Miami, FL - 

Rick Ross ended up in a Miami area hospital last year. For months, it was unclear what exactly landed him there — was it a heart attack? Stroke? Ross has had a history of back-to-back seizures over the years and wasn’t exactly in the best shape.

While speaking to PEOPLE about his new memoir Hurricanes, Ross explains that March 2018 hospitalization served as a wake-up call. He also admits his use of codeine led to his condition.

“It was the codeine,” he says. “That mixed with the things I was drinking, the other drugs I was doing, and on top of not resting. [I don’t think] one particular thing would have killed me. But everything combined?”

The Port Of Miami 2 mastermind adds he wasn’t taking doctor’s orders and refused to take his anti-seizure medication.

“I went I don’t know how long without taking the medication to prove to myself ‘I’m stronger than these other people this shit was diagnosed for,” he says. “I ended up back in the hospital in a worse condition.”

Although Ross was in rough condition, he was never placed on life support and didn’t suffer a heart attack. Since then, he’s made some adjustments to his lifestyle.

“I cut the sodas out and I drink a lot more water,” he says. “That, adding in some vegetables and I get a lot more rest.”

Hurricanes is available on Monday (September 3) in bookstores and on Amazon.