American rapper Lil Jon has shared a heartbreaking update about his 27-year-old son, Nathan Smith, professionally known as DJ Young Slade. He had been first reported to have been missing on Tuesday, February 3, 2026 and was found dead close to his home on Friday, February 6, 2026.
Nathan Smith aka DJ Young Slade had been missing for three days without being found dead. The Milton Police Department had launched a search and eventually a body was recovered from a pond near Nathan's residence. The police confirmed that it was indeed Lil Jon's 27-year-old son's body.
Lil Jon, born Jonathan H. Smith, took to his social media to share the devastating update with his followers. He wrote, "I am extremely heartbroken for the tragic loss of our son, Nathan Smith. His mother [Nicole Smith] and I are devastated".
The 55-year-old rapper continued, "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. He was an amazingly talented young man; a music producer, an artist and engineer, and graduate of NYU".
Before thanking the Milton Police Department and everyone who stood by them in the last few days, Jon said, "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".
The rapper later shared a video montage from when Nathan Smith was a baby and captioned the post, "THIS HURTS SO BAD. 💔 I LOVE YOU SON". Friends and fans of the artiste poured their condolences in the comments.
Investigations are still underway but preliminary reports do not suspect any kind of foul play despite the police determining that Nathan had left his house "under unusual circumstances".
Following the recovery of the body, the police released a statement confirming the news of Nathan's demise. "After being unable to locate Mr. Smith during that time, teams expanded the search to include a pond in Mayfield Park near Smith's Milton residence. 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".
Nathan Smith was born to Lil Jon and his wife Nicole Smith in 1998.
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