Busta Rhymes has credited his transformational weight loss to a post-sex asthma attack that made him rethink his entire lifestyle.
The “Beach Ball” rapper opened up about his health journey as one of six rappers to cover the latest issue of Men’s Health published on Tuesday (August 1) celebrating Hip Hop 50.
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Discussing what prompted him to start his weight loss journey which saw him lose 100 pounds, Busta recalled a time he was having breathing issues after getting intimate with his now ex-wife and she called him out for letting himself go.
“I was having a really difficult time breathing, so I got up and I walked out of the bedroom so she wouldn’t panic seeing me trying to keep myself calm,” Busta Rhymes said.
“I was trying to inhale, and it felt like it wasn’t working. I felt like I was having like an asthma attack — but I don’t have asthma. So I walked out of the bedroom and went into the living room, and I was forcing myself to inhale, to relax.”
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He continued: “That was scaring me so much that it was a mindfuck, because I had to stay calm and make sure she didn’t hear me panic or hear me struggle to breathe. I’m butt-ass naked in the living room, trying to calm myself down.
“She was like, ‘Yo, this is not who I fell in love with.’ She didn’t know what had happened outside, but she was looking at my body and the weight. She was like, ‘You gotta lose this weight. This breathing is scaring me. When I met you, you wasn’t like a musclehead, but you, you was slim, you was cut, you had your shit right. I need you to get back to who I fell in love with.'”
Busta also recalled another pair of moments that pushed him toward losing weight, one of which was his son slapping his stomach while greeting him and another was a night he passed out in a car in 2019 that it took his security and son 45 minutes just to carry him into the house.
Shortly after, Bus-A-Bus decided enough was enough and he had surgery on his vocal cords because of polyps causing a 90 percent blockage in his throat which could’ve killed him in his sleep and caused an array of issues threatening his health and career.
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Four years later, Busta Rhymes has dropped 100 pounds and is proud of the shape he’s in. Busta’s currently serving as a supporting act on 50 Cent’s The Final Lap Tour at the age of 51.
On Monday (July 31), a video emerged of Busta Rhymes giving kudos to 50 Cent for selling a astonishing number of tickets for the tour.
In the clip, Busta showers Fif with non-stop praise backstage during a show in Toronto as a group of their mutual counterparts — including producer Boi-1da — looked on.
“840,000 in one week, worldwide,” he said. “840,000 tickets sold, in one week. 840,000 in one week. 840,000 tickets. In one week. N-gga sold 675,000 tickets before the first show. In four days. 840,000 in one week.”
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50 Cent was flattered by Busta Rhymes’ lofty praise and simply replied: “That’s cause’ I been outta the country.”
