Joe Budden recalls a time when carrying large amounts of Percocets was just part of his daily life.
On Wednesday’s episode of Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast, Budden looked back at his long struggle with addiction and the moment that finally led to lasting change.
Near the two-hour and five-minute mark in the video linked above, the 45-year-old podcaster explained that the turning point that truly stuck came during what he describes as “the perc epidemic,” a period when, as he puts it, “doctors were writing all these slips in the hospitals and prescribing the percs, and people were getting hooked on them.”
Budden recounted going to the hospital around 2008 or 2009 for what he describes as a hand issue that got worse.
“They prescribed me with medicine, percs were on that list. When I left the hospital, I was hooked to percs,” he admitted. “I was addicted to Percocets and oxycontin. And I was able to get them on the street-level in bulk.”
“My Altoid case would be rocking. I didn't leave home with less than 40 pills on me,” he added. “30s too. Big boys. So l didn't leave home without them, just in case you bumped into a party.”
He continued, “You do that long enough, your body starts to become almost dependent on it, and if you get off it or try to get off it: you'll start going through these really deep and intense withdrawals, cold sweats at night. I couldn't live like that. I was killing myself slowly but surely.”
Budden then expressed gratitude that his period happened before fentanyl became widespread.
“I thank God every day that I experienced that at the time that I did because that was before fentanyl,” he said. “What fentanyl is out here doing and how undetectable it is—unless you're out there actually testing every drug that you take, the pill head that I was? I would have killed myself. No doubt about it. I'd have been dead. Just like that.”
While Budden eventually achieved sobriety, he rejected the idea that quitting came from a sudden burst of discipline.
“I mean, I don't want to say I woke up one day like I just had all of this self-control,” he explained. “My parents were instrumental in that, my friend group and everybody in my life was really instrumental in weaning me off of that stuff. And it wasn't overnight. It was a struggle, indeed. But again, I thank God it happened back then and not now.”
When asked about rehab, Budden said, “No, I didn't. I mean, l've been before in my life, but not for Percs.”
The “Pump It Up” artist placed the timeline of his addiction to 2008 to 2010 while he was still a rapper. He noted that unlike “white people” who could check into a two-week facility, fame, bills, and stigma made that impossible.
“If I went away somewhere, bills ain't getting paid,” he said. “And I'm famous, and at the time your pill addiction is taboo to even discuss out there because all of us are zombies moving around. So, nah, we all needed to get educated on what that was doing."
Watch Joe Budden’s full Club Shay Shay episode up top.