Rapper Lil Wayne suffers seizure

While acknowledging his medical issue, members of the New Orleans' artist's camp shot down reports that he was near death.

"Dont believe the nonsense about comas and tubes to breathe ... that's false!!" tweeted Mack Maine, the president of Lil Wayne's Young Money label, around 5 p.m. ET Friday.

Sarah Cunningham, a publicist with the Young Money record label, acknowledged that Lil Wayne had a seizure.

Maine didn't offer that much detail, though he did say that he and Lil Wayne had been watching the University of Syracuse Orangemen play Georgetown in the Big East men's basketball tournament.

"Wayne is alive and well!" the record label president wrote on Twitter.

The rapper's independent publicist, Kia Selby, said only, "Lil Wayne is doing well." She strongly denied reports he was in a medically induced coma, as reported by TMZ.

Born Dwayne Carter, Lil Wayne is one of the rap world's most successful artists. He won best rap album for "Tha Carter III" at the 2008 Grammy awards, and took home three more Grammys the following year.

Beyond winning over critics, he's also been a commercial success. Last September, Billboard reported the rapper had tallied 109 hits on its Hot 100, surpassing the record previously held by Elvis Presley.

But he's also run into trouble outside the studio and stage.

Lil Wayne was arrested in 2007 outside New York City's Beacon Theater after police said they found a .40-caliber pistol on his tour bus. He ended up pleading guilty to felony gun charges and spending eight months at New York's Rikers Island jail.