Rapper and Child Actor Bow Wow Spoke About His Struggle With Addiction

Five days after the death of rapper Mac Miller, Bow Wow took to Twitter to openly discuss his struggles with addiction.

On Monday afternoon he released a thread of tweets, stating “To the youth- Stop with these dumb ass drugs. Im going to let something out. When me and omarion worked on FACE OFF album. I was high off lean everyday! When yall saw me on BET going off on torae i was high off lean. My attitude everything changed.”

To the youth- Stop with these dumb ass drugs. Im going to let something out. When me and omarion worked on FACE OFF album. I was high off lean everyday! When yall saw me on BET going off on torae i was high off lean. My attitude everything changed. My fans started to…

— Bow Wow (@smoss) September 10, 2018

Lean is known to many as Purp Drank, and Sizzurp, which is cough medication mixed with soda, typically a lemon-lime. Lean was popularized by hip-hop culture in the 90s, and has been standing strong to this day being referenced in major hits by Lil Wayne, and Post Malone. This is an extremely addictive drug, due to codeine being one of the key ingredients of cough syrup.

Bow Wow went on to tell the tale of his dangerous habit, with his tweets telling a story about how his lean addiction got to the point of agony, stating “much so that he started missing shows, getting into fights, and causing his most loyal fans to turn on him.

“The whole time i was on the UCP tour with chris I WAS SIPPING 4’s atleast 7 times a day,” he admitted. “I was addicted until our show in Cincinnati.. i came off stg and passed out woke up in the hospital,” said the rapper, recalling the time he suffered withdrawals from the drug and had to be hospitalized to receive treatment.

“I never felt a pain like that ever. It was summer but i was walking round with 3 hoodies on because i was so cold,” he said. “I missed the chicago show of that tour baltimore show BECAUSE I WAS FUCKING HIGH AND SICK!!!! that shit is not cool and i was doing it to be cool!”

This is just one of many reaches rappers are taking to curb the unfortunate problem we have been faced with, with many tweeting their condolences to Mac Miller, and many offering support to their communities, including artist J. Cole.

This is a message for anybody in this game that’s going through something. If you don’t feel right, if you feel you have a substance problem, if you need a ear to vent to. If you uncomfortable talking to people around you. Please reach out to me.

— J. Cole (@JColeNC) September 7, 2018