Rapper Rick Ross ‘in a battle for his life’ in a Hollywood hospital

Rapper Rick Ross is “in a battle for his life,” TMZ reported Saturday morning, a day after the South Florida hip-hop star was raced to a local hospital.

“His condition became so dicey Friday his family raced to the hospital in sheer panic,” the celeb site reported, posting a picture of a white limo, its doors open, in the hospital’s driveway.

Ross is at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, WSVN7 reported.

According to TMZ’s sources, Ross, 42, was placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, or ECMO, which is used to provide cardiac and respiratory support to someone whose heart and lungs are unable to deliver an adequate amount of oxygen into the blood.

Ross’ medical emergency began early Thursday, reports said. By Friday evening, Ross was in a hospital on a “form of life support,’’ TMZ reported.

Rapper Fat Trel told the website HotNewHipHop that Ross was hospitalized but denied that he was on life support.

Police were called to a Davie home 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.

The document also said the patient was “combative.” Davie Police Spokesman Sgt. Mark Leone told the Miami Herald Friday that he could not confirm whether the patient was Ross or whether he was taken to a hospital.

Fellow rappers like Missy Elliott, LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg and Gucci Mane have tweeted messages of support.

Rival rapper 50 Cent, however, kept their feud alive by posting an image of the “Rocky IV” villain Ivan Drago. The image from the 1985 boxing flick corresponds to a scene in the movie in which the Russian boxer hisses after fatally beating Rocky’s pal Apollo Creed, “If he dies, he dies.”

This story was originally published March 3, 2018 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Rapper Rick Ross ‘in a battle for his life’ in a Hollywood hospital."