Young Details Time He Suffered Kidney & Liver Failure Ahead of New Album, 'Punk'

Music

| LAST UPDATE 08/03/2021

By Mahlik Campbell
Young Thug
Amy Harris/Invision/AP via Shutterstock

These days, Young Thug is putting the final touches on his upcoming rock album, 'Punk,' but there was a time not long ago when he was simply working to stay alive. The 29-year-old revealed how he almost died from organ failure.

Thug was featured in a Facebook live stream benefit concert hosted by Offset, dubbed "Offset and Friends," alongside Rich the Kid and SAINt JHN. In between songs, Thug opened up about a time "a little while back" when he was feeling so weak, he couldn't get out of bed.

Initially, Thug thought he was having an anxiety attack, and he recalled his entire body feeling "numb." Not able to muster the strength to leave the bed, he finally requested an ambulance to transport him to the hospital where he learned his body was basically shutting down.

"I had found out that I had, um, liver and kidney failure," Thug said. In fact, according to what he heard from his doctors, Thug had shockingly "passed away" for a brief moment: "Like, I kinda died." He spent the next 17 days recovering in the hospital.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Thankfully, he seems to have made a full recovery. But the experience continues to have an impact on Thug's life, even inspiring his 2017 track "Killed Before," which he then performed. "Everyone know I've been killed before / I've been bent like a centerfold," he croons.

While Thugger didn't share the exact cause behind his liver and kidney failure, some fans suspect his drug use may have played a role. In that same song where Thug raps about dying, he also mentions putting an ecstasy pill into a cup filled with codeine.

The previous year, Thug was pulled over in Atlanta and police allegedly discovered codeine, Xanax, weed, a gun and an amphetamine.

Gunna, Thug's YSL apprentice, landed in the hospital just last month, and though fans blamed drugs, specifically codeine and whippets, he later claimed he had pneumonia.

During his recent NPR Tiny Desk Concert filmed at a garden in Los Angeles, Thug offered a promising update on what sounds like his struggles with addiction: "Drinking a little lean. Actually did good, ain't drink but a pint [of codeine] this whole tour."