Lil Uzi Vert has left fans concerned for his wellbeing after a video emerged seemingly showing him inhaling nitrous oxide.
In a clip that circulated social media on Monday (August 26), the “XO Tour Llif3” rapper can be seen inhaling air (or possibly gas) from a party balloon while in the studio with a group of friends.
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One of the men in the background says: “My son is back! We got Uzi back!” to which Baby Pluto replies: “Yes sir!” before laughing.
Several other balloons can be seen in the clip, along with an unmarked canister which is used to blow them up.
Fans are concerned after Lil Uzi Vert was spotted using nitrous oxide in the studio… pic.twitter.com/a3BX6eIz9I
— Kurrco (@Kurrco) August 26, 2024
Fans were quick to speculate that Uzi was using nitrous oxide — nicknamed laughing gas for its euphoric high — leading to both concern and criticism online.
“[N]o wonder his music so trash now nitrous fried his brain smh,” one person wrote on X, while another added: “Using nitrous for his studio sessions yeah just go ahead and retire. [Luv Is Rage 3] gonna be his worst album by far and his brain is gonna be cooked.”
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A third user lamented the growing popularity of the drug, writing: “This is a disease fr.”
The National Institute of Health has warned about the dangers of sustained nitrous oxide use, which “inactivates vitamin B12, resulting in a functional vitamin B12 deficiency and initially causing numbness in fingers, which may further progress to peripheral neuropathy and megaloblastic anemia.”
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Peripheral neuropathy is when issues occur with the nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord, while megaloblastic anemia is a blood disorder.
Lil Uzi Vert isn’t the only rapper to be linked with nitrous oxide. Kanye West has also been accused of being addicted to the gas, with his dentist being blamed for getting him hooked.
The wild claims were made in a sworn affidavit filed by former Yeezy chief of staff Milo Yiannopoulos against Ye’s dentist Thomas Connelly to the California Dental Board earlier this month.
In it, he accused Connelly of charging the rap legend more than $50,000 per month for the illegal supply of “enormous” quantities of nitrous oxide, which is typically used to reduce a patient’s pain and anxiety during dental procedures.
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Yiannopoulos alleged that Connelly had pitched himself to run Kanye’s Yeezy company for an annual salary of $2.4 million and put together a business proposal that included the development of a “personal use N²O² system.”
He also claimed that the licensed dentist had moved into the same apartment building as Ye and was seen by one Yeezy employee “hauling four large surgical tanks of nitrous oxide into [Kanye’s wife] Bianca Censori’s apartment.”
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As a result of Kanye’s alleged addiction to the gas, Yiannopoulos claimed that the Vultures rapper has exhibited “distressing symptomps” and become “incomprehensible and contradictory” in his communication.
Connelley has denied the allegations and accused Yiannopoulos of trying to damage his reputation over “personal grievances.”
