Lil Jon confirms death of 27-year-old son after 3-day search: ‘I am devastated’

Lil Jon’s son Nathan Smith, who went by the name DJ Young Slade, has died at the age of 27.

Lil Jon confirmed the tragic news, telling TMZ: “I am extremely heartbroken for the tragic loss of our son, Nathan Smith. His mother, Nicole Smith, and I are devastated. Nathan was the kindest human being you would ever meet. He was immensely caring, thoughtful, polite, passionate, and warmhearted — he loved his family and the friends in his life to the fullest.”

Nathan was reported missing earlier this week, and on February 6, Milton Police said Cherokee County Fire Dept. personnel had pulled a body from a pond near Milton, 30 miles outside Atlanta, where they’d been searching for the young man.

“He was an amazingly talented young man; a music producer, an artist and engineer, and graduate of NYU,” Lil Jon – real name Jonathan Smith – continued. 

“We loved Nathan with all of our hearts and are incredibly proud of him. He was loved and appreciated, and in our last times together we’re comforted in knowing that we expressed that very sentiment to him.”

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Reports of his disappearance emerged on February 4 when the Milton Police Department put out a missing persons alert. The social media post alleged that Nathan was last seen at his home in Milton around 6am. 

The alert alleged that he had left his residence possibly naked and carrying no personal belongings.

“On February 6, 2026, at approximately 11:53 a.m., divers with the Cherokee County Fire Department located and recovered a body from the pond,” a Facebook post from Milton Police read. “The individual is believed to be Nathan Smith, pending official confirmation by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.”

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“However, the Milton Police Department Criminal Investigations Division will continue to treat this as an open and active investigation,” the post continued. “No further details will be released until the official cause and manner of death are determined by the Fulton County Medical Examiner and all investigative leads have been thoroughly examined.”

There is no indication of foul play.

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Lil Jon, 58, welcomed Nathan in 1998 with then-girlfriend Nicole. In 2004 he and Nicole married in Puerto Rico but they split, amicably, in 2022.

Nathan has been DJing since the age of 11, and in 2019 Lil Jon told HuffPo: “When my son graduated from DJ academy I teared-up to see him following in my footsteps.”

“He’s a really, really good kid,” said Lil Jon of Nathan, calling him “well-mannered and well-behaved.”

Nathan was a toddler when he gave his voice to his father’s 2000 singlle “Bia Bia” with the East Side Boyz.

He went on to appear in commercials and in 2008 decided to become a DJ, graduating in 2020 from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. 

He helped co-produce Saweetie’s 2021 song”Get It Girl” and collaborated with artists and groups like Ice Cube and Ying Yang Twins.