DJ Unk Wants Listeners to 'Smoke On,' Did He Learn from Heart Attack Scare?

On one of DJ Unk's latest mixtape songs "Smoke On," I expected to hear an entire anthem about smoking. I found it interesting that he waited until he got good into the song to finally say, "spark up a kush blunt and smoke some more, smoke on." Personally I'm hoping he stops smoking altogether, especially due to his August 2009 scare with a heart attack.

Popularly known for songs like "Walk It Out" and "Two Step," DJ Unk was rushed to the hospital on Sat., Aug. 29, for medical attention. He was only 26 years old at the time. Don't believe the hype that one has to be AARP-member ages to get a heart attack. DJ Unk tweeted that he'd have "no more hot wings, no fried food, no more seafood!" and joked about eating air and water. From his tweets, I wondered how many other young, black men were having heart attacks at an early age.

Diabetes, high blood pressure and heart attacks are common in African-American households, so I try to be cognizant of what I eat even as a vegetarian because I truly have a loving relationship with potatoes and bread, which can pack on the pounds too. Or, when I get a sweet tooth, I avoid the candy bars and eat Sunsweet's dark chocolate plums, two excellent antioxidants (16,000 antioxidant score beats out blueberries, apples, raisins, oranges and bananas).

Heart attacks (medical term myocardial infarction) happen due to coronary heart disease-the narrowing of the coronary arteries due to fatty build-ups of plaque, according to AHA. The American Heart Association also reports that in 2005, coronary heart disease was the single leading cause of death, killing 438.4 per 100,000 Black men. Black men ages 20 and older rank at 35.6 percent with blood cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dl (milligrams per decilitre), and 7.9 percent have a blood cholesterol level over 240 mg/dl. A healthy cholesterol level is under 200 mg/dl.

Also, 73.7 percent of Black men are overweight or obese, which is also a factor in heart attacks. But anybody who is familiar with DJ Unk can plainly see he's a slim guy. He denied MediaTakeOut's post about him "going overboard on the Kush and the Lean," stating that he stopped eating lean meat four years ago, but he couldn't deny being a drug user on his Twitter account. His response: "on-that-kush-end-tho-lol-hey-weed-don't-kill."

Although people who smoke cigars or pipes have a higher risk of coronary heart disease, cigarette smokers are in greater danger. AHA states that "environmental tobacco smoke, secondhand smoke or passive smoking increases the risk of heart disease for nonsmokers." Diabetes, stress and alcohol intake are also factors in increasing heart attacks, but physical activity to decrease obesity by 10 to 20 pounds can also the risk of heart disease.

Are you obese, a smoker, have high blood pressure, have diabetes, have high cholesterol and don't exercise? You're not alone, but the question is what are you going to do to correct that? Be safe. Eat healthy. And even if you're fortunate enough to continue "walking it out" and listening to songs encouraging you to "smoke on" like DJ Unk, it doesn't hurt to "two step" a little bit more.