Tragic Details About August Alsina
The following article includes mention of addiction.
Once upon a time, August Alsina looked destined for R&B greatness. His 2014 debut album, "Testimony," peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, and he went on to win both best new artist — beating out Ariana Grande and ScHoolboy Q — and the Coca-Cola viewers' choice accolades at the 2014 BET Awards. He has also been courted by the likes of B.o.B, Jeezy, and Nicki Minaj for musical collaborations.
Fast forward six years later, however, and the New Orleans native's dramatic private life has completely overshadowed his achievements in the music industry. Indeed, thanks to his public dalliance with Jada Pinkett Smith, Alsina found himself more likely to grace the front cover of People magazine than Rolling Stone.
But there's much more to know about the singer's life than his "entanglement." From drug addictions and deaths of family members to health woes and house evictions, Alsina has unfortunately had an incredible amount of tragedy come his way.
Both August Alsina's father and stepfather were addicted to drugs
It's fair to say that August Alsina didn't exactly have a childhood of privilege. His dental assistant mother had to take on two different jobs just to make ends meet, and both his father and his stepfather had problems with substance abuse. Revealing all in a 2013 chat with Complex, the "No Love" singer said, "My pops, we didn't have the best relationship because he was struggling with drug addiction, and you know that's just pretty much what it is. That just take over your whole body that you really don't just have no control over." Tragically, August's father had died by this point.
Alsina — who initially grew up in downtown New Orleans in an area he described as the "murder capital" — also spoke about the parental figure who came into his life at age 1. Referring to the time his family briefly relocated to Texas with his stepfather, the singer-songwriter said, "He felt like it was a better place for him to be, he wouldn't be in the habit with so much access to drugs or whatever. But even moving from New Orleans, he still was into the same thing; it was hard to shake. So we moved to Texas for a minute when I was younger for him to try to shake his s***, but basically kind of the same things was going on."
His brother died aged at just 24
Not only did two of the most important men in August Alsina's life deal with addiction, but he lost his own brother early on in life. "'Man, we from New Orleans, we don't make it to live past 24,'" Alsina recounted to Complex what his brother once said about their hometown. Sadly, it proved to be a prophetic statement, as in 2010, Melvin LaBranch III died from a gunshot wound in a mystery that remains unresolved.
Alsina was distraught by the tragedy, but it also gave him the impetus to get out of his neighborhood and pursue his musical ambitions. He told Complex, "So at that point, I was like, 'Man I'm out here, we all living the same way.' This is what happened to him, so it's what's going to happen to me the same way. I was just was like, 'It's either this or that.'"
To make matters worse, a cousin pointed the finger of blame squarely at the R&B hitmaker. In an unusual act of transparency, several expletive-filled text messages from the family member in question were uploaded online (via Hip-Hop Vibe) by August himself back in 2015.
Alsina lost his sister-in-law
August Alsina dealt with another family tragedy in 2018 when his sister-in-law, Chandra, died from cancer. She had previously been married to the singer-songwriter's brother, Melvin LaBranch III, who eight years earlier had been fatally shot in New Orleans.
Amazingly, Alsina subsequently agreed to become his three orphaned nieces' legal guardian. "They are beautiful kids with beautiful energy," the singer told People about Chaylin, Amaiya, and Kayden. "I'm excited to see life unfold for them, and I want to be as present as I possibly can within their life while still being able to show them what it looks like to have a career."
Alsina, who described the trio as his "naughters," also disclosed what Chandra said to him shortly before her passing after he agreed to take custody of them. "She texted me, 'All this time you've been running from being a parent, from having kids, and now you're forced to,'" he recalled. "I'm like, 'I just play the cards that life deals me, and I'll figure everything out.' She said, 'You always do.' And she went to sleep and that was that."
He was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease
There's a reason why August Alsina so often sports a pair of shades, and it's not simply to look cool. In 2015, the "Like You Love Me" singer revealed that he had been diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition called keratoconus, which will eventually leave him blind. Speaking to Billboard about this ordeal later that same year, Alsina admitted that he initially went into denial: "I was like, 'This n***a tripping.' I went to see a few other doctors, but that was it — I had to accept it. It was a very humbling experience."
