Young Thug Reflects On Scary Near-Death Experience From Organ Failure

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Young Thug has entered the Punk era. On the heels of his rock-themed Tiny Desk concert for NPR, Thugger is the digital cover star for the latest issue of Rolling Stone. Throughout the interview, Young Thug reflects on the pandemic, future goals and also touches on his frightening health scare, which landed him in the hospital.

Years ago, Thug, who battled a lean addiction, ended up in the hospital after suffering from kidney and liver failure. He first spoke about the hospitalization during a 2020 virtual concert.

“I kinda just stayed in the bed and I was like, ‘Yo, call the ambulance. I can’t move my body,’” he said at the time. “Then later, when the ambulance came, I couldn’t get out of the bed. They had to get me out of the bed, basically. I felt like my whole body was numb and I couldn’t move. I went to the hospital and I had found out that I had liver and kidney failure. And I kinda had sorta passed away, like I kinda died.”

During the interview, Thug refuses to get specific regarding details of the near-fatal incident but shares some advice for fans.

“I think it’s just a lesson for everybody to just let you know that shit’s real, you know? Life is real,” he said.

The YSL boss spent a lot of time on Call of Duty throughout the pandemic and playing poker. He also relayed his goal is to become the richest Black man in the world one day.

Between his health scare and a year in quarantine to process life, Thug is expected to deliver his most personal work yet with the experimental Punk. He also has another project on the way that he reconnected with Elton John on.

“With Punk, I tapped into more real world,” he said. “I’m just rapping more about life situations because I had time to sit down and actually reflect and think. You start to see shit from your girl’s point of view, because you always had your girl in the house locked up. We never actually felt what it would be like to be locked in the house ourselves.”

On Tuesday (July 26), Thugger debuted four new songs off his Punk album, which is due out on October 15, as part of NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series.

Watch the performance below.