Joe Budden Opens Up on “Club Shay Shay”: “I Was Killing Myself Slowly But Surely”

The Podcast Mogul Revisits the Height of His Percocet Addiction and His Path to Sobriety

Joe Budden is currently sitting on top of the media world, but his journey to the “Podfather” throne was paved with internal battles that nearly cost him his life. In a vulnerable new sit-down on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay, Budden peeled back the curtain on a dark chapter of his past: a gripping addiction to prescription painkillers that began nearly two decades ago.

From the Hospital to the Streets

Budden traced the origin of his struggle back to 2008, following a hospitalization for a hand injury. What started as a standard recovery quickly spiraled into a dependency on Percocet and OxyContin.

“Doctors were writing all these slips… and people were getting hooked on them,” Budden explained. “When I left the hospital, I was hooked. I was able to get them on the street level in bulk.”

The “Pump It Up” rapper described a life dictated by the next dose, revealing the sheer scale of his habit:

• The “Altoid Case”: Budden admitted he never left his house without at least 40 pills on his person.
• The Dosage: He specifically called out “30s” (30mg Oxycodone), known in the streets as “big boys.”
• The Lifestyle: He kept them on hand “just in case you bumped into a party,” illustrating how integrated the drugs were into his daily social circuit.

The Physical Toll: “Cold Sweats and Withdrawals”

Joe didn’t shy away from the grueling reality of chemical dependency. He described the “deep and intense withdrawals” that made quitting feel impossible—symptoms like night sweats and full-body tremors that kept him trapped in the cycle of use.

“I was killing myself slowly but surely,” he admitted. However, he offered a chilling perspective on the current state of the drug crisis: “I thank God every day that I experienced that at the time that I did because that was before fentanyl.” ### A Support System That Saved a Life Budden was quick to clarify that his recovery wasn’t a feat of solo willpower. He credited his circle for “weaning” him off the substances in a process that was anything but overnight.

• His Parents: Instrumental in providing the structure he needed to heal.
• His Inner Circle: A friend group that prioritized his health over the “party” lifestyle.
• The Timeline: A slow, arduous struggle that eventually led to the clear-headed media titan we see today.

Now a decade-plus removed from those dark days, Budden’s story serves as a stark reminder of the opioid epidemic’s reach within the hip-hop community and a testament to the power of a strong support system.