Sean Kingston is lucky to be alive, and not just because he crashed his jet ski while speeding over Memorial Day Weekend.

In an interview with The Today Show this morning, the artist and his doctors talked about a torn aorta the singer suffered just days after the accident. It required open-heart surgery.

"He tried to die a couple of times with us, but we refused to let him die," one of Kingston's doctors said.

Kingston said he was in "a lot of pain" after the crash. But now? Following a rescue at sea by Jonathan Rivera of the coast guard, and another in the operating room?

"It feels great. It's a blessing... For me to still be here, it's only God's work. I think my work isn't done. It wasn't my time yet."

The singer weighed more than 300 lbs. before the accident, but has dropped 70 pounds since. He told MTV this week:

"I do the bicycle, I do the treadmill, I play basketball. But I got to keep it up and lose more weight. It's easy to gain weight when you're in the studio. That's how it first started out, but I'm cutting all that out. I don't eat after 6 [p.m.], and then I really just do the treadmill, and that's what it is. I feel a lot better."

[Photo: WENN.com]