I said, describe Lil' Jon here.
HOO-WHAT?!?!
Describe Lil' Jon here!
OHH-KAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!
The Trope Codifier for "Crunk" Hip-Hop, Lil' Jon (real name Jonathan Smith, born January 17, 1971) is the Large Ham of the hip-hop world. He got his start with The East Side Boyz, largely defining what Crunk was and what it could be, before making his big "break" with Kings of Crunk. From then on, he largely gained his memetic style as a guest feature and hype man on other artist's tracks, gaining almost legendary status with how much manic energy he can bring to a track. As the 2000's rolled on, he began to make a transition away from Crunk towards Trap Music, though with his prolific nature, he's bounced around throughout.
He has had several hits, most notably "Get Low", "Turn Down for What" and his memorable appearance on Usher's "Yeah!".
Tropes that apply to Lil Jon:
- Big "WHAT?!": One of his trademarks, famously spoofed by Chappelle's Show.
- Big "YES!": "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-UUUUUUUHHHHH!!!!!"
- Big Word Shout: "OOOOHHHHHHH-KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!" Every word he uses he shouts.
- Body Horror: A mild version in the video for "Turn Down For What", where people's body parts seem to be dictating their owners' dancing - and it's infectious.
- Catchphrase:
- YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-UUUUUUUHHHHHHHH on practically every song he's ever been on, ever. Though, some of his earlier songs
aren't much like what people expect from him today. - Todd in the Shadows even speculated on a Lil Jon appearance in a ballet ("YEAH SWAN LAKE")
- YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-UUUUUUUHHHHHHHH on practically every song he's ever been on, ever. Though, some of his earlier songs
- Bowdlerisation: Many of the clean versions of his songs sound like instrumentals. However, he does switch up his lyrics every now and then for the edits.
- Cluster F-Bomb: His song "Real N**** Roll Call" is said to contain more swear words than any other single ever released, and its chorus contains more words that had to be removed in the clean version than words that were allowed to stay.
- Destructo-Nookie: The "Turn Down for What" music video is about using bodies and people's moving private parts to destroy an entire building while partying in it.
- Fanservice: The "Turn Down for What" music video treats us to a brief glimpse of Sunita Mani in her underwear.
- Groin Attack: Hilariously inverted in "Turn Down for What"; not only is the Destructo-Nookie in full effect but the woman at the beginning of the video repeatedly tries this on the guy who literally crashed her apartment only to have it epically no-selled each time.
- Hidden Depths: According to his Reddit AMA, he likes green tea, his favorite book is The Art of War, and if he hadn't gone into music he would've become a psychiatrist.
- Large Ham: Quite possibly the largest ham in rap. He yells loudly virtually every song.
- Lyrical Tic: "YAA-EE-AAH!", "OKAY!", and "WHAT!"
- No Indoor Voice: Dare we say a Trope Codifier for hip-hop?
- Hell, even his reddit AMA was answered completely in ALLCAPS.
- Hell, even his reddit AMA
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Safe to say, almost every song he's involved with.
- Rap Metal: "Stop Fuckin' Wit Me".
- Sampling: "Stop Fuckin' Wit Me" was put together by Rick Rubin entirely with guitar riffs from Slayer recordings that Rubin produced.
- Sequel Song: Worked with Chris Rock on Rock's album Never Scared for "Get Lower".
- Trope Codifier: For crunk. He wasn't the sole Ur-Example (as Three 6 Mafia was transforming into a recognizably crunk-based sound around the same time that Get Crunk, Who U Wit: Da Album was released), but he most certainly was responsible for fine-tuning the style into its most recognizable format.
