Rapper Bow Wow reveals how his addiction to cough syrup caused him to lash out. Plus, he opens up about how his mom made him realize he had hit rock bottom. Find out about the pain he experienced during withdrawal.
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00:00 >> This September hip-hop sensation bow wow tweeted about
00:04 his agonizing addiction to leave which almost cost him his
00:08 life.
00:08 Rising to stardom at just 13 with millions of fans worldwide
00:14 now while success continued over the years, but along with
00:17 it in the pitfalls of start.
00:19 Today, I was opening up about his troubled past with a
00:24 warning that just might save someone you know.
00:29 Bow wow joins me now.
00:31 I really appreciate you speaking out on this effort
00:37 thanks takes a lot of of it takes a brave soul that.
00:41 You're one of the youngest ever to break through the kind of 6
00:44 you had in the rap industry that increased the pressure
00:48 that you felt to succeed.
00:49 >> In a way, yeah because of who founded me who discovered
00:54 me know Snoop Dogg was the person who gave me my start so
00:58 I felt like I had to just live up to those expectations,
01:00 you know, and then Jermaine Dupri working with me was kind
01:04 like I had no choice but to succeed in the big.
01:06 >> And when you go through all this all the fans coming at you
01:10 and people expecting to do the better the next time around
01:12 the when did your first think about or find out about cost
01:16 syrup as a way of escaping.
01:17 >> Yeah, it really wasn't much of escaping it was that it was
01:21 just around you know is one of those things that all my boys
01:25 was doing it and you know it was kind of like start off like
01:28 let me let me tell you some yours and then next thing you
01:32 know week later, it's make me moan and then after that it's
01:36 I'm poor mom like my mind was addicted to it, but my body was
01:40 addicted to it because it was just nothing to me it was just
01:43 there I thought like a drink what kind of what kind of what
01:46 could a drink do with fruit punch or but it's playing your
01:49 behavior definitely did definitely did maybe really
01:52 agitated. It was at one point in my career was hard for people
01:56 to work with me me and my mom will always get into it all the
01:58 time started hating all my friends because you know she
02:02 felt like they were the ones who kind of influence me to get
02:04 on it so what kind of things would you do after you take in
02:08 some lean cost Europe that you would have done normally that
02:11 the real bow out with the done.
02:13 >> I just get irritated by anything like these flowers like
02:16 the color of the you just get.
02:18 >> If you. But like I just started to notice that I would
02:26 just get agitated and just irritated with just anything
02:30 like if I was waiting on food like why isn't it here yet like
02:33 it should be here and it's like about you just told us you
02:36 wanted to cheese like you just told us you want to cheese
02:38 burger like we'll get it now like what like it just turns
02:41 you into just a monster then you know I started feeling the
02:44 real effects and how you know you're really a lean separate
02:47 and when this in your system is when you start to itch and
02:50 that's why they say it is like liquid here because that's an
02:53 you know side effect we're here when you see a lot of her
02:55 and that is if you watch movies. It's scratching and
02:57 that's just are scratching a lot and I'll go out like this
03:01 is just in the beginning started to your mind starts to
03:03 tell your body okay, I need it now because you can't get off
03:06 of the you need it if not you're going to sick and that's
03:08 the problem I ran into.
03:09 >> When did you realize that you hit rock bottom was there
03:12 an event that made you think I got I got change this is
03:16 working absolutely my mom just hearing her say my attitude was
03:20 crazy people didn't want to be around me and it was changed
03:23 and then once I just put it down I hit this wall where I
03:26 just started feeling pain start feeling this feeling in my
03:29 stomach and cold shivers in them like it's summertime in
03:32 Atlanta, it's like a 100 degrees. But it felt like it
03:35 was a New York winter day.
03:37 >> So you tweeted this earlier about the withdrawal.
03:40 I never felt the pain like that ever it was summer I was
03:44 walking around with 3 hoodies because I was so cold facts as
03:48 busy as you are as successful as you are why was it worth it
03:51 for you to be here with me today talk to America about
03:54 this.
03:54 >> Because a lot of people a lot of young people they they
03:57 look up to me and is rare that you know I really speak on
04:00 something but you know this kind of hit really really close
04:03 to home me because you know I was simply now one point in time
04:06 in my in my life and I felt that if bow out step forward
04:09 and you know spoke out against it and told the kids to put it
04:13 down and not to be easy influence by that it is a
04:16 problem like you know that there's been record books that
04:18 show that people have died from this. We don't want to lose
04:20 anybody not just a hip-hop but you know we don't want nobody
04:23 to.
04:23 I know we don't have a lot of cats that that simply like all
04:28 about man come on man you can but but there's a lot of hip-hop
04:30 stars that that are against it that don't really support it
04:33 like that and they have spoken out about it like you put the
04:36 cup down like you know, it's just it's just bad business is
04:39 bad business.
04:41 >> And there is still a fair amount of talk about the
04:44 leaving of it in the in the hip-hop songs, you think the
04:46 industry in general will come along with you on this.
04:49 >> I mean it's tough because you know drug taking the music
04:53 business been going on before our time, you know is not just
04:57 with rappers but you have rock stars who party harder than I
05:01 would say party harder than rappers, you know so they just
05:04 have that mentality and my son when you're in the studio
05:06 recording the power that you feel the drugs give you when
05:08 you take because you've got a lot of artists say you know
05:11 when I'm sober. I'm just sitting here like twiddling my
05:14 thumbs trying to come up with a hook. Nothing's hit me.
05:17 Now when I pop this pill or 5 sit this drink I get in a whole
05:22 nother zone in my mind just expands and now you know I can
05:25 just get it out easy now with it and then when you hear the
05:28 music is I would never said that if I was so it would never
05:30 came out like that so now your mind is hooked on every time
05:32 I'm recording. Yeah, I need that drug I need that drug is
05:35 not going to work unless I have that drug so we've got we've
05:39 got a break that we've got to just break the chain.
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