Dis-COVER-able: Big Men, Big Impact Vol 1: Fat Joe
Prologue
For decades, magazines have been the heartbeat of the culture the go-to source for scouting fresh talent, honoring our legends, and pushing the needle forward. We all know that feeling of picking up a glossy new issue or downloading the latest digital copy to catch up on our favorite stars. But let’s be real what actually makes us stop and look is the cover. It’s that magic moment where the artist’s vision, the art director’s eye, and the magazine’s brand identity fuse together into one undeniable image. That’s the bait that lures us in to see what’s inside.
As a gay, Black man in the big boy/bear community, seeing a big man and especially a big man of color on a major cover is more than just "cool." It makes me feel seen. It’s that classic experience of having your entertainment crush right there in the palm of your hand, just like any other fan.
I created this blog series, Dis-COVER-able, to spotlight and celebrate the representation of big men on major magazine covers across the globe.
Intro
Welcome to the debut of our Dis-COVER-able blog series!
Our first spotlight is on Fat Joe, the legendary New York rapper of Latin descent. Raised in the heart of the South Bronx, Joe first emerged in the early 1990s as a gritty, formidable lyricist. Over the decades, he has masterfully evolved from a street-level artist into a savvy businessman, influential blogger, and a true icon of Hip Hop culture.
Rap Sheet [December 1993] Fat Joe - Hip Hop’s Largest Puerto Rican
Rap Sheet, launched in 1992, is a renowned rap music publication that has been at the forefront of the industry for decades. Founded by Darryl James, one of the original pioneers, Rap Sheet has become a trusted source for rap enthusiasts worldwide. Our mission is to provide a platform that showcases the artistry, creativity, and impact of rap music. Join us as we continue to celebrate the vibrant culture and influential voices that shaped the 90's rap music scene. (Bio Source: https://rapsheet.com/)
X- LARGE Magazine (1993) For The Big Boy’s Of Rap
Beat Down Magazine V3 Issue #6 (1995) Fat Joe & Erick Sermon
"Beat-Down" was a hip-hop magazine that self-proclaimed as "America's First and Only Straight-Up, Hip-Hop Newspaper". It was known for its focus on the hip-hop scene, publishing issues with features on various artists, including Fat joe, De La Soul, Digable Planets, and Grand Puba.
Quick Side Article Tour: The Source Magazine Issue #74 (November 1995) - Microphone Check - Fat Joe
Microphone Check
Bronx Tales - Fat Joe
Real 1. Not imaginary, fictional or pre- tended; actual. 2. Authentic or gen-uine. Real is is a word used in vomit- inducing overabundance in today's hip-hop world. A real brother doesn't have to tell everyone how bad or hard they might be. A real MC can pro- fess their lyrical skills, but steadfastly extend mad props to those who possess the same, if not better, lyrical talents. Fat Joe succeeds in producing all of the above. With Jealous One's Envy, he delivers joints for the noggin. Tight pro- duction, lyrical fury and a street smart, street educated, authentic gangsta attitude drops bombs from Da Bronx-on da real. The scene: corner of 150th and Melrose Ave. The place: Halftime, one of Fat Joe's current babies. It's a fat gear store for the community, stocked full of major
brand labels with a still developing Fat Joe big man line of clothes on the menu. We sit, chill and chat about his second baby.
THE SOURCE: After listening to your new album, I personally think it's going to surprise a lot of heads! What do you think about that?
FAT JOE: You're absolutely correct. That's what it's made for, the element of surprise. 'Cause everybody was saying, yo, Fat Joe's dope, got good production on the first album, his lyrics are alright, but Fat Joe's real so we gonna give him props. He talks about real shit. But with this album... Nas came out with his album and he was just like mad lyrical. And I was like ana- lyzing the style. All the dope lyricists came out and I was like yo, if I wanna stay in the game,
I gotta come out with the ill lyric. So I went home, worked everyday at the lab and I just came out with this album called Jealous One's Envy. It's definitely gonna surprise a lot of people.
THE SOURCE: Explain the title.
