Lil Jon reveals childhood eye injury behind his signature sunglasses
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The rapper says an accident at age 6 led to multiple surgeries, school bullying and a look that has become part of his identity.
Lil Jon’s sunglasses are a familiar part of his image, but the rapper says there is a painful reason he has worn them for so long. In his forthcoming memoir, he recalls injuring one of his eyes with an insulin syringe when he was 6 years old.
His mother, Carrie, had diabetes, and he had watched her give herself insulin injections. Curious about how air would feel against his eye, he picked up one of her syringes. Instead, he accidentally stabbed himself in the eyeball, he explained in an interview with PEOPLE.
Doctors diagnosed a traumatic cataract caused by the needle. The injury required several surgeries, including a corneal transplant. It also meant going to school with a metal eye patch, something that drew unwanted attention from classmates.
“I definitely was teased in school,” he said. He said the experience made him shy, but it also gave him a desire to prove people wrong.
The consequences followed him into adulthood. He developed a lazy eye because of the original injury and later underwent another operation. Even after that surgery, Lil Jon’s sunglasses remained a constant, eventually becoming one of his most recognizable trademarks.
Before the accident, he had started learning the drums and already loved music. He says being picked on pushed him to work harder, a mindset he carried into the music industry. Early in his career, he personally took records to clubs to get DJs to play them.
“I used that as fuel in my fire to excel,” he told People, describing how he responded to criticism.
He went on to help bring Atlanta’s crunk sound into the mainstream. His catalog includes “Get Low” and “Turn Down for What,” and he produced Usher’s Grammy-winning hit “Yeah!”
His account of the accident is among the personal stories in “I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me,” written with Paul Cantor. The memoir also explores his rise in music, personal struggles and the loss of his son, Nathan, earlier this year.
The book is scheduled for release on Oct. 20.