Lil Jon returns to HGTV with his hit renovation show, Lil Jon Wants To Do What? The Grammy-winning artist is back with acclaimed designer Anitra Mecadon to take skeptical homeowners out of their design comfort zones. This time, he and Mecadon promise bigger and bolder home transformations with his unique flair and her eye for design.
Turns out, Lil Jon’s journey from slinging records to slinging hammers all started due to his own housing catastrophe.
“I was living in California [at the time] but still have my home in Atlanta. One day, a pipe burst on the top level of my house. It flooded it for about a week, so we had to gut it and redo the inside of the house,” he said in an exclusive interview with Blavity’s Shadow and Act Unscripted.
While pondering what to do with his home, Lil Jon ran across Mecadon’s television show Mega D and liked her style. He reached out to have her work on his renovations and realized they had undeniable chemistry. The two began the groundwork for the series and landed a production deal with North South Productions that got the greenlight from HGTV.
The series premiered in 2021 and was a big hit, with over 12.7 million viewers during its freshman run. The 53-year-old musician attributes the show’s success to the limitless creativity he often displayed in his approach to music.
“It’s really just like music. I go into a space, and I let the vibe of the space talk to me,” he said. “We listen to the homeowners, feel their energy, look around and see what their style is and just let the ideas flow.”
While some of his “craziness” may not make it into every renovation, he insists there are “never any bad ideas” because they always “spark new ones.” Lil Jon’s world travels also inspire some of his design contributions.
“I’ve been all over the globe. I’ve been paying attention to more of what I see in the hotels or villas I might stay in or even some malls like Dubai. And those things are cataloged in the back of my head,” he said.
On Lil Jon Wants To Do What?, Mecadon’s understanding of budgets and construction logistics often harnesses Lil Jon’s tendency to “dream big” on projects. The outcome of their contrasting views is the perfect balance of style, functionality, and luxury. Lil Jon recalled some of his favorite renovations from this upcoming season, including bringing the flair of Vegas to one couple’s home with an actual club, bar and bowling alley as a final touch.
One highlight of the series is the variety of homeowners’ renovation budgets. While they range from high to low, Lil Jon knows not everyone has an extra $100,000 for upgrades. He suggests a mix of high- and low-end items for the best effect.
“You can get a lot of really cool things, like high-end companies or copies, from antique markets,” he said. “I love going to antique markets because you find vintage unique items and some cool craftsman items from people making the things themselves.”
As excited as the homeowners on the show are to get their homes renovated, having them completed by Lil Jon is the icing on the cake. And that’s not something he takes for granted.
“When we did the first season, nobody knew what I could do,” he said.
He added that the homeowners began to “trust him” more and more as the series progressed, and that trust made him want to make every job “bigger and bigger.”
After people get over the initial shock of seeing Lil Jon at the door, he claims the real work begins, saying “Our job as good designers is to show them what they need, even if they don’t realize it. It’s a spiritual thing, we feel and connect with the home and the homeowners.”
Check out a sneak peak of the new season of Lil Jon Wants to Do What? below:
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New episodes will air on HGTV and Max beginning Feb. 12 at 10 p.m. ET.