FAT JOE: Well, ever since KRS-One, I found out the true meaning of his name, Knowledge Reigns Supreme. .. and LL Cool J, Ladies Love Cool James (both artists loved by Fat Joe), I always wanted to abbreviate my name. And what best fits is Jealous One's Envy. I represent the South Bronx, home of where hip-hop originated (aiight!), all Latinos plus Blacks. But still some seem to be jealous and try to flip and niggas try to try me so I gotta fuck niggas up everyday. People say Joe's changing. Ya can suck my dick, Joe's chang- ing. I'm the realest nigga out there. I repre-sent all mine in the name of Fat Joe, but still "jealous one's envy."
THE SOURCE: What are you trying to get across with this album? And what do you want people to take from it?
FAT JOE: With this album, I said 'fuck it.' I'll just tell it as it is on the street. Fat Joe ain't like all these fake talkin' niggas; I keep it real. Look up any- body in the Bronx and they might tell ya, "I hate that nigga Fat Joe," "That nigga shot my cousin," "That nigga Fat Joe ran my cousin out his spot," "That nigga robbed my aunt," "Fat Joe is just shystie." Niggas know I keep it real on the street. I want people to just feel that Fat Joe is dope and he can mess with any other rapper on the face of the earth.
THE SOURCE: What still surprises you about the music business?
FAT JOE: How niggas is in charge of this business and don't know what the fuck they doin'. How the fuck these niggas get jobs making two, three hundred thousand a year, playing with niggas' lives. Labels don't give a fuck about an artist. They tell ya they're doing this and that for ya and they ain't really doing shit. Record compa- nies like the gimmick before the hardcore skills. They gotta pour more money into the lyricist so niggas can hear them more and be like, 'yo, they're dope.' Gimmicks just come, Bow, Bow. Too much politics.
THE SOURCE: What do you want to accomplish, what's the main goal?
FAT JOE: I'm just into niggas gettin' money. I'm tired of seeing niggas all bummy, chippin' in for blunts. on the corner, and drinkin' 40s. My main goal is to open doors and create more jobs for other kids to make money. There ain't too many other ways for a Black or Hispanic young kid to make a lot of money that's legal and not die over it.
THE SOURCE: Where does Fat Joe fit into the picture of past and present Latino rappers?
FAT JOE: This is a risky question to answer. Well, the Beatnuts, I love them to death. But I feel as a signed rapper, a nigga who's actually makin' records, I don't want to sound arrogant, but I'm the dopest Latino rapper out there now! None of them niggas can fuck with me. When I rap, it's like Fat Joe isn't Hispanic, he's just dope. And it's hard to be Hispanic rapping, because we have so many things. We have House, Salsa, Meringue, so to go the rap route is totally just going the other way. So, don't get me wrong, there are dope Spanish rappers, but I don't think that there are any that take it as serious as me. They're not as lyrical.
THE SOURCE: What's more important to you, fear or respect?
FAT JOE: I'd rather be feared than loved because the fear lasts longer. Fat Joe's here to stay for a long time.
(This Interview was done by: Source Magazine & A.L. DRE I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
The Fever Issue #7 (1996) Fat Joe - Jealous One’s Envy
Page 1 & 2: The date is set, Thursday afternoon around 2:30 pm in the Bronx, on the corner of Melrose and 5th street. The place? Half Time, Fat Joe's clothing store, for the cover inter- view and photo shoot. Thursday, so far the worst day of the week for an interview. Why? For the past 3 weeks it seems that all of our interviews with any- one from NY were held on Thursday and we have yet to come home with the completed taped inter-
view.
Page 3 & 4: THE BRONX RAPPER... THE BORICUA GANGSTER GUN CLAPPER... THE JOEY CRACK FLAT BLACKER... THE MOST HATED BY POLICE CRACKERS... THE TERROR SQUAD LEADER... THE HALFTIME CLOTHES CONSUMER FEEDER.
From the hood to the stage and back, all of these have been faces of Fat Joe. If he has his way with his sec- ond album, "Jealous One's Envy," he will be adding one more title to the list-respected lyricist. "The lyrics are like 100 times better," he says. "This is for... everybody talkin' like 'Oh, Joe alight, he ain't that dope'... When niggas hear the album, that's what it's gonna be jealous one's envy."
