Rapper Lil Keed’s cause of death has been attributed to natural causes as a result of eosinophilia, the Los Angeles County medical examiner-coroner revealed Tuesday.
The rising star, who was signed to Young Thug’s label, YSL Records, died on May 13, 2022. He was 24.
Eosinophilia is a condition that causes a “higher than normal level of eosinophils” — a disease-fighting white blood cell, according to the Mayo Clinic. This condition most often indicates a parasitic infection, an allergic reaction or cancer.
The coroner was unable to determine what caused the condition in Lil Keed’s case, per an autopsy report – but the doctors did not report any findings of cancer. And given the time frame that Keed suffered from the illness, at least 4 days, an acute allergic reaction is unlikely.
That leaves the most likely cause a “parasitic infection.”
In general, refugees/immigrants originally from resource-limited countries, along with travelers/expatriates to these same areas, have a high likelihood of eosinophilia being caused by parasitic helminth infections. Patients from high-income countries without a significant travel history are much more likely to have allergic, autoimmune, malignancy-related or other underlying causes for their eosinophilia.
Just hours before his death, the rapper, whose real name was Raqhid Jevon Render, said he needed to go to the hospital.
“He had been sick in bed for 4 days with complaints of stomach and back pains,” the report stated. “His brother noted that the decedent’s eyes were jaundiced and drove him to the hospital in a private vehicle.”
