No, Lil Jon said in an interview conducted three days before Thanksgiving: Crunk is not dead.
“I’m still in the club. I still do Vegas. I’m doing a lot of live shows now. So it’s not (dead); it’s just evolving,” the Atlanta native and self-proclaimed “king of crunk” said.
“As hip-hop gets older, the people in hip-hop get older. You have to mature. You have to grow up,” he added. “We don’t think about that when we’re younger. But the older you get, and you have a family … you have to, you know, take care of all these different things in your life, and responsibilities hit. Life hits you, and all the things you deal with, you start thinking more about your health.”
The Atlanta native, born Jonathan Smith, has evolved over several decades from deejaying at Club 559 to music production and record company executive leadership, before becoming a world-famous rapper, entrepreneur and reality TV star.
Now Lil Jon wants you to get geeked up about gut health and to take preemptive action — with help from at-home colon cancer screening kit Cologuard — to address a life-threatening digestive illness that disproportionately affects Black men.
Credit: Courtesy of Colo
Credit: Courtesy of Colo
In an interview promoting his new partnership with Exact Sciences, the company behind Cologuard, Lil Jon explained that taking a turn toward a healthier and holistic lifestyle was not a choice to turn down (for which he still sees no reason).
“Colon cancer screening can be hard to prioritize for those 45-plus, so partnering with Lil Jon brings a fresh perspective that drives attention,” Jeremy Truxal, VP of screening marketing at Exact Sciences, said in a press release.
“We’re committed to making screening easier with the Cologuard test — a noninvasive, effective and convenient option for those eligible.”
Lil Jon agreed. “It was perfect timing. I’m already on a super, super health kick, mental and physical, and it’s it was something that I could help to get awareness out for,” he said.
“Someone like me saying, ‘Hey, you need to focus on your health,’ makes it like, ‘Maybe I need to check, if Lil John is saying that. Maybe I need to take this a little bit more serious because I know how he used to party and now he’s saying, you know, go take this Cologuard test.’”
“Get Low #2,″ an advertisement for Cologuard produced to mimic a parody music video for a new version of his 2003 song “Get Low,” was released today on YouTube. The song’s structure follows its original version, with a few modifications aimed at motivating adults 45 and older — many of whom were partying in the energetic rapper’s pop music heyday — to request a Cologuard kit or ask their doctor about the medical product.
Those familiar with the song will recognize lyrics like “Stop! Then wiggle with it!” The video shows Lil Jon reciting the words while dancing in a shiny bathrobe and pointing at a golden toilet.
The song’s hook, however, is remixed with new, intestinally concerned lyrics. The chorus begins with “3-6-9, damn it’s time / If you’re 45, screen with it! Get in line, get low …” and replaces one of Jon’s most infamous song lyrics with “let’s all screen-screen, middle-agers!”
While Lil Jon’s path to health consciousness may indeed be as gutsy as it seems, it’s not hard to see why Exact Sciences would hire a rapper, one who has become a household name among members of Generation X and millennials, to endorse one of its products.
Credit: GRAVITY WELL STUDIO
Credit: GRAVITY WELL STUDIO
Lil Jon has had a busy year, having performed as part of Usher’s Super Bowl halftime show in February and in August at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. He gained earlier notoriety in 2011 as a cast member of a celebrity season of Donald Trump’s former reality show, “The Apprentice,” and tours regularly as a performer and DJ.
Financial details of his Exact Sciences partnership were not disclosed yet, according to CNBC, the cancer diagnostics company has an $11.5 billion market capitalization. With $2.7 billion in revenue since a year ago, they could certainly write the kind of check to make celebrity rappers say “Yeah!”
The message, however, isn’t exactly off-trend for the entertainer, who turns 53 in January and has presented a calmer persona in recent years.
The “Snap Yo Fingers” emcee has lately adopted a lifestyle one can fairly describe as restorative, compared to the era when the louder-than-life rapper came to fame as frontman for the Atlanta-based group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz.
“That’s what also made it really cool for Exact Sciences and myself to partner up to do this, because it’s a song that has grown older with people,” he said of “Get Low.”
“It’s totally identified with that group of people who is the target demographic, who need to get checked out.”
Lil Jon’s musical catalog includes plenty of high-charting records, from early regional hits like “Bia Bia” and “Who U Wit?” to huge songs he produced for himself and others, including Usher’s “Yeah!,” “Goodies” by Ciara and “Blow the Whistle” by Too Short.
In the early aughts he could be seen regularly pitching the energy drink Crunk Juice, which for a time was displayed in music videos as a drink consumed from a gas canister, to encouraging listeners to drink “Shots” again and again.
Today, his website invites fans to sign up for “Wellness Wednesdays” emails, with promises they’ll receive personal affirmations, handpicked music and life-enhancing tips on a weekly basis. “Transform your mind, nourish your soul, turn in,” the website directs visitors.
Over the years the Douglass High School alumnus has partnered with other brands that lean into healthy living, including tour sponsorships with Zumba Fitness, a line of clothing made in conjunction with Peloton, and Natural Vitality, a company that makes wellness supplements. His company Soul Chakra also sells aromatic smudge sticks, yoga mats and quartz crystals online.
Lil Jon also released two guided meditation albums in 2024, starting with “Total Mediation” in February then “Manifest Abundance” in May. He joins a recent movement toward atmospheric music that includes fellow producers like Madlib, and recording acts representing Atlanta such as Andre 3000 and DJ Frank Ski.
Another way Lil Jon leans into health is through food. He said he limits his intake of fried foods and specifically avoids meals cooked with seed oils. “I really watch what I put it in my body. We think we can eat crab boils and chicken wings forever, and we cannot.”
Credit: GRAVITY WELL STUDIO
Credit: GRAVITY WELL STUDIO
According to recent data from the American Cancer Society, colon cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in America. Black Americans are reportedly 20% more likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer and 40% more likely to die from the disease compared to other groups.
Lil Jon said he began paying more attention to colon health after his first colonoscopy two years ago. He’s lost friends to the disease and said he’s become concerned with how the condition disproportionately affects people like him.
“Hip-hop is 50. We’re losing some of our greats way earlier than they should be gone,” he said, referencing DJ Clark Kent, who passed away from colon cancer in October, and Kangol Kid, a member of the pioneering hip-hop group UTFO who died from the disease three years ago at 55.
“I know people that have had colon cancer that passed away. So when you’re 45 and older, health things arise. We need to be more on top of our health so we can live long, fruitful lives.”
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