--- title: Lil Jon Gives Talk at Oxford University on Obama, Race and Music description: His appearance earned the hashtag #TurnDownForOx canonical: https://time.com/3855356/lil-jon-gives-talk-at-oxford-university/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-12T16:45:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:19:41.270Z og:title: Lil Jon Gives Talk at Oxford University og:description: #TurnDownForOx og:url: https://time.com/3855356/lil-jon-gives-talk-at-oxford-university/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04ef4a761ac72613/6987ef698e060130cc45e92e/lil-john.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The PANDORA GRAMMY After Party Featuring Lil Jon Brought To You By TMobile og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lil Jon Gives Talk at Oxford University twitter:description: #TurnDownForOx twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04ef4a761ac72613/6987ef698e060130cc45e92e/lil-john.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lil Jon Gives Talk at Oxford University by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 12, 2015 4:45 PM UTC  Rapper Lil Jon arrives for the PANDORA GRAMMY after party featuring Lil Jon in Hollywood, on Feb 8, 2015 Rapper Lil Jon arrives for the PANDORA GRAMMY after party featuring Lil Jon in Hollywood, on Feb 8, 2015Rapper Lil Jon arrives for the PANDORA GRAMMY after party featuring Lil Jon in Hollywood, on Feb 8, 2015 by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 12, 2015 4:45 PM UTC While noted college drop-out Kanye West was making headlines for [collecting](http://time.com/3854985/kanye-west-honorary-doctorate-acceptance-speech-saic/) an honorary doctorate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago this week — and Chance the Rapper was at Harvard the week before — rapper Lil Jon was busy lecturing at Oxford University. Wearing an Oxford appropriate v-neck sweater, the King of Crunk discussed such wide-ranging topics as his thoughts on President Obama’s administration, media relations, what he would be doing if he wasn’t a rapper (psychologist!), his initial reaction to be asked to speak to the Oxford Guild (he thought he was being catfished), and, perhaps most importantly, where his former backing band/steady sidekicks The Eastside Boyz are at, according [to _The Tab Oxford_ ](https://twitter.com/TheTabOxford)and [_The Independent_](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/lil-jon-addresses-oxford-union-on-us-race-relations-and-obamas-presidency-i-dont-man-thats-an-intense-question-10242002.html?dkdk). The “Turn Down for What” rapper had many thoughts on Obama’s presidency, comparing it to restoring old cars: “He put a new engine in it, he put some new rims, got a paint job.” Sadly, when it came to what the Eastside Boyz are up to, Lil Jon couldn’t provide any answers, saying instead, “I have no idea, dawg.” While the Atlanta-based artist didn’t take his guest lecture position as seriously as West did when he made a similar appearance at the British institution, it seems clear that Lil Jon had a lot more fun. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3855356/lil-jon-gives-talk-at-oxford-university/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3855356/lil-jon-gives-talk-at-oxford-university/"},"headline":"Lil Jon Gives Talk at Oxford University","datePublished":"2015-05-12T16:45:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:19:41.270Z","description":"His appearance earned the hashtag #TurnDownForOx","url":"https://time.com/3855356/lil-jon-gives-talk-at-oxford-university/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Education","Music","rap","Rappers"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04ef4a761ac72613/6987ef698e060130cc45e92e/lil-john.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04ef4a761ac72613/6987ef698e060130cc45e92e/lil-john.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The PANDORA GRAMMY After Party Featuring Lil Jon Brought To You By TMobile","caption":"Rapper Lil Jon arrives for the PANDORA GRAMMY after party featuring Lil Jon in Hollywood, on Feb 8, 2015","creditText":"Rapper Lil Jon arrives for the PANDORA GRAMMY after party featuring Lil Jon in Hollywood, on Feb 8, 2015","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3855356/lil-jon-gives-talk-at-oxford-university/","name":"Lil Jon Gives Talk at Oxford University"}}]}] ```