Lil Jon Makes Surprise Appearance During Normally Boring DNC Roll Call to Represent Georgia

An impromptu rap concert broke out during the ceremonial roll call vote at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday evening, when rapper Lil Jon made a surprise appearance to represent Georgia.

Lil Jon, whose real name is Jonathan H. Smith, was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, getting his start as a DJ at downtown Atlanta clubs and as a radio personality on local radio stations.

The Democrats are gathering at the United Center in Chicago this week to officially name Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the presidential and vice-presidential nominees, respectively, and Tuesday’s program included the traditional alphabetical reading of all the states and territories to cast the delegates’ votes.

It’s normally a fairly predictable bit of television; Harris and Walz already officially secured the votes via a virtual election process earlier this month. Usually viewers can expect to see the party’s best-known elected officials from various states, a lot of delegates wearing festive hats and accessories to represent their home state culture, and a lot of party chairs shouting into microphones how PROUD they are to represent the GREAT STATE of wherever (or commonwealth for you Pennsylvanians, etc. out there).

DNC organizers decided to turn the routine roll call into a “celebration,” reported the Chicago Sun-Times, by featuring a DJ and “surprise guests.” The DJ was revealed to be DJ Cassidy shortly before the roll call began, according to Page Six, and he was tasked with helping to curate a song list relevant for each state.

After Florida cast its votes — accompanied by Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down” — Georgia was up next.

“Georgia, how do you cast your votes?” said DJ Cassidy.

The music then switched to ‘Turn Down for What” as Lil Jon yelled out his trademark “Yeahhhhhh!” from the top of the stairs, and then descended singing along with his 2013 hit.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are here tonight to officially nominate Kamala Harris for President!” he called out, before going back to the song lyrics as he made his way to the Georgia delegation.

After leading the crowd in chants of “We’re not going back,” he switched to “Get Low” — changing the lyrics to “VP Harris! Governor Walz!” instead of the less-than-radio-friendly words of the original version.

Rep. Nikema Williams (D-GA), the state party chairwoman, then had the mic and cast Georgia’s votes for Harris.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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