The rapper, who went the name DJ Young Slade, was 27.

Cause of death revealed for Lil Jon’s son, Nathan Smith

The rapper, who went the name DJ Young Slade, was 27.

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

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February 27, 2026 4:47 p.m. ET

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Lil Jon and his son, DJ Young Slade, in 2016. Credit:

Chance Yeh/Getty

The official cause of death for Lil Jon's son, Nathan Smith, has been released.

Smith's death was attributed to "drowning in the setting of psilocybin use," according to the autopsy report from the Fulton County Medical Examiner in Atlanta obtained by **.

The manner of death for Smith, who was known in the music world as DJ Young Slade, was ruled an accident.

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Smith's body was recovered Feb. 6 from a pond in the vicinity of his residence near Mayfield Park in Milton, Ga.

The police department had been searching the area for several days after his disappearance.

Officials shared on social media on Feb. 3 that Smith "ran out of his home around 6 a.m. on Feb. 3, and has been missing since. [He] left on foot and does not possess his phone." They noted that he "may be disoriented and in need of assistance" and that "friends and family are concerned for his safety."

Lil Jon and son Nathan Smith in 2018.

Kevin Mazur/Getty

Before his body was found, a rep for Lil Jon told EW in a statement that the family was asking for privacy and prayers.

The Cherokee County Fire Department ultimately found Smith's body after the search was expanded to a larger area.

Lil Jon, whose name is Jonathan Smith, shared his son with his former wife, Nicole Smith, whom he married in 2004 and split with in 2022.

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The "Turn Down for What" rapper praised his late son as "an amazingly talented young man; a music producer, an artist and engineer, and graduate of NYU," following his death.

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

The Grammy-winning artist had explained that his son had been a musician since his pre-teen years.

"He started DJing at 11 years old," Lil Jon said in a 2023 interview with *The Big Podcast*, according to PEOPLE. "I put him in Scratch DJ Academy. He graduated at like 12 years old. He was the smallest thing in there in the graduation. Throughout his teenage years, he started DJing in clubs around L.A., and then he also started making music."

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