The LA County Coroner's office has said that UGK rapper Chad 'Pimp C' Butler died accidentally through a combination of a cough syrup and a sleeping condition. As previously reported, Butler was found dead in an LA hotel room last November.
Assistant chief coroner Ed Winter yesterday said the rapper did not deliberately overdose, but died because he consumed a prescription cough syrup including Promethazine and Codeine which reacted badly with a sleeping disorder called sleep apnea which can block the air passages during sleep. Winter told the Houston Chronicle: "Sleep apnea [can] stop you breathing. Coupled with a medication that suppresses your respiratory abilities, you end up with an accidental death".
It is not entirely clear why Butler consumed the cough medicine syrup, labelling on which, experts say, would probably have warned against its consumption by sleep apnea sufferers. Such syrups are used by some in the hip hop community, especially in Southern US, to get high, often by mixing them with sweets, and Butler rapped about such a concoction on the Three 6 Mafia and Underground Kingz track 'Sippin' on some Syrup'. Other hip hoppers have allegedly died after consuming such a syrup, including legendary Houston DJ, DJ Screw, and rapper Big Moe.
However, Winter stressed that Butler did not die from an overdose of Promethazine and Codeine, but because of the affect of the drugs on the sleep apnea.