Lil Jon recalls learning man who raised him isn’t his biological father

Raechal ShewfeltTue, October 20, 2026 at 5:26 AM UTC

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Lil Jon in MarchCredit: Matt Winkelmeyer/GettyKey Points -

Lil Jon learned as an adult that the man he thought was his father is not his biological parent.

The rapper writes about the experience in his new memoir, I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me.

The musician told PEOPLE how he learned the truth about his late parents.

Lil Jon’s new memoir I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me includes his realization that the man who was his dad all his life isn’t his birth father.

It happened when a cousin took a DNA test.

”He shared his map with me,” Lil Jon, whose name is Jonathan Smith, told PEOPLE. “We weren’t matching for some reason.”

The 55-year-old Grammy winner was, of course, floored.

“You never think that will happen to you,” he said. “And when it happens to you, it just knocks you back, and you got so many questions.”

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“Neither one of my fathers are here anymore, nor my mother, so I can’t get answers,” the rapper said. “And that drives you crazy as well, until you get to the point where you have to accept that you will never get answers.”

His mother, Carrie, died in 2013 following a stroke caused by diabetes.

Willie, the man he knew as his father, died in the early 2000s, from bone marrow cancer.

Lil Jon noted that the man he knew as his dad died before his success as an artist, but he thinks he would have been “so proud” of him.

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Lil Jon’s mom was “so happy” to see it, her son said.

Since learning the truth behind his paternity, other family members have tried to contact him.

“I have had my brother and sister reach out on my biological dad’s side,” he said, “but I haven’t been ready to process that yet and have that conversation, because it’s just so heavy, man.”

He said he expects it to take time.

‘I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me’ by Lil JonCredit: Atria/Black Privilege Publishing

The musician has been a father himself since 1998.

His 27-year-old son, Nathan Smith. who performed under the name DJ Young Slade, drowned in February. Nathan’s mom was Lil Jon’s ex Nicole Smith.

“His mother and I are devastated,” Lil Jon said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly. “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.”

The “Turn Down for What” rapper and girlfriend Jamila Sozahdah welcomed daughter Nahara in November 2024.

I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me is available in bookstores Oct. 20.

on Entertainment Weekly

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”