Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine was hospitalized earlier this week after overdosing on a combination of Hydroxycut weight-loss pills and caffeine.
Shortly after rumors of the possible overdose began circulating, The Shade Room reached out to Tekashi 6ix9ine for comment, and the 24-year-old confirmed the incident and elaborated upon its circumstances. 6ix9ine, who was released from prison back in April due to the risk posed by COVID-19, began by relaying that recent months have seen him gain a significant amount of weight. At one point, the rapper crossed the 200-pound mark.
Though the five-foot-seven artist has since lost 23 pounds, he attributed his nearly month-long Instagram absence to a desire to shed additional weight before returning to the public eye. And in an effort to hasten the process, the “Gooba” singer evidently began taking the weight-loss supplement Hydroxycut.
Upon ingesting two Hydroxycut pills (instead of the recommended one) at once, 6ix9ine said that his heart rate spiked, and he began sweating excessively while stationary.
Despite the fact that caffeine is the main ingredient in most Hydroxycut products, the artist said that he then grabbed for a cup of coffee, which worsened the above-mentioned symptoms and prompted him to seek medical attention. The Brooklynite spent two days in a hospital in Florida – where the temperature has cracked 90 degrees multiple times this week, possibly compounding the caffeine’s effects – but has since recovered.
Tekashi emphasized that no illegal drugs had played a part in the overdose, as testing positive for illicit substances would constitute a violation of his parole terms. The much-publicized rapper dropped his first post-prison album, TattleTales, last month, and the tracks’ official YouTube videos have garnered more than one billion views thus far.
Outside of this medical episode and the release of TattleTales, 6ix9ine, whose full name is Daniel Hernandez, is facing a trio of multimillion-dollar lawsuits. Los Angeles’s Fashion Nova filed a $2.2 million complaint in March, alleging that Hernandez had accepted a $225,000 advance in an Instagram promotional deal, but failed to hold up his end of the contract.
That same month, a bystander levied a $150 million suit, claiming that she’d been struck by a stray bullet at a 2018 “revenge shooting” allegedly ordered by 6ix9ine.
The third and newest lawsuit against Tekashi, seeking $5.3 million in damages, centers on his alleged failure to play a 2018 concert in Washington, D.C. According to the plaintiffs, 6ix9ine maintained minimal communication and opted instead to perform in New Jersey, leaving their venue filled with more than 3,000 expectedly angry fans.