Lil Jon has revealed that a freak childhood accident is the reason he wears sunglasses all the time. The Grammy winner says he accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with a syringe when he was only 6.
The 54-year-old rapper, whose real name is Jonathan Smith, recounts the painful incident in his upcoming memoir, “I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me.” The book comes out on Tuesday.
As Page Six reported [1], Smith grew up watching his diabetic mother, Carrie, give herself insulin shots. His childhood curiosity eventually led him to take one of her syringes and conduct a dangerous experiment that would have lasting consequences.
At the age of 6, the future “Turn Down for What” rapper tried to discover what the air from the syringe would feel like on his eye. Instead of feeling the air, he accidentally drove the needle into his eye.
The injury sent him to several doctors. They told him he had suffered a “traumatic cataract from the needle,” according to the account of the accident.
His treatment did not end with the initial medical visits. Smith underwent multiple eye surgeries following the accident, including a corneal transplant.
The trauma also forced him to wear a metal eye patch while attending school. Rather than receiving understanding from other children, he became a target for teasing because he looked different.
“I definitely was teased in school,” the rapper shared with People ahead of the memoir’s release. The experience affected how he behaved around other people during those formative years.
“At that age if somebody’s different, they’re going to pick on you.” Smith recalled becoming shy after enduring that treatment from other children.
Although the bullying pushed him inward, it also helped create a determination to challenge other people’s expectations. The rapper said that despite being different, he wanted to “always prove people wrong.”
The physical effects of the accident continued into adulthood. Smith eventually developed a lazy eye because of the childhood injury and underwent another surgery intended to help the condition.
Even after that procedure, the rapper continued wearing sunglasses constantly. His familiar eyewear is therefore connected to an injury, repeated operations, and an experience that has followed him since childhood.
“Whenever people have put me down,” says the musician, “I used that as fuel in my fire to excel.” His response to criticism became part of the persistence that he describes in the memoir.
Smith had already discovered music shortly before the accident. The “Get Low” singer had learned to play the drums and became enthralled with music at a very young age.
The eye injury, surgeries, and teasing did not stop him from pursuing that interest. He went on to become a Grammy winner while carrying the lasting physical effects of the accident into his adult life.
“I got to figure out how to pave my way no matter what. I got to prove people wrong,” he shares. That determination shaped how he approached obstacles after an injury that could have overwhelmed him.
“I’m the type, if an obstacle is put in front of me, I’m going to figure out how to go through it, over it, under it, around it.” His account connects the traumatic accident and the bullying that followed with his refusal to let either define the limits of his success.