Growing up in the Bronx, the home of KRS-ONE and the Diggin' in the Crates Crew (Showbiz & AG, Diamond D, and Lord Finnesse), Fat Joe, the jealous one's envy, has always lived and breathed Hip Hop. When he was about nine or ten, he recalls watching old school greats such as Melle Mel and Grand Master Flash battling in the park across the street from his home, the Forrest Projects, "not knowing it was history in the making".
Even though those experiences made him feel that he was "embraced by Hip Hop," he never really believed the rap game was for him. "I always wanted to be a rapper, but to me, rap is like ball. It's a million dope rappers. There's a million dope niggas you knew that could play ball, but who made it to the pros, you know what I'm sayin'? So I was like, boom, that shit is just a dream, we can't become rappers."
The turning point was when he saw Lord Finesse come out with an al- bum. Eventually, with the help of Finesse and Diamond D, he started receiving exposure beyond the juice he had on the street. After winning Ama- teur Night at the Apollo four times and making promotional tapes for DJ Red Alert, he was signed by Relativity Records. However, things didn't just happen overnight. "I had to earn my respect," he says. He remembers playing the background while Diamond D and Lord Finesse performed, practi- cally begging to get on the mic. "But I just kept on and kept on and kept on until Diamond took me seriously and was like, 'Yo, let's do this.""
In the same way, Fat Joe has become more serious with the sound of his second album, both musically and lyrically. Where his debut, "Represent," was largely a Diamond D creation, "Jealous One's Envy" adds a lot of flavor to the mix with many producers, including L.E.S. (who got Joe's respect for doing "Life's a Bitch" for Nas) and Domingo. "I didn't want to have the same vibe on the whole album. I wanted to be careful with each beat that I picked; I wanted them all to be the bomb."
And with so many rappers talking about "keeping it real" but sporting a trans- parent street hustler image, Fat Joe felt that it was justifiable for him to be more vivid this time around with his own stories from his earlier days of plush Benzes and overflowing respect. "Real is not rap, what rap is sayin'...I was just like buggin' cuz all these rappers come talkin' 'bout they shoot shit up...and I done lived that whole shit. I'm like, aw man, these niggas is full of shit...these niggas talkin' 'Yo, keep it real, shit is real,' 'til I noticed niggas started sayin' in their interviews, 'Well, we don't do everything we say...I'm just entertaining.'...What I say I live. I thought every other rapper was doin' the same thing, but that's not the case. So I got even more open with my lyrics and talkin' about more of what I really am and what I used to be back in the days."
This is also what's going on in the skit, "Fat Joe's Way," which is entirely in Spanish. While someone who doesn't speak Spanish may think Fat Joe is on some kind of Al Pacino thing with the dark music and the close circle of friends, he's once again criticizing those who don't really keep it real. "What I was basically saying was I'm tired of these fake-ass rappers talking shit 'bout they catchin' bodies. Frontin' like they got money when they frontin' in rent-a- cars, always all fuckin' high and shit."
In addition, "Jealous One's Envy" marks the beginning of Fat Joe's attempts to get behind the scenes, by introducing some new flavor to our ears. If you lis- ten to the track "Watch Out," you may notice some unidentifiable voices rip the mic expertly. Call it the introduction of the Terror Squad, Fat Joe's click, fea- turing Armageddon, Keith Nut, and Big Dog the Punisher. "Niggas don't really know how nice these niggas are...Armageddon, he's just so lyrical, he's just, so, thinkin' about visions...his shit is just so fuckin' deep...We got Keith Nut, he's like the perverted nigga...I wouldn't trust him around my daughter or son or no shit like that. He's just fuckin' crazy...And we got Big Dog
"I didn't want to have the same vibe on the whole album. I wanted to be careful with each beat that I picked; I wanted them all to be the bomb." Fat Joe
Page 5: the Punisher, I feel like he's one of the dopest rappers in the whole world, neck to neck with Nas...that nigga's just un- believable, they're all unbelievable."
