One thing about Lil Jon is that he knows how to keep the crowd going wild, which is why we would have loved the chance to see his entire halftime show. Unfortunately for football and Lil Jon fans at home, NBC seemed to cut off the whole performance, with the exception of a few seconds of “Turn Down for What”. Based on the 15 seconds available on television, it was a great show. But did I really power through a food coma for that?
“Pretty weak of the @NFL to show both the Jack White and Post Malone halftimes in full, but only a 10 second clip of the Lil Jon halftime show,” one X user wrote. “Why even mention it at that point?” Another user commented about the broadcast’s halftime show announcement.
For whatever it’s worth, someone in the stadium who actually laid eyes on Lil Jon’s halftime show approved. “I can’t lie, of all the halftime concerts we’ve seen in The Perch that was by far the best one. Lil Jon just rejuvenated M&T Bank,” one commenter wrote.
At Least We Got to See Him Earlier?
The somewhat disappointing halftime show (from a TV viewer’s perspective, anyway) comes on the heels of a jam-packed Thanksgiving for the Crunk legend. Earlier today, he performed at the 99th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in a particularly star-studded Y2K celebration. So, you know, I guess we got that.
In addition to Lil Jon and his “Turn Down for What” performance, Shaggy made his way to the Big Turkey Spectacular. Ciara performed “Low” for the Colossal Wave of Wonder. Meanwhile, Busta Rhymes performed a whole medley of hits in his catalog for the World of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He dazzled with records like “Pass the Courvoisier Part II”, “Break Ya Neck”, “Look at Me Now”, and “Put Ya Hands Where My Eyes Could See”.
Lil Jon Gets Crunk at Ravens/Bengals HalfTime Show
Ironically, Lil Jon spoke with Billboard last month about how modern streaming and media services have dramatically changed the musical landscape. That includes the slow erasure of the ‘song of the summer.’ The rapper lamented how the concept seems like a relic from a bygone era. No one indulges in the community of a hit song, where everyone is hearing the same record at the same time. People tuck themselves away in their playlists and curate their own experiences.
Back in October, Lil Jon said, “The thing that got the most talk was Kendrick, really. The hype around music is not like it used to be. I saw debates about, ‘There’s no song of the summer,’” Lil Jon muses.
“When ‘Turn Down for What’ came out, that was one of the songs of the year, not just the summer, and there hasn’t really been something that’s crossed all the different lanes. It’s just that songs are big in their particular area, and it just hasn’t been everywhere like it used to be,” Lil Jon continues.
“I think also, people are streaming and not listening to the radio. Back in the day, you’d listen to the radio, and that’s how you’d know what the song of the summer was because everyone was bumping it in their car on the radio! The radio dictated a lot of what was hot. Radio isn’t where it used to be because there are other ways of listening to music.”
The post While Lil Jon “Turned Down for What” at Bengals-Ravens Halftime Show, the Rest of Us Were Asking… What? appeared first on VICE.