Alsina revealed during a chat on "The Angie Martinez Show" in 2015 that he had to get a procedure that was not yet FDA-approved in the United States to help the disease from quickly worsening. "So many times we take stuff like eyesight for granted because it's so natural," he remarked. "We wake up and we see, we wake up and we walk. It's just so natural to us. So, for me to not to be able to see for two to three days straight, it was hell."
Alsina has an autoimmune condition
In 2017, August Alsina made headlines for his health after revealing that he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome — defined by Mayo Clinic as a "rare disorder in which your body's immune system attacks your nerves" — which has affected his liver. As with his degenerative eye condition, Alsina admitted that he struggled to take in the diagnosis at first, but he eventually accepted it after learning about its hereditary nature.
"After sitting down and talking with my father's mother and sister ... they explained to me that sickness and illness runs in my family," he revealed in an Instagram post (via Billboard). "My father and grandfather both died of severe illness. But they were FIGHTERS and that's all that matters. Just ride with me is all I ask."
Alsina also made it clear that he didn't want his illness to affect how anyone saw him. "I have a liver disease where my autoimmune system is fighting against itself," he explained. "Reality is I'm sick all the time. I'd really like to talk about it and I'm not looking for anybody's sympathy."
Nerve damage caused him to lose the ability to walk
August Alsina's health woes continued in 2019 when he suddenly found himself unable to walk. As he told fans on Instagram, the R&B star was admitted to a hospital after waking up one morning without any feeling in his legs.
"I have some nerve damage going on throughout my whole body," Alsina explained his test results revealed. "It's like my immune system just went on vacation. So, I'm just waiting on it to come on back and we can get together and, you know, it can do what it do, man." The "Don't Matter" singer appeared to be in good spirits, however, joking that he had just received a new car while pointing the camera toward his hospital walker. "Getting me from point A to point B, you understand me!"
Two months later, Alsina updated his followers about his situation: "My doctors have started me on my iv antibody Immunotherapy. In short form it's sort of like chemo but instead, for my immune system. Only in this case, not killing the cells, but encouraging my nervous system and body to rebuild." Telling from his 2023 Instagram posts, it looks like Alsina was able to recover.
Alsina spent three days in a coma
August Alsina fans were left mightily concerned in 2014 when the R&B star suddenly collapsed and fell off the stage while performing at New York's Irving Plaza. Video footage of the incident showed the "Make It Home" singer struggling to stay on his feet before his knees completely buckled, sending him into the nearby photography pit. Alsina managed to wave to the crowd as he was transported out of the venue on a stretcher.
Four years later, the BET Award winner explained on an episode of "Red Table Talk" (via Page Six) that the accident was far more serious than it looked. In fact, after flatlining on two occasions, the star ended up spending three days in a coma. Luckily, Alsina was able to make a full recovery. "I was pretty much doing way too many shows, not taking care of myself," he recalled. "I was drinking so much liquor. Smoking so much weed. Just one night at a show in New York, I literally passed out and fell off the stage."
He developed an addiction to painkillers
During his headline-grabbing interview with Jada Pinkett Smith on a 2018 episode of "Red Table Talk" (via Page Six), August Alsina revealed that he had once battled an addiction to painkillers. And the accident four years earlier in which he had fallen off the stage was the catalyst. While recovering from his injuries, Alsina was prescribed Percocet by his doctors to help deal with the pain. Unfortunately, the singer soon started to abuse them: "If you asked my brother, anybody ... I'm like, raining Percs. Off my body, off my house. I was literally raining pills like Skittles."
Alsina recalled how he called up host Smith at the height of his addiction begging for help. "That was the thing. To feel your emotion and to hear you bawling. That was a reality check for me," he lamented. "I was like, 'Wow, if someone else can love you that much that it hurts them, why doesn't it bother you that you are actually hurting yourself?' That moment really changed the trajectory of my life." Despite choosing not to enter rehab, Alsina managed to weather his withdrawal symptoms and get clean.
