Lil Jon is finally being heard.
In his new memoir "I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me" (out now, Atria/Black Privilege Publishing), the rapper and producer opens up about musical rise in Atlanta, starting as a DJ and A&R guy before releasing a bevy of hits and how his party persona made him a globally recognized icon.
The man who took over the South before launching crunk music, embracing EDM early and producing the soundtrack for a generation of celebrations, is looking toward his next chapter.
"I've done a lot of things in this music game, and I've been able to create music that just lasts the test of time," Lil Jon, 55, tells USA TODAY. "I created a lot of memories, the soundtrack to people's memories, the good times in people's lives. I realized
that part of my calling was to make music to help people to forget about their problems and to let go and just be in a positive mood and just have a good time and enjoy life."
Now, amid a series of meditation albums and grieving the loss of his son, Nathan Smith, the DJ says part of his life now is to "help heal people" by "sharing my story with grief and dealing with loss."
In between stops on his worldwide tour with Pitbull, the Grammy-winner talks to USA TODAY about music, loss and legacy.
Lil Jon reveals if Usher ever reacted to 'Yeah' leak
Lil Jon's enviable career spans his own tracks ("Snap Yo' Fingers," "Get Low"), features ("Shots," "Damn I Love Miami," "Turn Down for What") and producing (Ciara's "Goodies," Ghost Town DJs' "My Boo"). But it was his production on Usher's "Yeah" that first catapulted him to international acclaim.
He has previously opened up about the story behind the record: The original beat also landed in the hands of North Carolina rapper Petey Pablo, for his single "Freek-a-Leek," which hit the radio before "Yeah" came out. After failing to get the beat back, Lil Jon upgraded the beat for "Yeah."
In his memoir, Lil Jon writes that Usher's label, Arista, loved the original record and wasn't going for the new version, so they weren't going to release it. He says he purposely leaked the record to radio stations, knowing the track was "a smash."
Lil Jon doesn't remember if Usher was upset about the leak. But Usher's "mom, Ms. Patton, was not happy," he says, laughing.
"But it's like, a hit is a hit. It's a monster. And that's literally what happens," Lil Jon adds. "You tell radio stations to stop playing it and DJs to stop playing it, but I've never seen a song like that where they put a cease and desist out, and the radio stations are like, no. I have never seen that in my years in the music business."
He adds, "As an artist, you got a rocketship. You're not going to stop that rocket from blasting off, you know?"
"Yeah" topped Billboard's Hot 100 for 12 straight weeks, became one of the highest-selling singles of the 2000s, won them both a Grammy and was certified diamond in 2024.
Lil Jon says he wants to get his son a posthumous Grammy
Lil Jon says he and son Nathan Smith bonded over music since he was a baby – when he was heard on Lil Jon's 2001 track "Bia' Bia'" – to Smith, also known as DJ Young Slade, DJing, engineering and producing with his dad.
"A lot of fathers don't get to do what they do with their kids," Lil Jon says. "I thank Allah every day for all of the moments I was able to share with him and experiences I was able to give him."
Smith died in February at age 27 after an accidental drowning. As a kid, he was in the studio for "Turn Down for What" and on hand when Lil Jon served as a musical director and performed at the Super Bowl with Usher. The father-son pair worked together on Lil Jon's 2025 meditation project, "Remix Meditation."
"As I'm changing and growing and evolving and maturing, he's there for the recording of these meditation albums," Lil Jon says. "We're trying to get nominated in the spoken word category for the Grammys, so I can get him a posthumous Grammy. And that's one thing that'll be a part of his legacy. That happens if we get him a Grammy for his engineering for that album."
Winning in the category would allow his family to honor the late DJ and producer's work while he was on Earth, he says.
"It's for the world to see and then for also his little sister that's too young to understand," Lil Jon says. "That's also something that his little sister can see that he achieved when she gets old enough. I'm going to give that to his sister and say, 'Look, this is what your brother did,' to show her how amazing he was."
Lil Jon on fatherhood, his next chapter: 'My calling was to make music to help people'
Lil Jon welcomed his daughter, Nahara, with partner Jamila Sozahdah in 2024.
"She's been something that gave me a continued will to live," he says. "Her child innocence and her love for me helped me to get through this really tough time. I don't know how I could have dealt with this if it was 10 years ago, if I was in a different mindset."
The rapper says he and Smith became closer in recent years before his death, and in deeper conversations, his son urged him to be more present.
"He wanted to make sure I don't mess up with his sister. And through me and my son's conversations, I realized things that I can improve on as a father," he adds. "I'm just taking my time and enjoying my daughter and spending as much time with her as I can and not taking anything in life for granted."
The producer says slowing down as he entered a new chapter in fatherhood also helped him get through the loss of his son.
"And that's also why I believe God was slowing me down as well, to get me ready for all this so I can handle it in the way I'm handling it," he says. "And being able to share my journey with others to help, because I probably would have shut down and not talked about it to many people or anything."
Now, Lil Jon is ready to open up and use his voice to help others. Recently, a veteran with depression told Lil Jon how his meditation album was the only thing that helped the man change his mindset.
"I thought that was truly, that was God coming to me saying, 'Keep doing what you're doing because you are helping and you're healing,'" he says. "The journey now is to share, when I can, what I'm going through, how I'm dealing with it, how I dealt with it, what helped me to get through it. Because somebody out there could be going through the same thing, and my words could help them.
"So that's what I'm here to do," he adds. "Answer that call."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lil Jon opens up about son who died at 27, Usher's 'Yeah' leak and his 'evolving' future
