Lil Jon

In 2004, Lil Jon got married to Nicole Smith. The couple has a son named Nathan Smith who was born in 1998.

He is a huge fan of the famous television show ‘The Walking Dead’ and has also made appearances on ‘Talking Dead’ as a guest.

Lil Jon was born on January 17, 1971 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was raised in Georgia and graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta.

He began working as a DJ in Atlanta night clubs and also worked for So So Def Recordings between 1993 and 2000.

Jonathan Smith began his career by adopting his stage name Lil Jon. He formed the musical group Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz with rappers Big Sam and Lil Bo.

Atlanta based Mirror Image Records signed the group and their album was distributed by Ichiban Records. 1997 saw the debut of their album ‘Get Crunk, Who U Wit: Da Album’.

Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz included the singles ‘Who U Wit?’ and ‘Shawty Freak a Lil’ Sumthin’’ in their album, the latter song was released in 1998.

Both the singles were highly appreciated by their fans and also charted on the Billboard Hot R & B/ Hip-Hop songs at no. 70 and no. 62 respectively.

In 2000, Jon took the decision to start his own label, BME Recordings. Furthermore, he signed a distribution agreement with Norcross, Georgia-based Southern Music Distribution.

Along with singing, Lil Jon has produced many urban hit singles. He has also produced many hits when he was still with The East Side Boyz.

From 2003 to 2005, he produced hits such as ‘Salt Shaker’ by Ying Yang Twins, ‘Yeah’ by Usher, ‘Freek-a-Leak’ by Petey Pablo, ‘Shorty Wanna Ride’ by Young Buck, ‘Shake That Monkey’ by Too Short, and ‘Girlfriend’ by Brooke Valentine.

In 2006, he entered San Francisco Bay Area hyphy music scene in collaboration with Bay Area rapper E-40. In the same year, he produced a song for Ice Cube known as ‘Go to Church’.

In 2006, Jon decided to never work with TVT Records again alleging that TVT owner, Steve Gottlieb was deceiving him, but two years later withdrew his objection to TVT sale proceedings.

A rock music album ‘Crunk Rock’ was released on June 8, 2010. It featured many hit artists such as LMFAO, Soulja Boy, Ying Yang Twins, and others.