On today’s episode of “Tamron Hall,” Rap royalty Lil Jon and producer Luther Campbell, aka the legendary Uncle Luke dish all the behind the scenes details of the cultural phenomenon of Freaknik and chat about the highly anticipated Hulu documentary on the event, “Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told!” Lil Jon, Uncle Luke and producer of the film Nikki Byles opened up about the inspiration for the documentary and why they believe a modern day Freaknik, as it once was, could never happen again. Uncle Luke also joked about setting the record straight on who invented twerking, or as he knows it “booty shaking,” and shared his views on censorship in Rap music.
Plus, Uncle Luke teases his upcoming collaboration with Yung Miami. Lastly, Lil Jon opened up about his health journey that led him to releasing his new album of guided meditations, titled “Total Meditation.” Lil Jon shared about how a friend’s triple bypass as he approached 50 inspired him to adjust his lifestyle and inspired him to slow down. See more inside and video clip, I will be attending the pre-screening of the documentary Freaknik tomorrow, so please be sure to check back!
Uncle Luke, Lil Jon and Nikki Byles say Hulu’s “Freaknik” documentary highlights black joy
Tamron asks if they think they could do Freaknik as it was, today to which Uncle Luke responds, “No, you couldn’t do it.” And Lil Jon agrees saying, “No! No. Because it’s a street party. It’s not about the clubs. The clubs was cracking too because Luke used to do some crazy parties. But it was all about the party anywhere and everywhere in the city. Some of y’all went to Freaknik!”
Tamron then asks what the goal of the documentary is to which Nikki Biles responds, “It is just to show Black joy. It’s just to show a time where everyone got together and was able to have fun and not worry about anything. That’s it!”
Uncle Luke sets the record straight on “twerking:”
Responding to Tamron noting,“You said something to the effect of, Twerking did not start with Drake” Uncle Luke responded, “No it did not! It did not. Just so y’all know! Old school started that. I mean Drake is a good friend of mine. I love him to death.”
Uncle Luke shares his views on censorship in Rap music:
“You know, I have a problem with that and that was the same thing that was happening with me. You know, I actually went to jail for singing an obscene record…It was overnight [his jail stint]… When the judge deemed our album obscene, you know, Federal Judge Gonzalez, I went right down the street and said, ‘Look, we’re gonna perform the song.’ And we performed it and went to jail and when I see the things that’s happening today, it’s a similarity. You know, you can’t take Hip Hop lyrics, in my opinion, and use them against young people because half of the people that are singing Hip Hop lyrics, they really ain’t lived that life. They’re just telling a story of somebody who really lived that life.”
Uncle Luke on the craziness that will be revealed in the “Freaknik” documentary:
“Yes – people should [be afraid]. If you didn’t know who your daddy was and your mama went to Freaknik, you might see your daddy in there [the documentary]”
Uncle Luke gives backstory on new collaboration with Yung Miami:
“Oh man. What’s going on? We went to the studio over the weekend. You know she called me up, her and a couple of the producers and we sat down and kicked out a song… You gotta hear it. I mean it’s good. It’s incredible because it’s hard to get me in the studio. It’s really hard…Let me tell you a little story behind her[Yung Miami]. Her son’s father died and he played football for me. You know what I am saying? So it was real emotional for me to go in for her.”
Lil Jon Opens Up About the Scary Reality That Inspired His Meditation Album & Health Journey
“I’ve been on a health journey for about maybe 10 or 15 years. What started my health journey was, I knew a guy, he was my driver in LA, and one day I found out he had a triple bypass and he was like 10 years younger than me. So that kind of shocked me and made me say, ‘You know what, I need to get healthy. Because the older I get, the harder it’s going to be to reverse those effects.’ So I started a health journey and then when I turned 50… Everybody needs some peace. Everybody needs to relieve the stress of life and we all have some kind of anxiety. So I kind of put this album together like I was going through a lot of changes when I turned 50 and reflecting on life and going through some other stuff and it just — I needed something to help me, to calm me… You know, I can be more at peace and to not stress about it. It’s going to be okay.”
DISNEY ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION/Jeff Neira
