Lil Jon Speaks on Album, Other Ventures

The King of Crunk, Lil Jon, has be relatively quiet for four years, as he hasn't put out an album in that entire time. Since then, his recording home TVT has almost financially collapsed. Still, Lil Jon is in no rush to put anything out.

"Of course you're gonna miss being on that stage, having that record out," said Lil Jon, to MTV News. "But I'm on the Pitbull record ['The Anthem'], which is all over the clubs crazy. I'm on the Felli Fel record ['Buck in Here'], which is crazy all over the clubs. If you go in any club, you're gonna hear my old records. Plus [DJs] take samples of my voice and put it on all them mash-ups. I really ain't never went nowhere."

Jon, who has kept busy DJing in clubs, has yet to release his highly anticipated Crunk Rock. Aiding this delay were legal issues with TVT over money, but Jon remains determined to release his crunk and rock and roll project.

"I wanted to just give them what I set out to," he said. "People are expecting one thing from me, and I don't want to change the perception of what they are expecting. I didn't want to come out with no regular shit, because my last two albums did 2.5 million copies. I wanna still bust them in the head and give them something incredible. Music now ... it's just not fresh. I want my shit to be fresh like in the '80s, when you was waiting on that new Nice & Smooth album. Or that new De La Soul album. I wanna have people hear these songs and be like, 'This is not that same old bullsh--. It's not just two singles, and the rest is trash.' "

Aside from readying his studio album, Lil Jon has been getting calls to work with Flo Rida and Pharrell Williams, as well as finishing producing E-40's new album.

"It's gonna be another record to just totally showcase the Bay Area, the culture," said Jon of E-40's upcoming album. "We expect it to be #1. You have to always take care of your core fans. When it gets out there and people see the video, people are gonna be like, 'Oh, shit, this is some other shit again. This is another part of what they told us in "Tell Me When to Go." ' We take care of the core market, then you'll see another single a couple months after that."

In addition to working on music, Lil Jon has also developed a rapport with several extreme athletes: Pro surfer Travis Mellem, skateboarders Greg Lutzka and Ryan Sheckler and snowboarders Danny Kass and Dingo.

"Me and the guys, some of us been cool for three or five years," Jon said. "We would see each other at different events. ... I used to skate in the late '80s. I always wanted to surf. I always wanted to get into skating.

"I just think that it feels better if we were all together," he added. "I don't want anything to be segregated. We all do our own thing but have one common goal to have fun in life and be happy. We got one common goal, we should be one crew. That's why we decided to bring all of us together. All my cats are top athletes, but they my homeboys too. We all support each other and really hang out. They are a part of the BME Click, and we have apparel that's hitting the market. We have a snowboarding glove that's hitting the market. We have the T-shirts and sweatshirts coming out. It's a lifestyle. Whatever you do, it's about having fun."