Mike Jones

Known best for his role in creating and popularizing the southern movement and lifestyle known as Crunk, Lil Jon delivered a string of region hits (in the 90's) with the East Side Boyz eventually becoming a national force in 2001 thanks to the tracks "Bia Bia" and "Put Yo Hood Up." Crunk became so popular that Jon became a fixture on Chappelle's Show and artists not directly connected to him (such as Mary J. Blige) began using the word Crunk in their own music. Jon helped usher the word 'Crunk' not only a national scale, but worldwide. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary added the word into their book in 2007. His consistent hitmaking has earned him legions of fans from Los Angeles to New York to the Midwest and of course his native region, the South. This is no more evident as Lil Jon won BMI's Songwriter of the Year award as well as scored eight Billboard Awards, a Grammy, a Radio Music Award, a BET award, two MTV Video Music Awards and an American Music Award.