NBA YoungBoy revealed he toured for weeks with an undisclosed heart condition, telling podcast host Funny Marco he kept the diagnosis hidden from everyone around him while continuing to perform.
Speaking on Funny Marco's "Open Thoughts," the Baton Rouge rapper - born Kentrell Gaulden - said a doctor discovered the left side of his heart was swollen while he was still on the road. "On tour, a doctor told me the left side of my heart was swollen, and I never told nobody," he said. "I just kept doing every show. I finished my tour out like that." He added that the condition hasn't fully resolved: "My heart kind of still is enlarged on this little side."
Asked how many more albums he has left, the 26-year-old - who turns 27 later this year - said music isn't where his attention is right now. "Music is not something I'm focused on," he told Marco, suggesting he may have "one or two" albums left, plus at most one more tour, before stepping back from recording. He stopped short of announcing a formal retirement.
The revelation marks a shift for an artist who has released music at an unmatched pace in recent years, including "Slime Cry" in January and "ML2" in June on Motown Records. YoungBoy has also spoken publicly in the past about turning to God and faith through hardship, themes that surface throughout his catalog, including his song "Pray to the Lord."
The full "Open Thoughts" interview, in which YoungBoy reportedly also discusses feelings of hopelessness, was released Tuesday, August 11.
