\n
MILTON, Ga. (AP) \u2014 A person believed to be the son of rapper Lil Jon has been found dead in a pond north of Atlanta, police said Friday.<\/p>\n
Nathan Smith, known professionally as D.J. Young Slade, left his home in Milton \u201cunder unusual circumstances\u201d early Tuesday morning, police said.<\/p>\n
Lil Jon said in a statement posted to his Instagram page that he and Smith\u2019s mother, Nicole Smith, are \u201cextremely heartbroken for the tragic loss of our son.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNathan was the kindest human being you would ever meet,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cHe was immensely caring, thoughtful, polite, passionate, and warmhearted \u2014 he loved his family and the friends in his life to the fullest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan Smith, 27, \u201cran out of his house and has been missing since,\u201d police said in a missing person poster they circulated on social media.<\/p>\n
He \u201cleft on foot and does not possess a phone,\u201d police said. \u201cHe may be disoriented and in need of assistance. Family and friends are concerned for his safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Milton police immediately began searching for Smith, police said. After being unable to locate him, police and other agencies expanded the search include a pond near Smith’s residence. Shortly before noon Friday, Cherokee County Fire Department divers found a body in the pond.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe individual is believed to be Nathan Smith, pending official confirmation by the Fulton County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office,\u201d police said in a statement. The medical examiner did not immediately respond to inquiries about the case on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on the investigation to date, there is no indication of foul play,\u201d police said. \u201cHowever, the Milton Police Department Criminal Investigations Division will continue to treat this as an open and active investigation.”<\/p>\n
Police said no further details would be released until the cause and manner of death are determined by the medical examiner.<\/p>\n
Milton is a suburban town about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Atlanta.<\/p>\n
Lil Jon, born Jonathan Smith, is an Atlanta rapper and producer who was a central figure in the crunk subgenre of hip-hop. He’s known for songs including 2002’s \u201cGet Low\u201d with his group the East Side Boyz and 2013’s \u201cTurn Down For What\u201d with DJ Snake.<\/p>\n
He also has a daughter, Nahara, who was born in 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILTON, Ga. (AP) \u2014 A person believed to be the son of rapper Lil Jon has been found dead in a pond north of Atlanta, police said Friday. Nathan Smith, known professionally as D.J. Young Slade, left his home in Milton \u201cunder unusual circumstances\u201d early Tuesday morning, police said. Lil Jon said in a statement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_daextam_enable_autolinks":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/e67bd5a9696bd79c9afdee2688b8279e.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}