Bow Wow has opened up about his lean addiction, which left him hospitalized.
In his recent conversation with The Art of Dialogue, Bow Weezy recalled the difficult experience he had with lean and how he needed to get help as it got to a point where he nearly lost everything. According to Bow Wow, he was heavily drinking the drug around the time he recorded his collaborative album with Omarion titled Face Off in 2007.
"I was sipping lean," he said. "I was sipping so much syrup. I said this after Mac Miller died. I spoke on this shit. I was drinking that shit like crazy. If you go back and watch The Road to Platinum series on BET, you'll see so many white Styrofoam cups. I was losing my fucking mind. That lean shit had me fucked up. I was just always irritated."
Bow Wow further explained that any little thing would set him off and that his addiction got so bad he was consuming lean wherever he went. According to the 36-year-old, Lil Wayne would give him a "baby bottle" full of lean just to help get his fix.
Eventually, things took a left turn for Bow Wow as he collapsed following a performance while on tour with Chris Brown. Bow Wow's body shutting down on him caused him to miss several important shows on the tour and he knew something had to be done.
"We were on our tour, I was co-headlining with Chris Brown and the opening night was in Cincinnati and when I got off stage, I collapsed," Bow Wow said. "I went straight to Cincinnati University Hospital. My stomach was so fucked up that I ended up going back home to Atlanta after the first show."
He continued, "I'm sitting in the hospital not knowing what the fuck going on, and I get back home and the shit gets worse. I'm throwing up, I'm shivering in the bed, I'm sweating, I'm going through it...I didn't know I was having withdrawals. That's how much lean I was consuming."
Bow Wow then explained how his former publicist, the late Pattie Webster, orchestrated a clever PR move to keep his lean addiction a secret from the public.
"I had to get right, man. God rest her soul, I had the best publicist ever, Pattie Webster," he said. "She put out a press release [that said I dropped out of the tour] for dehydration. Wasn't no dehydration; I was fucked up off lean... That's just good PR. We didn't want the world to know that 18, 19-year-old Bow was heavy on the drank."
Bow Wow spoke about his lean addiction on Twitter following Mac Miller's untimely passing in 2018 as a result of a fatal drug overdose. The rapper advised his fans to stay away from the drug and, if they're already taking it, to stop immediately.
"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 every day," he said. "When y'all saw me on BET going off on Torae, I was high off lean. My attitude everything changed."
He added, "Kick that shit! Be a good son or daughter. Be the best you. I'm a start being more vocal. We gotta save the youth from going out early. DRUG-FREE IS THE WAY TO BE! smarten up tighten up out here. We can't lose no more of you. Not one! I love all y'all."