Another cartel that Fat Joe is develop- ing is his community, starting first with his friend, Brim. Brim used to make T- shirts, so Joe decided to help him fur- ther his dreams with a store. This is how Joe's store Halftime was born. "We knew the inside of the biz...we knew they were gonna try to fuck us this way, fuck us that way...So when I got that nice check from the record label, I was like, 'Yo, boom, we gotta do somethin'. We ain't gonna be one of these fuckin' rappers who made money and just end up bein' bums at the end of the day, so we opened up the store, and thank God, shit is just right. "It's getting good sup- port from the community, and why not? The shit got the dope Hip Hop gear, just as good as anywhere else. We're treatin' niggas nice, tax included with the shit. We ain't really tryin' to dog
'em out."
Fat Joe envisions expanding distribu- tion in the future with several stores, employing as many people as he can, in a more broad attempt to give back to his community. "I'm gonna be a very dangerous individual when I get the real money. If I get the real money, which doesn't look impossible, It's gonna be over. I'm just gonna be puttin' my peoples on, I'm just gonna be spreadin' these ideas, 10, 20 stores," he said.
Being such a man of trades and get- ting away with it is a deep pleasure for Fat Joe. "I done created so much de- struction in the South Bronx and so much terror on the streets and them niggas never could catch me and pin me for some real time, then now I came out a hero to the community, making records, on TV, opening up my own business...Mu'phukkas just-yo, oh my god - them niggas is hatin' it.
(This Interview was done by: FEVER MAGAZINE & Written by Danielle "Da Wise Mistress" Campbell
based on an interview by Gadget Illistration by Jamie Scott Photos by Carl Shackelton I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
Ad Extra: Fat Joe • Dapper Dan • Avirex • Coogi • Nike • Jordan • Street Fashion (1980s-1990s)
On The Go Magazine - 95/96 - Hip Hop Graffiti - Fat Joe
Fat Joe - Treat Or Menace
as a yout, I endured more static than a sock in the drier. From day one to 5th grade, when I learned to hold my hands, I was lumped up by all the local losers. In those dark days of dishing out lunch dinero, I consoled myself by envisioning my foe's future as a facsimile of their father; drunk and disorderly. It turns out that anybody that ever picked on me now picks up a fat paycheck. So much for my kindergarten karma paying off.
Fat Joe is no different in the pattern I see of bullies making beaucoup bucks. The self admitted "worst kid in the neighborhood" has done good, in spite of the hundreds of heads hoping his heart would explode like a hand grenade. Fat Joe's stock has risen steadily since he diversi- fied his company's holdings from "Street Level Activity Ltd." to "Bronx Boriqua Boom Bap Inc." Now his empire has proliferated from the Bronx to the pockets of the public worldwide.
Thanks to the Bronx ball buster, I'm at piece with all the punks who punched me out. I've realized that bullies need love too. I went around and forgave all my grade school enemies with a tire iron. Ahh that's much better than being bitter. Thank you Fat Joe, you have made me a more loving person.
Q: What kind of child was Fat Joe?
Fat Joe was a very smart, young child. I always thought I was going to be a lawyer or something like that. I always did real good in school until I hit high school, then shit got hectic. Everybody was buggin'- cut- tin' class, fuckin' around with all the girls, I started hustlin'.
Q: What kind of lawyer would you be?
Criminal, representing the Pablo Escobar motherfuckers. I'd also be a community activist lawyer, stopping police harassment.
Q: When you gonna run for city council and truly represent the Bronx?
I've been determining that. I've been seeing if I'm gonna run for Bronx Borough president or something like that. I gotta get in good with a few more cops, that's rare for Fat Joe. Honestly, I'm thinking if I keep being successful and gaining knowledge I might do that. I'm thinking of getting into this politics shit for the Bronx. Not New York, not the world, but the Bronx. I wanna uplift the neighbor- hood; catch some of these crooked cops, give more funds to the schools, and all my friends will get the construction gigs. Growing up around here, (150th and Melrose) the cops knew you as a troublemaker.
