From during The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars - 2017
BY DC CUEVA
■ @DC408Dxtr @ TW / IG / YT
We have featured a lot of well-known people from the entire pop culture spectrum hanging out with Team MTV in our ExtraTime bits, including recently by Tori getting to interview Nelly, Fat Joe, T-Pain and Ja Rule... and another member of hip-hop royalty is this weekend's first subject, and one we featured before when he was part of our look at how some of Team MTV spent Spring Break 2017 earlier this year in South Padre and in Mexico.
Twenty years ago, a man from Atlanta named Jonathan Smith decided that just being a nightclub DJ and working behind the scenes for a local record label wasn't enough, and adopted a stage name in Lil' Jon and formed a troupe called the East Side Boyz. Their first album released in 1997 with two singles that charted on the Billboard Rap/R&B Singles Chart, but it was in 2000 when Jon started his own label, BME Recordings, that saw a breakthrough album (We Still Crunk!) and single in "I Like Those Girls" that those in the South began to take notice.
A label deal with mid-major TVT followed a year later, and shortly thereafter a collaboration with fellow Atlantans Ying Yang Twins produced the track that made him a mainstream star: "Get Low." That single brought Jon to the Hot 100's top 10, followed by another star collaboration: teaming with Ludacris and Usher on "Lovers & Friends," and the guys collaborated again on Usher's "Yeah!" that brought all three to the masses. Another collabo, "Turn Down For What?!" with DJ Snake, also went top 10 as it became a massive hit as the genre he helped pioneer has become part of the current musical landscape. And E-40, Sean Paul, Ice Cube, LMFAO, Soulja Boy and R. Kelly have also partnered up with him too.
Lil' Jon's popularity has seen him appear two times on The Celebrity Apprentice which has seen him make the Final Four in both of them, and being given the nickname "Uncle Tom" by the one who is now the President. And it was after the Crunk King got his walking papers just short of the final on The All-Star Celebrity Apprentice in 2013 that Averey Tressler and Johnny Reilly from Real World Portland, both of whom were dating at the time, ran into him at the finale after party along with the likes of Stephen Baldwin, Dennis Rodman, Penn of Penn & Teller, winner Trace Adkins, and the lady who just got fired from the White House, season 1 star Omarosa. Averey tweeted in the Twitter photo caption to the right, "Not gonna lie. I feel f___ing cool!! #liljohn."
And not many hip-hop artists can let it be known that they're hockey fans in a genre where hoops and football are more popular, but Lil' Jon is one of them. He was an avid Atlanta Thrashers fan until their move up north in 2011 as the new Winnipeg Jets, and this season he has pledged his fandom to the NHL's newest franchise, the Vegas Golden Knights. The club instantly became a source of pride and comfort for a community that was still grieving in the wake of the 1 October tragedy by the time the team took to the ice for the first time that month, and the Knights' success at home at T-Mobile Arena has brought the city into the pro sports spotlight for the first time in a grand fashion.
Jon sported a Golden Knights shirt in the photo to your right, as he's become the latest high-profile celebrity to join that rapidly-growing list of those who are on Team Kailah. More than a week ago, she got the chance to hang out with him, with of course the help of her in-the-know boyfriend Mikey P., at one of the clubs there on the Vegas strip. And when you get to say that you've hung out with the Crunk King, half of the Jersey Shore guys, Kevin Hart and Floyd Mayweather, no doubt that is a very esteemed list.
And below is an Instagram video of Jon on stage at Spring Break 2017, shot by Real World and Challenge original Syrus Yarborough.
Twenty years ago, a man from Atlanta named Jonathan Smith decided that just being a nightclub DJ and working behind the scenes for a local record label wasn't enough, and adopted a stage name in Lil' Jon and formed a troupe called the East Side Boyz. Their first album released in 1997 with two singles that charted on the Billboard Rap/R&B Singles Chart, but it was in 2000 when Jon started his own label, BME Recordings, that saw a breakthrough album (We Still Crunk!) and single in "I Like Those Girls" that those in the South began to take notice.A label deal with mid-major TVT followed a year later, and shortly thereafter a collaboration with fellow Atlantans Ying Yang Twins produced the track that made him a mainstream star: "Get Low." That single brought Jon to the Hot 100's top 10, followed by another star collaboration: teaming with Ludacris and Usher on "Lovers & Friends," and the guys collaborated again on Usher's "Yeah!" that brought all three to the masses. Another collabo, "Turn Down For What?!" with DJ Snake, also went top 10 as it became a massive hit as the genre he helped pioneer has become part of the current musical landscape. And E-40, Sean Paul, Ice Cube, LMFAO, Soulja Boy and R. Kelly have also partnered up with him too.
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| Twitter @Ave_Tress |
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| Kailah's SnapChat |
Jon sported a Golden Knights shirt in the photo to your right, as he's become the latest high-profile celebrity to join that rapidly-growing list of those who are on Team Kailah. More than a week ago, she got the chance to hang out with him, with of course the help of her in-the-know boyfriend Mikey P., at one of the clubs there on the Vegas strip. And when you get to say that you've hung out with the Crunk King, half of the Jersey Shore guys, Kevin Hart and Floyd Mayweather, no doubt that is a very esteemed list.
And below is an Instagram video of Jon on stage at Spring Break 2017, shot by Real World and Challenge original Syrus Yarborough.
- I AM DC
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