![](./media_1cf00c452039e993587923012324dfa9855d97cd0.jpeg?width=750&format=jpeg&optimize=medium)
Hip Hop's gritty realism often mirrors the perils of street life, making survival stories from its artists not only remarkable, but inspiringly frequent. Over the years, fans have witnessed several of their brightest stars face near-death experiences, whether from violence, accidents or severe health crises. Of course, some rappers don’t make it out, but it’s a blessing that some manage to pull through.
From artists like 50 Cent, who famously survived nine gunshot wounds in a brutal attack that could have ended his career and life, to Rick Ross, who overcame multiple seizures and a drive-by shooting, REVOLT compiled a list of 13 rappers who essentially cheated death.
1. 50 Cent
In 2000, 50 Cent was infamously shot nine times at close range while sitting in a car outside his grandmother’s house in Queens, New York. The bullets hit his hand, arm, hip, legs, chest and left cheek. The attack could have easily been fatal, but the G-Unit founder survived.
The East Coast artist’s debut album Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ reflected that period of his life, especially in tracks like "Many Men (Wish Death)," where he explicitly addressed the incident and its impact on his psyche. “In the Bible, it says what goes around, comes around / Hommo shot me, three weeks later he got shot down / Now it's clear that I'm here for a real reason / 'Cause he got hit like I got hit, but he ain't f**kin' breathin',” the rapper spat.
2. Lil Tjay
Lil Tjay was shot seven times during an attempted robbery at an outdoor shopping plaza in Edgewater, New Jersey. He sustained severe injuries, including bullet wounds to the chest and neck. The “Calling My Phone” hitmaker was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery and remained in critical condition for several days. “Beat the Odds” marked his first release post-recovery, and its visual companion shows him rapping on a mic while sitting up in a hospital bed.
3. Kanye West
In 2002, Kanye West experienced a near-fatal car crash. While driving home from a recording studio in Los Angeles at around 3 a.m., the Chicago native fell asleep at the wheel, resulting in a head-on collision that left him with a shattered jaw. The impact required him to undergo reconstructive surgery during which his jaw was wired shut for six weeks as part of the recovery process.
As tragic as the situation could’ve ended, it inspired arguably one of West’s best songs to date, “Through the Wire” from The College Dropout. “How do you console my mom or give her light support / Tellin' her her son's on life support? / And just imagine how my girl feel / On the plane scared as hell that her guy look like Emmett Till,” he detailed in the record.
4. Rick Ross
Rick Ross is among the few people to seemingly escape death more than once. In 2011, he suffered two seizures on the same day — to make matters worse, they were six hours apart — each occurring on separate flights. The first incident forced his private jet to make an emergency landing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was briefly hospitalized. He later boarded another plane to Memphis, Tennessee, and suffered a second seizure.
The second major health scare for Ross happened in 2018, when he was found unresponsive in his Miami home due to what was initially reported as a heart attack but later clarified as a serious case of pneumonia. “Ain’t nothing like home. I love y’all,” the Port Of Miami artist shared after the episode.
5. Vic Mensa
Vic Mensa's road from sneaking into Lollapalooza to performing at the festival is a shocking turnaround, quite literally. The “Down On My Luck” rapper once recounted a startling incident from his younger days: While trying to climb a train structure to sneak into the event, he was hit by 15,000 volts in the arm.
“I was trying to do something crazy, climbing down the train structure over on Monroe over a bridge. And I touched a transformer on my arm,” Mensa told Billboard about the out-of-body experience. “I was seeing myself from an overhead view.”
6. Lil Wayne
At the young age of 12, Lil Wayne attempted suicide. The New Orleans legend shot himself in the chest, narrowly missing his heart. While authorities searched the rapper’s home shortly after, off-duty officer Robert Hoobler, whom he calls Uncle Bob, rushed Weezy to the hospital in a police car instead of waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
“I was dying when I met [you] at this very spot. [You] refused to let me die. Everything that doesn’t happen, doesn’t happen for a reason,” Wayne wrote in a tribute post to Hoobler, who passed away in 2022. “That reason being you and faith.”
7. Eminem
Eminem's tumultuous battle with addiction reached a critical point in 2007 when he overdosed on methadone, mistaking it for a less potent drug. The situation was so severe that it nearly cost him his life. Luckily, the Detroit native committed to sobriety the following year. During the early days of his recovery, he created 2009’s Relapse, which explored topics like rehabilitation.
During an episode of the “Paul Pod” podcast, Eminem recalled creating the LP: “It was like the first time I started having fun with music again, and re-learning how to rap, you remember that whole process. It took a long time for my brain to start working again.”
8. 21 Savage
21 Savage survived a near-fatal shooting on his 21st birthday. During what was supposed to be a celebratory night, a man entered the backseat of the rapper’s car, and a barrage of bullets followed. The “ball w/o you” artist was shot six times and critically injured while his best friend Johnny B tragically died during the incident.
9. French Montana
In 2003, French Montana narrowly survived a shooting that could have ended his career before it truly began. The incident occurred outside a recording studio in the Bronx, where he was shot in the head during an altercation. Remarkably, the same person who orchestrated the deadly encounter also rushed the “Unforgettable” creator to the hospital, ultimately saving his life.
“The greatest thrеat is always from the inside / Yessir, they put staples in my head, b**ch, they been tried / Killers wanna bag me or come see me in that dayroom,” Montana rapped about the situation on “Blue Chills.”
10. Timbaland
Timbaland's life was forever changed by an OxyContin overdose that occurred while he was sleeping. His brush with death was the result of a prolonged addiction to painkillers, which were originally prescribed for nerve damage from a gunshot wound he sustained as a teenager. The rapper-producer described waking up from the terrifying incident and struggling to breathe. It gave him a stark vision of his potential future — one that could’ve ended prematurely if he hadn't made drastic changes, including losing 130 pounds and downsizing his life to escape “all that superstar stuff.”
“I had a dream that death was near. I saw myself with a white face," Timbaland recalled while speaking to Men’s Health. He continued, “The only things that got me through it were my kids, my girl, the help of God keeping my mind still.”
11. Young Thug
During a 2020 virtual concert, Young Thug shared a chilling story about waking up paralyzed and immediately needing medical attention. The diagnosis was severe: liver and kidney failure that nearly cost him his life. He spent 17 days hospitalized, and doctors said his condition was so severe that he had effectively been walking dead.
The Atlanta native shared, “They was like, ‘Man, you got liver and kidney failure. You [are] supposed to be dead. Basically, you’ve been dead.’ I’ve been killed before.”
12. Krayzie Bone
In 2023, Krayzie Bone — of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony — was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital for a severe cardiovascular condition. Doctors had to put him under to repair a ruptured artery in the musician’s lung, leaving him in an incubated state for 10 days. “After a day, they said the bleeding wouldn’t stop,” he detailed the ordeal. “After the second day, the bleeding wouldn’t stop, and the doctor started to panic. That’s when they told my wife they might want to get the family down here.”
13. Scarface
Scarface got a new lease on life after his son donated a kidney to him following a grueling battle with complications due to COVID-19, including kidney failure. He first shared his health struggles in April 2020 and later sought help through social media to find a donor. Through the grace of God, he successfully received his new organ roughly a year later.