Q: Growing up around here, (150th and Melrose) the cops knew you as a troublemaker. How do they feel now that you're a star?
Oh my God they hate my guts!!! Bad enough the worst kid in the neighborhood became a successful rapper, but now that I came around and showed them the mentality is so strong that I'm gonna open a legit busi- ness in the same community ahh it's killing 'em. Them niggas hate it.
Q: It's rough being successful. Do people you smacked up hold grudges?
You know I've made a lot of enemies in my day in the Bronx, 'cause I fucked up so many people. And people hate me 'cause I shot their cousin and shit like that. But they gotta forget the past and think of the present. Fat Joe's trying to bring a lot forth in the commu- nity. I'm trying to show them leadership, anoth- er way to be successful than the drug route. Little kids go to their older brothers and say, " I was at Fat Joe's store." And their brother tells them, "Fat Joe used to eat free lunches with me, Fat Joe was a bum like me." You show kids that and they'll say, "Damn, Fat Joe can do it, he used to live in our projects, then I can do it." I lived in the Forrest Projects, home of the D.I.T.C. crew. We grew up in different buildings in the same projects. We all used to rap, but I never took it serious. Once Finesse came out, and I saw it could be done, I was like, "I'm gonna get a record deal and blow up the spot."
Q: So now you maintain a legitimate profile.
I'm about accomplishing shit and really. doing shit I'm not about fronting at all. I said to myself, I'll get a little cheese and come back to my area, hire people from the area, get them to have a business mentality, open doors for people.' I like talking to people, deal- ing with people. That's why I like being in the store. Alot of rappers go into a shell, thinking they're superstars. Y'know me, I like to bar- gain with a nigga over prices, "Yo that costs $35." "I only got $25." "Alright, give me $30." Playing the game, having fun, leading a nor- mal life. I try to stay away from all that glamour shit. That's not me, y'know, at all.
Q: Are you catchin' any shoplifters?
OH MY GOD, I'm TIRED of beatin' niggas asses. HA HA for real. Every day in the store. Niggas don't care if you're Fat Joe, Snoop Doggy Dogg, whoever. You open up a store, niggas is gonna steal from you. I thought they wouldn't do it, but I be watching motherfuckers through the mirror, on the camera. I catch 'em and I beat the shit outta them. The cops already threatened me and told me they're gonna take me to jail. Every week a nigga comes rolling out of here with eye jammies, bleeding, lumps on his head. You steal from me, I'll beat the shit out of you, bottom line.
Q: You should have a sign that says 'Fat Joe will personally beat the shit out of all shoplifters. Speaking of officers - who's you're favorite?
Officer "Naked Man" (Not his real name) He's the biggest piece of shit in the world. Motherfucker always trying to fuck with me. The other day he came by the store and said, "Hey, Joe! This is the store everybody's talking about..." I said, "Ay, y'know we're trying to do something..." (He said) "Ahh shut the fuck up, you fulla shit !!!" and he drove off. He's a piece of shit. I'm still waiting for the one on one with him, but he never wanted to fight me.
Q: Out of all the precinct cells you've been in, where are the worst?
42nd precinct. Nasty. That shit is like a dog- house cell. I've visited all the precincts in the Bronx, but that's the worst.
Q: Something OTG hasn't done in a while is the graffiti chase story, but you're just the guy to bring it back.
(Joe compares notes with Uncle Dan and .) Alright, when I was bombin' shit with my nigga Brim, we were doing fill in throw-ups all over New York City. We was killin' them all over. I told Brim, 'Being as how there ain't no trains any more, let's hit these highways. Me, Brim, and Reven (VIC), went down and start- ed wrecking shit. We did like 10 throw-ups in a row, back-to-back. Next thing you know a van stops. I see Brim and Reven, and they out! So I'm runnin' with them niggas from this guy chasin' us. There was no where to run, since they had a cop at the other exit. So we had to climb this wall of big rocks. Brim, that nigga's small, so he's jumping up the rocks, climbing all types of branches and shit. I had to climb. up, and after struggling, and Reven pulling me up, and getting mud all over me, I thought we got away. As soon as I got to the top, I saw the cops waiting for me. Motherfucker dove on me, and said, 'You've just been caught by the infamous vandal squad !' I'm fucked uuup! They handcuffed me and made me slide down the mountain! Handcuffed! They took me back to the precinct and I had to call Uncle Dan, but it's all fun and games to me.