Doctors didn't believe he was at death's door
"Black people are always overlooked, under-cared-for, underprivileged," August Alsina told Vulture in 2020 in a chat about his various medical issues. "It's been what it has been since the beginning of time." Unfortunately, he experienced this point personally, proving it by what he revealed next.
Alsina explained that a year earlier, he had twice checked himself into the hospital with crippling pain, only to be sent home without any proper treatment on both occasions. Referring to his second visit, the R&B singer recalled, "I showed up in a wheelchair, and they checked me out again. I'm telling them I'm not well. My face is completely swollen. I'm looking like death, feeling like death. They checked me out. I was in a bunch of pain. They didn't even give me any medicine. Sent me back home."
Thankfully, Alsina was taken seriously on his third attempt to get help and was referred to a larger hospital for a neurological examination. There, he was given some startling news: "The reality is that I could have been dead, because by the time I got to the bigger hospital, the doctor told me that my respiratory system was shutting down, and it was good that I got in when I did."
Alsina was painted as a homewrecker
In 2020, August Alsina pretty much broke the internet when he told "The Breakfast Club" host Angela Yee that he had previously had an affair with the married Jada Pinkett Smith. From the sounds of it, the R&B star and the actor had a deep connection and relationship: "I devoted myself to it. I gave my full self to it. So much so to the point that I can die right now and be okay with knowing that I truly gave myself to somebody."
Unfortunately, the former object of his affection cast him as a liar when she outright dismissed his claims. Smith later admitted on her own "Red Table Talk" that she had an "entanglement" with Alsina and denied that he had been a "homewrecker" — since she and husband Will Smith were separated at the time — but the damage by that point was already done.
Speaking to Vulture that same year, Alsina explained that he was hugely affected by how he was portrayed following his confession. "People looked at me as this problematic guy who was super reckless, like I'm pushing up on someone's wife," he elaborated. "And that started to really eat at my soul, but deeper than that, it started to f*** with my partnerships and business relationships and money because of people seeing me as this reckless guy who's, like, publicly announcing his love and pushing up on somebody's wife, quote, unquote."
Tory Lanez allegedly assaulted Alsina
August Alsina shocked fans in 2022 when he uploaded several photos of himself to Instagram (via the Daily Mail) looking bloodied and bruised. In the accompanying text, the R&B star alleged that Tory Lanez was the one responsible for his injuries.
Alsina claimed that Lanez, accompanied by eight security guards, invaded his personal space after leaving a show and then asked why he was being ignored. Alsina explained to his followers that he didn't appreciate Lanez's previous comments about his romantic entanglement with Jada Pinkett Smith, adding, "I was a fan of him and didn't understand him speaking on my business publicly. In the past, because I don't know him or ever met him until last night. So when he spoke, it caught me off guard. Because of his past actions, I assumed he didn't like me, that's all."
According to Alsina, Lanez then sucker punched him while he was attempting to make his exit. "There was never a 'fight'! Simply an Assault," he declared. Lanez — who the singer also accused of smoking cocaine-laced marijuana on the night in question – refuted this version of events. But he was later booted off the "Fall Back In Love Comedy & Music Jam" tour after impresario Rip Michaels said (via TMZ) that he witnessed the incident. Lanez was also ordered under house arrest after the scuffle was said to have violated previous bail conditions.
Alsina was kicked out of his home
History repeated itself in August 2019 when August Alsina was kicked out of his home. The R&B star told USA Today that he had previously been sent packing by his own mother at age 16 after repeated arguments between the pair, forcing him to sell drugs in New Orleans to survive. But on this occasion, it was a disgruntled landlord giving the marching orders.
As revealed in papers that found their way to The Blast, Alsina was told to leave his seven-bathroom, six-bedroom Ventura County mansion after falling behind on his rent. According to owner Robert Howard, the singer was behind $20,000 in rent, having stopped all payments in February of that same year. Alsina, who had resided in the swanky property since 2016, was given a three-day debt collection notice after he failed to cough up for March's rent. But when this didn't do the trick, either, Howard decided to take the R&B star to court over the dispute.
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).