Meek Mill and Rick Ross are getting honest about their struggles with substance abuse. During a sit-down interview with Ebro Darden on Apple Music’s Rap Life podcast, the Grammy-nominated rappers each reflected on their journeys.
“My stomach was bent over for like a year-and-a-half,” Mill said as he recalled one of his lowest points. “I came home, 2019, I couldn’t smoke weed or really drink liquor like that.”
He continued, “Before 2019, I was off the lean and all that. I changed my lifestyle — well, I thought I changed. Tried to change over to the liquor every day ’cause I’m being on tour, [after-parties]. That sh*t kinda ruined my stomach so I had to sit down for a minute, let my sh*t build up.”
Although Mill reached out to people close to him for help, he said many didn’t understanding the problem.
“I’m telling my own family, ‘Yo, my stomach f**ked up. I weigh 170. I’m hit right now!’ the Philly native said. “But people wasn’t seeing it, though. People will see it or might make a joke about it, but in real life like, yo, my s**t f**ked up.”
Ross, however, understood Mill’s battle because he was facing a similar experience at the time.
“That being little bro, it could be something that you walk into the studio, you walk into your homie, and you see your homie not all the way on his ‘A’ game,” Ross said. “That’s one of the things that me and Meek most definitely had conversations about — vice versa, though.”
Mill and Ross vowed to help each other overcome their substance abuse challenges
“Me drinking lean at a time and now, I’m taking medication two times a day because of this,” Ross said. “And then you walk into a session, you see your little bro, ‘Aye man, we gotta tighten up on this sh*t.’ It’s a lot of different ways we can have issues.”
After being hospitalized in 2018, Ross spoke with People, telling the outlet “it was the codeine,” HipHopDX reported.
“That mixed with the things I was drinking, the other drugs I was doing, and on top of not resting,” he added. “[I don’t think] one particular thing would have killed me. But everything combined?”
The following year, Mill also spoke out about his struggles, saying he was taking a large amount of narcotics at the time — something he hadn’t previously disclosed.
“I’ve taken 10 30’s Percocets a day,” he told Charlamagne Tha God in an exclusive interview, according to HipHopDX. “You’re walking with death. Real sh*t. I had to cater to myself. ‘Like ‘N***a, you poppin’ 10 Percs? You a junkie, n***a.’ […] I had to make a decision with myself.”
Check out Mill and Ross’ full interview below!
