Everybody chill: Lil Wayne is going to be okay. Fans worldwide feared the worst for the 30-year-old "Lollipop" rapper on Friday (March 15), when TMZ reported that he was in a coma at L.A.'s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after suffering multiple seizures. The site also initially reported that the hip-hop star (real name: Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.) was being read his last rites, with family members rushing to his side.
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"TMZ was so off base. Wayne is fine," a source close to the rapper assures Us Weekly. Indeed, Wayne himself tweeted hours after TMZ's report: "I'm good everybody. Thx for the prayers and love," and his rep told Us "Wayne is doing well."
So why the hospital drama? "He drank too much sizzurp to get a better high," the source explains to Us. "He needs rehab but he's not close to death or anything. He's fine and just coming down off the high."
What is "sizzurp," anyway? Lil Wayne and other music stars have long been frank about their love of the recreational drug -- a highly addictive, narcotic concoction of prescription-strength cough syrup, sugary sodas and hard candies, typically sipped out of Styrofoam cups. Prescription-grade cough syrups contain codeine and promethazine, creating a euphoric, sleepy high for users. Abuse of sizzurp, especially when mixed with alcohol, can lead to overdose.
Wayne rapped about his love of sizzurp, which is popular with teens because it's inexpensive and easy to make, in his 2008 song "Me and My Drank". "Up in the studio me and my drank / Please let me be and let me do my thang / Thinkin about a certain somebody, that perfect somebody sexy purple body," he rapped.
This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Lil Wayne Is "Not Close to Death," But "Drank Too Much Sizzurp"