil Jon” Smith, Jonathan “Lil’ Jon” Smith, Lil’ John, Lil’ Jon, Cuervo Jones, J. Smith, Jonathan H. Smith, Jonathan “Lil Jon” Smith, Jonathan “Lil’ Jon” Smith, Lil’ John, Lil’ Jon
Few producers have left as deep a mark on hip hop as Lil Jon, the Atlanta native who essentially built crunk from the ground up. As the frontman of Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, he helped coin the very term "crunk" with their 1996 debut single "Who U Wit?", and spent the 2000s racking up credits on some of the decade's biggest hits, including Usher's "Yeah!", Ciara's "Goodies", and Ying Yang Twins' "Salt Shaker". That run on "Yeah!" earned him a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Performance. Then in 2013 he teamed up with DJ Snake for "Turn Down for What", a track that took on a life of its own, going 8x platinum and clearing a billion views on YouTube by 2020. It won the Billboard Music Award for Top Dance/Electronic Song and cemented Lil Jon as someone who could credibly straddle hip hop and EDM. He has eight number one singles on Billboard's Rhythmic chart to his name, a run that very few artists in any genre can claim.
