By Ellie Schoeffel
Lil Jon will bring his brand of Dirty South party rap to The Emporium in Patchogue on Saturday night.
The Atlanta native will get the crowd dancing to his long list of club favorites, including “Get Low” featuring the Ying Yang Twins and Grammy-nominated hit 2014 single “Turn Down for What,” for which he won an MTV Music Video Award with collaborator DJ Snake.
“The King of Crunk,” as the bejeweled rapper was dubbed, popularized his style of danceable, bass-heavy electronic hip hop.
The rapper, producer, songwriter and actor whose given name is Jonathan Smith got his start as a nightclub DJ who later formed Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz with rappers Big Sam and Lil Bo 20 years ago. He released his debut solo album Crunk Rock in 2010.
He twice competed on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice when the show was still hosted be President-elect Donald Trump, who hosted a campaign rally in April at the same venue where the rapper will perform this weekend. Lil Jon put the cut-throat business skills he learned on the show to work last year when he reportedly threatened to sue a Hamptons shop that was selling bedazzled flasks that said “Turn Down for What,” unless they agreed to share the sales profits.
During his DJ set, the chalice-carrying collaborative crunkster is likely to spin hits he produced—and lent backing vocals to—for other artists, such as LMFAO’s “Shots” and Usher’s “Yeah!” also featuring Ludacris, which won a Grammy Award in 2005 for best rap collaboration.
Will he tease any tracks from his forthcoming second solo album, Party Animal, which he’s reportedly been working on since 2011? Only one way to find out!
Lil Jon will be performing at The Emporium, 9 Railroad Ave. in Patchogue. For more information, visit theemporiumny.com Tickets are $25. Doors open at 10 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 14.
