Timothy "Buc Wild" Joseph, the other half of Hot 97's Star & Buc Wild morning show, has died at 47. Star (Troi Torain) confirmed it on his YouTube livestream Wednesday, September 9, saying Buc passed on Sunday. Complex (@Complex) reported it Thursday. Star said "possibly fentanyl" but was clear he had no confirmation on cause. We're treating cause of death as unconfirmed until family or officials say otherwise.
## What Star said Star called Buc "like a son" and said the two were always in contact even when Buc was hard to reach. He talked about Buc's dyslexia and the reading work they did together during the Hot 97 years, and credited station colleagues Tracy Cloherty and Judy Ellis for looking out for him. He said Buc leaves children behind and spoke warmly about his son's mother. The through-line of the tribute was that Buc was likable in a way that cut across every room he walked into.
## The show Star & Buc Wild ran on Hot 97 in the early 2000s and was the most polarizing thing on New York radio. Star built the "Hater" persona; Buc was the foil, the laugh, the one who kept it from tipping into pure hostility. The show was fired, sued, and picked up again more than once, from Hot 97 to Power 105 to Pulse 87 in 2007. If you came up on New York morning radio in that window, the voice in your head during rush hour was one of those two men. The format that followed, from Breakfast Club to every shock-jock podcast on YouTube, borrowed the blueprint.
## The note A lot of the people who built this culture's media did it loud, uninsured, and without the safety net the artists eventually got. Buc Wild was one of them. Rest easy.
## Sources - Complex - Timothy 'Buc Wild' Joseph, Former Hot 97 Host, Dead at 47 (Sept. 10, 2026): https://www.complex.com/music/a/backwoodsaltar/timothy-buc-wild-joseph-dead
