It was a quirky meme about Democratic vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, that became the most viral moment of the convention so far.
Walz fans online had 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 gave Ashley Spillane an idea.
“When the memes started about ‘From the window to the Waltz,’ I immediately reached out,” Spillane told DailyMail.com
Spillane was head of Rock the Vote a decade ago and worked with the Georgia-born rapper.
Ashley Spillane (left), former head of Rock the Vote, had the idea for Lil Jon’s (center) viral moment Tuesday when he performed for Georgia during the Democrats’ roll call vote. And Lil Jon’s publicist Tamar Judah (right) helped make it a reality.
They swapped the lyrics of Lil Jon’s “Turn Down For What” for “Turn Out For What” and shot a music video featuring actress and activist Sophia Bush – who is attending the convention in Chicago this week – and other politically active celebrities.
“Jon is such a special artist,” said Spillane, who now runs a social impact consulting firm. “He’s really open to creative ideas, he’s willing to do things like change the lyrics.”
With little time to plan, Spillane was able to reach out to Tamar Juda, Lil Jon’s publicist, to ask if he would be open to performing at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
She also had to make sure that a performance by Lil Jon was requested.
The answer was yes.
“It was a network of women who were just behind the scenes making things happen,” Spillane said.
“Colleen Loper from the White House loved the idea and put us in touch with Carla Frank from the campaign,” she continued. “And they made it happen, we made it happen.”
Lil Jon surprised attendees at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday when he showed up in the middle of the party’s mood and started performing Turn Down For What and Get Low
Ashley Spillane (center) and Lil Jon (right) work on the Rock the Vote ‘Turn Out For What’ music video in 2014
The small group of women kept the plan a secret so it would be a real surprise.
“He didn’t come to sound check last time,” Spillane explained.
Several DNC performers received a tip about their performances because they were in the convention hall earlier that day for a dress rehearsal.
It was initially clear what role Lil Jon would play in 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 role we were going to play, so for it to be a roll call from Georgia was really special,” she said.
Spillane ran for Lil Jon on the court at United Center.
“When people saw him on TV, I immediately got 57 messages saying, ‘This is you, right?’” she says.
Lil Jon sang Turn Down For What — and changed the lyrics again to ‘Turn Out for What.’
And speaking of Get Low, he also gave his appreciation to Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.
He replaced “To the windows – to the walls” with “VP Harris – Governor Walz!”