Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971), better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper and record producer. Regarded as a progenitor of the club-oriented hip-hop subgenre crunk, his production and voice presence were instrumental in the genre's commercial breakthrough in the early 2000s. He was also the frontman of the group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, with whom he has released five albums.
Having been credited on most crunk releases throughout the 2000s, Lil Jon produced several of the genre's Billboard Hot 100 hits including "Salt Shaker" by Ying Yang Twins, "Cyclone" by Baby Bash, "Damn!" by YoungBloodZ, "Freek-a-Leek" by Petey Pablo, "Goodies" by Ciara, and "Yeah!" by Usher. The latter won Lil Jon a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Performance as part of his five Grammy Award nominations. As a lead artist, three of his own singles—"Lovers and Friends" (with the East Side Boyz featuring Usher and Ludacris), "Get Low" (with the East Side Boyz featuring Ying Yang Twins), and "Snap Yo Fingers" (featuring E-40 and Sean P)—peaked within the chart's top ten. His debut studio album, Crunk Rock (2010), was met with lukewarm critical and commercial response.
In 2013, Lil Jon released "Turn Down for What" (with DJ Snake), an EDM single that has been certified 8× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song went on to win the Billboard Music Award for Top Dance/Electronic Song. Its accompanying music video was nominated for Best Music Video at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, and passed the milestone of 1 billion views on YouTube in 2020. Listed as one of the Top Billboard Music Award Winners of All Time in 2016, Lil Jon has amassed his eight number one singles on Billboard's Rhythmic chart.
