Lil Jon on 'Crunk Rock' and Hanging With Mick Jagger

It's easy to forget that it's been six long years since Lil Jon released an album of his own material. Just last year, the proprietor of Crunk Juice was pouring "Shots" with LMFAO, voicing a character in Freaknik! The Musical and begging Miley Cyrus fans to stop calling his cell after a mix-up at the telephone company. After years of sprinkling "Yeah!" and "What?" into other artists' hits, Lil Jon is finally back in the driver's seat with Crunk Rock — due in stores on June 8th after a series of epic delays — and the Atlanta rapper recently stopped by Rolling Stone to talk his new album, Jersey Shore and hanging with Mick Jagger at the club.

Crunk Rock was initially going to meld Lil Jon's love of crunk with rock & roll, but he ultimately decided to ditch the riffs and make a party album, drafting friends like 3OH!3, "Shots" cohorts LMFAO, R. Kelly, Pitbull and more to lend a hand. "You can't say, 'Lil Jon, all he does is crunk music.' I do everything!" he says. "I just make it crunk." Lil Jon calls the new single "Outta My Mind" with LMFAO the "crunkiest" track on the album, and says he recorded a track for the upcoming Jersey Shore soundtrack. "Me and Pauly D is cool," Lil Jon says of the spiky-haired party animal, adding that he provided Pauly with an exclusive "Outta My Mind" remix.

If Crunk Rock hadn't deviated from rock, Lil Jon tells RS he had his eyes on one fairly unattainable sample: the Rolling Stones' "Miss You." In fact, one night when Lil Jon was DJing at the club, Mick Jagger showed up. Watch him tell the tale in the video up top.

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Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”

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