Busta Rhymes’ Substance Abuse Got so Bad That His Son Was Scared He’d Die: ‘I Was Trying Everything’
· Vice
Listening to Busta Rhymes, he always sounds like the life of the party. His impressive, dexterous flows made him one of the most energetic rappers in all of hip-hop. Mix that with his sense of animation and cartoonish demeanor, especially in his music videos, and there’s always a ton of joy listening to him.
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However, at one point in his life, grief became so prominent in his life that it led him down a dark path of alcoholism. Eventually, it reached a time when he couldn’t wake up on his own anymore.
During an episode of The Diary of a CEO, Busta Rhymes candidly reflected on the passing of close friend and manager Chris Lighty. The grief and the lack of direction kept him from releasing another album for nearly a decade. Eventually, it led to some deeply unhealthy habits towards his body, whether it was eating badly, smoking too much, or drinking too much.
Busta Rhymes Recalls Drinking So Much his Son Had to Wake Him Up
“I was trying everything to drown the pain and the frustration and the suffering of those losses by overworking, over-drinking, over-smoking weed and cigarettes. It got so bad, I got to the weight of 340 pounds,” Busta recalled. “I’m not even built to be that heavy… There’s certain pictures I had, I had these marks on my face… I hate those pictures. I see the darkness in those pictures.”
Eventually, the cycle became so problematic for his health that he couldn’t even wake up on his own accord. It was as if Busta would be in a coma if no one would physically get him out of his sleep. “I had to be woken up by my son and my security in LA. It took like 45 minutes, we had just come back from hanging out at a club called [Poppy],” he said in the podcast.
His addictions landed Busta in the hospital
The next day, Busta’s son candidly sat him down to express his concerns. For a while, he was scared to tell his father how he really felt to protect his feelings. It was that disappointment that rocked the New York legend. Then, he went to the hospital, and some concerning breathing patterns made the doctor rush him into surgery not long after.
This health scare caused Busta’s son to tell him plainly: “I thought you were going to die last night.” All the alcohol and smoking leading up to that moment scared him so much that he had to address Busta Rhymes directly. “I’m scared you’re gonna die,” Busta recalled his son saying. “I lost grandpa already. I can’t lose you, too. Can you please stop drinking? Can you please stop smoking?”
Ever since, the “Gimme Some More” rapper made it a point to radically change his life around.
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