When the opportunity tointerview illustrious rapper, producer and 2008 Rites of Spring performer Lil Jon arose for the Versus staff, there was no discussion as to who would do theinterview - Editor in Chief Darcy Newell stole it before anyone else even had a chance. Now that the interview has come and gone, we think there's a budding friendship in the works between her and Lil Jon. Read on to hear about Lil Jon's drink of choice, the collaborations he's done in the past and why he has no pets on the road.

Versus Magazine: There has been a lot of anticipation and buzz going around about your new album "Crunk Rock," everyone is talking about everything from what it's going to sound like to who will be featured on it to when it will come out. Is the album name indicative of what we are going to hear? Willthere be rock/rap collaborations similar to the Trick Daddy/Ozzy Osbourne track"Let's Go"?

Lil Jon: Yeah, there's definitely going to be a lot more ofthat. I've been collaborating with a bunch of different cats, Rob Cavalo who produced Green Day; gonna work with Jonathan Davis (of) Korn; one of the guyswith POD, Marcus the guitar player, we did some tracks together that came out really hot; me and Chester are real cool from Linkin Park; hopefully, I can get him on the album too. I'm just going to collaborate and do some different things that haven't been done in the hip-hop world, really make some authentic mash-ups from the start. As well as still people my signature stuff, signature crunk stuff, signature party records for the girls.

VM: Did you always want to go into music? What did youlisten to growing up?

LJ: Man, I listened to everything as a kid. You havethe soul music from the '70s and disco and all of that, and then the '80s you had rap and hip-hop. I used to break dance, and then the mid-80s I started listening to a lot of punk, new wave, cause I skated. I have so much different influences, that's why my music sounds the way it does.

VM: Comedy seems to be a part of your music and your persona. What do you think of Dave Chapelle's routine "A Moment in the Life ofLil Jon"?

LJ: I think its really kind of like me, because I'mk ind of, you know, intelligent at times; you can't be an entrepreneur in today's world and not have some intelligence. I am the wild and crazy,out-there guy who's always screaming, but I am intelligent too.

VM: You are an artist that seems to be constantly collaborating with other musicians - how do these collaborations happen? Whatis the creative process like?

LJ: Really you just go in the studio and knock it out,or sometimes you send somebody the song, and they just send it back. There'svarious ways of doing it now; it just depends on you. Really how that person wants to work and how you want to work. The best way to do it is def to be in the studio with somebody and feed off their energy.

VM: What have been some of your most memorable collaborations in the past?

LJ: "Yeah" with Usher - we did the record, it was a hit,and we went out and partied that night. That's how a lot of my records are, we know it's a hit, and we go celebrate after we do it. Working with Ice Cube on my last album was def memorable because he was one of my idols, and I got to produce him. I did a couple records on his album, one of them was a single we did a video, me, him and Snoop. They both are classics - classic, old-school rappers. We did it in the West Coast, and that was amazing. There are just so many, I always have a good time in the studio with whoever.

VM: Can you define "crunk?" for us? How did it come about as a genre of music?

LJ: The word itself means energy. I look at crunk music as music that makes you get energized, get wild, get crazy. Most people think crazy and drunk - that's not what it means. You don't have to be drunk to becrunk! It just means to get hyper and have a lot of energy.

VM: Tell us about your Crunk cup - is it always with you? Do you have more than one? What do you normally drink out of it?

LJ: I have about eight to 10 of them, I used to keep it all the time but that thing be getting heavy, and I get too drunk when I'm sipping out of it because I always keep it half full, it's like the neverending cup.

Greygoose and Crunk, which is crunk juice!

VM: Whose albums are you working on now? What new artists should we be looking out for?

LJ: Well I got my new artist right now Shawty Putt. He'sgot a big record on YouTube - it's got over 700,000 plays - called "Dat Baby." It's like the Maury Povich anthem, they're calling it that. Anybody reading this article needs to check it out, it's an incredible video, hilarious. I'mabout to go in with Ciara, about to do some work with Monica. I've got my cartoon on the Internet; it's called ATown, we've got two episodes released to the Internet, we're talking to a major cartoon network that's interested in the show.

VM: What's your favorite color?

LJ: Red, I'm from Atlanta you know, the Atlanta Falcons,so we grew up red, red, red.

VM: If you could eat one food for the rest of your life what would it be?

LJ: One food for the rest of my life? That's it? I like fish a lot.

VM: Do you have any pets?

LJ: No damn pets; I can barely take care of myself.

Recorded by Darcy Newell, Compiled by Chris Thompson