Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God took quite a while to arrive, but it was worth the wait. Busta Rhymes's seventh studio project landed him a Top 10 album and the rap legend has been on his promo tour as he shares intimate details of not only the creation of the record, but of his long-standing career. It was back in the early 1990s when the now-48-year-old rapper dipped his toes into the Hip Hop scene with his Leaders of the New School crew as they began opening shows for Public Enemy. Chuck D became a mentor for Busta Rhymes and helped the burgeoning artist as his fame increased. Busta recalled those days in his recent interview on The Messy Truth with Van Jones, and he shared highlights as he took a walk down memory lane.
“He’s my father in this whole thing, Chuck gave birth to Busta Rhymes," said the rapper. "Chuck D, gave me my name Busta Rhymes, Chuck D, gave us our group name Leaders of the New School. Chuck D is the first one to bring us on the road to experience tour life. Chuck D is the first person to believe in us professionally.”
We previously reported on Busta Rhymes revealing how his son's fears were the catalyst to him changing his health habits, and he reiterated some of that with Jones. "I’m in the car and I go to sleep, and I’m snoring crazy. And it gets to this point where I’m trying to inhale, and not I’m able to inhale," said the rapper. "My son got so scared that he spoke to the security about this fear that he had. My son was so scared of how he was gonna hurt my feelings by having this conversation with me directly that he had to tell someone else to tell me. That sh*t f*cked me up — I just felt like I was letting my son down, I felt like I was letting a lot of people down."
At one point, Busta weighed in at 340 pounds and the emcee said he recognized his vices and bad habits contributed to his rapid weight gain. Then, his doctor told him that Busta had also developed polyps in his throat. "I’m like you need to tell me what the f*ck you seeing, I need to hear what's going on," he said he told his doctor. "He says, ‘Your polyps grew so big that it blocked 90 percent of your breathing passage and if I send you home tonight and you sleep under the AC and catch a cold and that last 10 percent of breathing of your breathing passage gets blocked up...you are going to die tonight." The moment was an emotional wake-up call. "I just started crying.”
Watch Busta Rhymes get candid about his personal life and career with Van Jones below.