Lil Jon
Lil Jon is best known as a pioneer of the sub-genre of hip-hop known as "crunk" (a combination of elements of Bounce Music, Southern hip hop and bass music). His group, Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, is one of crunk's most notable acts.
In 2002, Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz released their breakthrough album "Kings of Crunk." The first single, "I Don't Give a Fuck" featuring Mystikal and Krayzie Bone became another dancefloor hit. However, it was "Get Low" with the Ying Yang Twins and its catchy hook that became a breakout hit. It reached the top five in a composite worldwide chart (compiled from U.S., German, French R&B charts) in 2003 and Internet download charts. It also went into the top 40 in markets such as Germany and Australia in 2004. Based on the success of "Get Low", Kings of Crunk reached the top twenty of the U.S. album chart in September 2003. Lil Jon put out a compilation CD and DVD in 2003 called "Part II" featuring remixes of Get Low featuring Busta Rhymes and Elephant Man as well as the Ying Yang Twins. Jon also produced the hit single "Salt Shaker" for the Ying Yang Twins.
In 2004, Lil Jon produced what would be his breakthrough, Usher's hit single "Yeah!." The track which featured Ludacris quickly skyrocket to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lil Jon also helped produce two other big hits of the year. One was for the new R&B artist Ciara, also out of Atlanta. "Goodies," her debut single, featured Petey Pablo and reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lil Jon also helped produce Petey Pablo's "Freek-A-Leek."
Lil Jon released his new album "Crunk Juice," which features contributions from proteges Lil Scrappy and Bo Hagon, mega-producer Rick Rubin, R. Kelly, Ice Cube, Timbaland, Usher, and Ludacris, and one of Lil Jon's punk heroes, Bad Brains.
His new album "Crunk Rock" will be released later this year.
Lil Jon's Custom Crunked NeKo from Open Labs
Artist Q&A
Q: How did you hear about Open Labs?
A: The first time I heard about the Miko was from Timbaland. And Polow told me about it, he preaches about this thing!
Q: So how are you using it?
A: I’m putting all my virtual synths in there. I’ve always been a big analog guy, got a lot of modules at my house. So we’re in the process of putting sounds from all those modules in it so they’re all in one place. Also, we’ve got Pro Tools in there. My engineer doesn’t have to do a bunch of other stuff, you know, everything is already in the machine and that's incredible. I've put all my drum sounds in there as well. I still use the MPC to program with but I put all the sounds in there, like my 808 sounds, which I can now play [in different tunings] with the keys. I really love it. The thing can do so much, every day you can find something new. I've got so many sounds, this just makes them so much easier to get to. I've got so many sounds that I was never able to use. Now we can finally use them all.
Q: Are you using MimiK?
A: Yeah, we like MimiK a lot. That's how we're able to get rid of all of the sound modules, just MimiK all the sounds into [MiKo] and keep it moving. This [MiKo] is the studio now ... this right here is the whole damn studio! Pro Tools, everything ... this is the studio. That's the best thing about it - everything is in this one unit.
Q: Right, no more stacks and stacks of racks, having to carry all that crap around ...
A: Yeah, I can run guitars and mics right into here, I can cut vocals right into it.
Q: What's coming up?
A: My next album, "Crunk Rock." We'll be using it on that.
Q: This [MiKo] will help you do it faster?
A: Definitely this will help me do it faster! And definitely you're gonna hear a step above what you've normally been hearing from me, as far as the quality of the music. There are so many sounds in the [MiKo], we're gonna step it up.
How Lil Jon uses his MiKo & NeKo
Equipment Used
Purchased MiKo LX (Gen3)
Purchased Custom NeKo LX (Gen3)
Artist Links