Rapper Rick Ross tweets he's OK after health scare

Rapper Rick Ross tweeted Friday afternoon that he will still perform in Memphis, Tenn., later in the evening despite a medical emergency hours earlier that caused the plane he was aboard to return to Florida so he could be taken to the hospital.

"Memphis here I come," Ross declared on his official Twitter account Friday afternoon.

Ross is scheduled to perform Friday night at the University of Memphis basketball team's midnight opening practice event. Calls to his publicist have not been returned.

At about 1 p.m., about four hours before his tweet, Ross was on a Delta Air Lines flight from Fort Lauderdale to Memphis when he suffered an unspecified medical problem. The flight, carrying 121 passengers, returned to Fort Lauderdale.

Mike Jachles, a spokesman for Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, said the flight landed at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and was met by paramedics. They performed what Jachles called "advanced life-support care," which did not include CPR.

Ross, 34, was conscious and breathing but was nonetheless taken to a hospital for treatment. He soon contacted Memphis to tell them he was still coming.

"He called a member of our staff and said not to believe what's out there and that he's on his way to perform at Memphis Madness," said Lamar Chance, a university athletics department spokesman.

The Miami-based gangsta rapper gained fame with his husky voice and lyrics that spotlighted the grimier side of Miami life. He has become one of rap's most popular figures in recent years.

Ross, whose real name is William Leonard Roberts II, has a new album titled "God Forgives, I Don't," due out in December.

The hefty rapper's hits include "Aston Martin Music," ''B.M.F. (Blowing Money Fast)" and "Hustlin'."