What Happened to August Alsina? The R&B Singer Has Dealt With and Overcome Tragic Events in the Past Few Years
A few years ago, August Alsina was considered to be one of the main artists to carry R&B into the future. Fast forward to today and Alsina hasn’t been deep in the music industry for many years. The singer was trending on Twitter this weekend, with many folks tweeting reminders of the singer’s health issues and tragic family incidents that have left him as a caretaker right now.
August Alsina was an emerging R&B star of the mid-2010s
Alsina first broke onto the scene in 2013 with his hit single, “I Luv This S**t.” The song was a huge success, especially on urban radio. Reaching No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, it is also his highest-charting single as the lead artist. The original version of the song featured Trinidad James and R&B singers Trey Songz and Chris Brown.
His debut album, Testimony, was released in 2014 and it reached No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200. The album featured the singles, “Make it Home” and “No Love,” featuring Jeezy and Nicki Minaj, respectively. He was featured on multiple hit singles in 2015, including DJ Khaled’s “Hold You Down,” which also featured Chris Brown, August Alsina, Future, and Jeremih.
His second album, This Thing Called Life, was released in 2015 but did not reach the same amounts of success as Testimony. In 2016, he was featured on another hit DJ Khaled single, “Do You Mind,” which also featured, Chris Brown, August Alsina, Future, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, and Jeremih. As of now, this is his last major single. He hasn’t released a lot of music since 2017, only a few songs here and there.
He’s had a lot of health problems
In 2017, Alsina first revealed that he had liver disease. He opened up about it in an interview with his good friend, Jada Pinkett Smith. Alsina has a close relationship with Pinkett Smith and Will Smith and the former helped him through a Percocet addiction. He first met them through their son, Jaden Smith.
Alsina said in the interview, “I have a liver disease where my autoimmune system is fighting against itself. The reality of it is, I’m sick all the time. I don’t really like to talk about it because I’m not looking for anybody’s sympathy. Don’t treat me like I’m a f*****g cancer patient, ’cause I’m not.”
Prior to revealing this, Alsina had other health scares as well. He collapsed on stage in 2014 after having seizures and was in a coma for three days. In 2015, he revealed he was blind in one eye and losing sight in the other. The rapper was told he had a degenerative eye disease that was worsening and needed to get surgery to help correct it, which he did.
In December 2015, he said, “I went to see a few other doctors, but that was it — I had to accept it. It was a very humbling experience. You take that for granted, waking up and being able to see. I’m a sickly man. I know that all of that has got to be for a reason. All this crazy sh*t didn’t happen to me just to happen.”
Tragedy has resulted in the singer raising his nieces
Aside from his health problems, Alsina has also had some personal tragedies. His brother was killed, and his sister-in-law died after having cancer, so he began taking care of his four nieces.
On becoming a parent, Alsina said told The Shade Room last year, “They call me Damy it’s dad and mommy mixed together and just the weight of that title alone because I don’t have kids of my own, it makes me want to be what I know I need to be for them because I grew up with my father dead and having a strained relationship with my mother. To go through life without having a person you can run to, without having a certain type of foundation, so I’m saying all of that to say I am how I am. And I am how I am until I get to more of what I’m supposed to be.”
The discussion with The Shade Room was Alsina’s first public interview to press in several years, though he also appeared in an episode of Pinkett Smith’s Facebook talk show, Red Table Talk, in 2018
Alsina commonly shares images with the girls as well. He says while he is open to having children of his own one day, his nieces are his priority.
“The joy that my nieces give me, I wouldn’t mind. But I think at this point in my life, my babies, they’re still kids. And that’s my focus. And maybe once they get older, I could possibly have a kid and know that [they’re] going to look out for my kid. I’m not in disagreement with having a child, it’s just about the circumstance being what it should be in order to bring more life into this world,” he said.
Fans show support as he begins trending on Twitter
Alsina began trending on Twitter after one tweet in particular went viral. The tweet states, “People don’t even realize August Alsina was next. His brother was killed and sister-in-law died, and he took in their daughters and is raising them on his own. His liver disease keeps him in consistently, all while his peers don’t even show love. Man deserves more respect.”
The tweet definitely struck a chord with a lot of people who have missed Alsina’s presence in the music industry and hope he is doing well.
Other people started to join in, posting positive sentiments about the singer and giving him well wishes. “I miss August Alsina so much. God please let this man get and stay healthy. May all the generational curses he’s suffering be broken and keep his nieces in your good graces,” another person tweeted.
We hope that Alsina is doing well and that he continues to be the parent that his nieces need.