Q: Did Brim get away?
Yeah, Brim got away that time, but Brim gets caught every week! Brim ! Little, fast ass ■nigga can't get away. One time we got spotted - writing and we started running different direc- stions. Who do you think they decide to go after? Brim! They catch 'em, thinking he's got a gun or some shit, and almost beat his ass. - We was in Brooklyn, and when they found out he was from the Bronx, they asked, 'Where's your car?' So he took 'em to his car and they wrote all over his car with his spraypaint. They said, 'How do you like that shit?' Brim don't get away from nobody. That nigga's stuck on the cops.
Q: What's up with Crack TS these days?
Crack is kinda like... he's not running ■scared, but say I got arrested for driving with- s out a license. Anybody else would get away with that with a slap on the wrist. But since I dissed the cops and got a fifteen little bit of money, they hit me off with a $20,000 fine. So you can just imagine if they caught me defacing some city shit. They'd hit me up-shoot the shit out me. But we about to do this wall - Me, Bio, BG, and Nicer are about to blow it up. And rest in peace to Nicer's sis- ter. She died last week. He's a good brother, he's in my heart, and we definitely feel for him. I got too much to lose these days to go bombing.
Q: Were you always "Fat Joe"? How much did you weigh at birth?
I don't know. I was a heavy kid at birth Ha Ha. I wasn't fucked with much. I kept kids under pressure.
Q: You got family?
One brother.
Q: Is he older?
Yeah.
Q: So he can beat your ass?
Oh my GOD he used to beat the shit out of me!!! I used to have dreams of killin' his ass. But he showed me the right direction, showed me how to be a hard working man. He's a good dude, my brother.
Q: If Fat Joe disappeared tomorrow, what would you want people to remember about you?
That I was the realest rapper in the world. Not the best, the realest. Because too many rappers talk shit, and when you finally meet people from around their way and ask them, 'Yo, was this guy a really big drug dealer?' You find out nobody heard of them. Not even on their own block. They're fantasizing. Now, no disrespect to KRS, but you know who's representing graffiti in the Bronx for real, Allight?!
Exciting Fat Joe Facts you might not know:
Fat Joe prefers Rusto Aluminum to Flat White when blowing up a spot.
Fat Joe's store "Fat Joe's Halftime" is named, in part, after Nas's "Halftime". It's located at 150th and Melrose Ave. in the Bronx. Take the 2 or the 5 trains to 149th and 3rd ask anyone with an eye jammy where it is.
Fat Joe plays in a softball league. He can pitch 80 mph and hits "a shot so deep that your average man would be able to run the bases two times in a row, but I get to second or third. "He calls this a "Fat Boy Triple".
Fat Joe's new album is called "Jealous One's Envy. It will be out when Relativity gets off the thuggish ruggish bone.
(This Interview was done by: ON THE GO MAGAZINE. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
Stress Magazine Issue #11 Feb-March (1998) The Foul Essence Of Fat Joe
"Stress" was a hip-hop magazine that emerged in the mid-1990s, focusing on the culture and trends within the hip-hop scene. It gained recognition for showcasing a mix of emerging and established artists, often with a focus on independent and underground hip-hop. The magazine also covered fashion, music, and other aspects of hip-hop culture.
The Foul Essence, Fat Joe Grows Into His Own. By: Clyde Valentin, Photos By: Analisa
When KET mentioned Fat Joe was open on doing a full fledged cover story, I simply grinned and agreed. Who else could get Joe open on doing shows and writing graff in Puerto Rico? I had interviewed Fat Joe for STRESS Premiere Issue two years ago and we thought it was a good idea to have a Part Two.
