It was a quirky meme about the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, that became the most viral moment of the convention so far.
Walz fans online changed the lyrics of rapper Lil Jon’s classic song Get Low from “To the window, to the wall” to “To the window, to the Walz.”
That put an idea in Ashley Spillane’s head.
“When the memes about ‘From the Window to the Waltz’ started, I reached out immediately,” Spillane told DailyMail.com
Spillane was the director of Rock the Vote a decade ago and had partnered with the Georgia-born rapper at the time.
Ashley Spillane (left), former director of Rock the Vote, was the mastermind behind Lil Jon’s (center) viral moment on Tuesday, when he performed for Georgia during the Democratic roll call. Lil Jon’s publicist, Tamar Juda (right), also helped implement the plan.
They had changed the lyrics of Lil Jon’s “Turn Down For What” to “Turn Out For What” and filmed a music video alongside actress and activist Sophia Bush (who is at the convention in Chicago this week) and other politically active celebrities.
“Jon is a very special artist,” said Spillane, who now runs a social impact consultancy. “He’s very open to creative ideas, he’s willing to do things like change lyrics.”
With very little time to plan, Spillane was able to get in touch with Lil Jon’s publicist, Tamar Juda, to see if he would be willing to perform at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
He also had to make sure that Lil Jon’s performance was desired.
The answer was yes.
“It was a network of women who were just doing things behind the scenes,” Spillane said.
“I spoke to someone at the White House who said, ‘Oh my God, I love this idea.’ And they put us in touch with someone from the campaign,” he continued. “And they made it happen, we made it happen.”
Lil Jon surprised attendees at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday when he appeared in the middle of the party’s roll call and began performing “Turn Down For What” and “Get Low.”
Ashley Spillane (center) and Lil Jon (right) working on Rock the Vote’s ‘Turn Out For What’ music video in 2014
The small group of women kept the plan quiet so that it would be a real surprise.
“He didn’t go to soundcheck the other day,” Spillane explained.
Several DNC artists’ performances were tipped off because they came to the convention hall for a dress rehearsal earlier in the day.
At first it was clear where Lil Jon would fit into the program, but then the Democrats decided to hold a musical roll call vote.
The rapper would represent his home state of Georgia.
“We didn’t know what part we were going to end up doing, so having it be on the Georgia roster was very special,” she said.
Spillane walked in front of Lil Jon at the United Center arena.
“Immediately when people saw it on TV, I got like 57 messages saying, ‘This is you, right?'” she said.
Lil Jon performed Turn Down For What and again changed the lyrics to ‘Turn Out for What’.
As for Get Low, he also gave some love to Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
Replaced, ‘To the windows – the walls’ with ‘VP Harris – Governor Walz!’