Lil Jon has opened up about the final exchange he shared with his only son before the 27-year-old’s death.
The rapper, 53, discloses the heartbreaking details in his new memoir “I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me,” revealing that Nathan Smith called him to say “I love you” in what would become their last conversation. The Atlanta producer told his son he loved him too, then pressed him once more to take better care of himself.
“I was always encouraging him to take care of himself,” Lil Jon writes in the memoir. “On the call, I leaned into him a bit. ‘I’m on you because I love you,’ I said. ‘I care about you. I want you to get better.'”
Smith, who performed as DJ Young Slade, pushed back gently. “I’m getting there,” he replied. “I’ve been going through a lot. I’m working through it. Give me some credit.”
The “Get Low” hitmaker sensed tension as they hung up. “It felt like something was left unsettled,” he writes. “He must have felt the same way, because at 12:48 a.m. Saturday morning, he sent me a message: ‘Love you dad, got so much love for you. I’m gonna try communicating better and stop letting fear hold me back.'”
Lil Jon texted back immediately. “I do care a lot. You are my only son, and I worry about you a lot. You are so talented and extremely smart. Nothing should be holding you back. I pray for the days you have no more discomfort and no more fear. Those days are coming. Love you.”
He then called Smith again to reinforce the point. “‘I see that you’re trying, and I want you to know that you are seen,'” Lil Jon recalls saying. “‘All the effort you’ve been putting in — I see it. And I see you.’ Little did I know that was the last time I would talk to him.”
The New York University graduate had been grappling with what his father described as “intense,” unexplained physical pain rooted in stress, trauma and anxiety. Smith was reported missing and found dead near his Georgia home on Feb. 6. His cause of death was later ruled “drowning in the setting of psilocybin use,” with the manner deemed accidental, per the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s report.
In the immediate aftermath, Lil Jon issued a statement. “I am extremely heartbroken for the tragic loss of our son, Nathan Smith. His mother [Nicole Smith] and I are devastated,” he said. “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.”
Two weeks after the death, on the first day of Ramadan, the family laid Smith to rest. Lil Jon announced the funeral via Instagram alongside a photo montage of his son’s life. “On the first day of Ramadan yesterday, We laid my only son to rest,” he wrote. “I love you, son. Life will never be the same without you. Allah, give me strength.”
The memoir marks the first time the Grammy winner has spoken at length about the loss. He admits he has not fully processed it. “I haven’t given myself time to grieve,” he shared in an exclusive excerpt.
The final father-son trip they took together was documented in an emotional video Lil Jon later shared, captioned “Love your people hard.”
The rapper has channeled his grief into creative output, with the memoir arriving as he continues his decades-long career spanning production, television and live performance.
