Rick Ross on ‘a form of life support’ in Miami-area hospital, TMZ reports

Rick Ross, the Miami rapper and former high school football standout who helped put Carol City on the hip-hop map, had a medical emergency Thursday afternoon, reports said. By Friday evening, Ross was in a hospital on a “form of life support,’’ TMZ reported.

Police were called to a Davie home around 3:30 a.m. Thursday after someone called 911 and said an adult male was unresponsive and breathing heavily, according to a call for service report released by Davie police. The caller said the man, identified by TMZ as Ross, has a history of seizures and was “slobbing out the mouth,” the report said.

There are several references later in the document to a “combative patient.” Davie Police Spokesman Sgt. Mark Leone said he could not confirm whether the patient was Ross or whether the patient was taken to a hospital.

TMZ reported that Ross, 42, was taken to an unnamed hospital and is receiving a respiratory treatment, possibly for pneumonia or something “heart-related.” Friday evening, the gossip site reported that Ross is in the cardiac unit of a Miami-area hospital with a machine taking over the function of his heart and lungs.

But TMZ also said a family member “strongly denied” the rapper was hospitalized.

Ross is scheduled to perform at Miami’s Rolling Loud music festival on May 13. He last tweeted on Feb. 13 — 12 days after he performed a Feb. 1 show at a Minneapolis club, The Pourhouse, with fellow Miami rapper Luther Campbell.

Ross, who owns several Wingstop chicken franchises, has faced plenty of challenges since scoring a Billboard No. 1 with his album, “Port of Miami,” in 2006.

In 2011, he suffered two seizures on the same day. He eventually dropped 100 pounds. Two years later, in 2013, he dodged a hail of bullets and crashed his car after someone opened fire on his Rolls-Royce as he was driving to a dinner on Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. No one was hurt in the incident.

More recently, Ross tried to reinstate a suit against LMFAO. He claims the Los Angeles duo ripped off his song “Hustlin’” in its hit, “Party Rock Anthem.”

Ross, born William Leonard Roberts II in Mississippi and raised in Carol City, was a top athlete at Miami Carol City Senior High School under Coach Walt Frazier. Ross was an offensive lineman on the football team and was named to the Miami Herald’s All-Dade first team offense in 1993.

Update: Click here.

This story was originally published March 2, 2018 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Rick Ross on ‘a form of life support’ in Miami-area hospital, TMZ reports."