NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 04: Lil Jon, Nicole Smith and Nathan Smith attends the Pencils Of Promise 2019 Gala at Cipriani Wall Street on November 04, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)

Lil Jon’s son, Nathan Smith, went missing on February 3 and was then found by a pond near his house on February 6.

Lil Jon’s 27-year-old son, Nathan Smith tragically passed away earlier this month on February 6. These weeks without him have been incredibly hard on the family as they have expressed heartbreak and great sadness.

Today, things probably won’t be easier as they now know Nathan’s cause of death. According to Billboard, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office revealed to them that he drowned. Specifically, the medical examiner said it was a result of a “drowning in the setting of psilocybin use.”

For those not versed, psilocybin in layman’s terms are magic mushrooms. It’s a chemical in some types of mushrooms that “can cause people to experience distorted sights and sounds and lose their sense of time and space.” That information comes from the National Institutes of Health.

It’s a bit of a divisive chemical compound, though. The NIH also states that the National Institute of Drug Abuse, for example, is one of several of the federal agency’s partners that also supports research into if psilocybin has the possibility to treat substance abuse and mental health issues.

On February 19, Lil Jon shared that him and family laid Nathan to rest on the first day of Ramadan (Feb. 18).

Who Was Lil Jon’s Son?

Alongside a touching tribute video posted to Instagram, the crunk pioneer wrote, “On the first day of Ramadan yesterday, we laid my only son to rest. In this holy month, I’m asking for extra du’a (prayers) for him and for our family. Please pray that Allah grants him Jannah (heaven) and grants us sabr (perseverance), mercy, and strength. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un. I love you, son. Life will never be the same without you. Allah, give me strength,” he wrote in part.

On top of Nathan Smith being what Jon described as “immensely caring, thoughtful, polite, passionate, and warmhearted” person, he was also a musician like his pops. He went by DJ Young Slade and was an NYU graduate. He released one song during his time on Earth called “Move Thru Fire,” which Lil Jon used to score the heartbreaking aforementioned tribute video.

Nathan was the son of Lil Jon and his ex-wife Nicole Smith, whom he split from in 2022 after 18 years of marriage.