Fat Joe strategically met me on a night he was also meeting Puffy Combs at Daddy's House. It was good to see Fat Joe, live and uncut, get his Don-politic on with Puffy, who appeared somewhat rushed. In 20 minutes, Fat Joe arranged with Puffy to produce a track, and for Jay the Kiss of the Lox to drop a verse on "John Blaze,", a ridiculous symphony with Nas, Raekwon and Big Punisher. By the early morning three Puerto Rocks walked out of Daddy's House feeling good about life and the role each one is playing in Hip Hop; Macho(Fat Joe's brother) is making gear, Joe is making music and I'm telling stories.
As I walk up 165th Street from Prospect Avenue in the South Bronx with Fat Joe, heading towards Forest Projects, I get the sense i'm walking with the Mayor of a little town. Reality for Fat Joe is seeing eye to eye with the neighborhood crackhead, encouraging a shorty to stay in school, giving the peace sign to the local drug dealers driving by, and talking shit with the fellas about trading cars with each other. Fat Joe in his comfort zone. It is apparent that the life he once lived is still deeply embedded in his soul. We walk slowly, as he reflects upon his upbringing and his desire to continuously pound down the streets he's treacherously walked all his life..
"If I ever make 100 million, I'll still walk through these streets freely; this is what I love man; this is important; this is reality. Some times I think I'm scared of fame, 'cause I feel like I won't be able to be around the hood no more." The irony is that Fat Joe is no longer the Joey Crack who flipped on you to prove point. Eventually with such physical forms of emphasis come legal bills, the lawsults, Intense scrutiny by the media, the potential investigations, deadly vengeance, the downfall. The game ain't the same, and Joe's ambivalent about the new territory. "It's like confusion, because all my life I wanted to be a famous rapper; but, at the same time, I've tried to just keep that in my world, I never wanted to change, because I love being me." Don't get it wrong, Fat Joe very much wants to "let every
“ WHEN I PRAY AT NIGHT NOW, I THANK GOD BECUASE I DIDNT EVEN KNOW WHY HE PICKED ME OUT OF ALL THE LATINOS ON THE EAST COAST”
Magazine Page Image: In A Moment Ms. Cartegena Glances At Her Son As He Hears Something He Likes Over The Phone In Her House. Photo By: Analisa
body know how he thinks," but isn't so ready to make the sacrifices. He is a man standing at the crossroads, and life was simpler when he was just strong-arming the ice-cream man.
A young Joey Crack could only see opportunities to get paid the creative entrepreneur, if you will at the expense of other people. His story parallels many others who grew up po' ass broke with a thirst for the finer things, a taste for the ends beyond the means. At 14, Joey Crack thought he was the toughest kid in the South Bronx. "I was a foul nigga at that age," reflects Joe, "I used to run Morris High School, I had my crew, TS, that I turned into my record label, Terror Squad Pro ductions. We were straight up trouble makers, and I was the leader. In 1986, I was wildin' in the streets and, being an incredible bully, nobody was wilder than me and I had like 50 soldiers under my belt."
If you know the Bronx, you know Samuel E. Morris High School is one of the worst in New York City, hands down. "So one day we rob the whole locker room, taking every- body's coats, 'walkmans, I'm talking about niggas I was in homeroom with, niggas who knew me, friends. Charlie and Tone had masks on, but I didn't because I thought I was extre tuff, where a nigga wouldn't tell. The next day I walk into school and the principal grabs me and police are there. So I'm in the principal's office, handcuffed, and my mother, my brother and my father come in. The deal I made with Morris is that if I transferred to another school, they wouldn't press charges." The option was Bronx Alternative, a GED program where Joey Crack learned to cool out and do his thing. "I used to walk up in there with Gucci Dapper Dan suits, fat rope chains looking like Run DMC. I already knew what pussy was, so I was into flossing, going to school in fly O'Jays and Beemers." At 16, he promised his Moms he would finish school-she's still waiting for the diploma.
Turning the corner of 165th Street to Trinity Avenue, towards his old building, he points to his Moms sitting in the front, enjoying the warm October day. In her presence there is no hype, no designer gear, no ice around the neck, wrist or fingers. Just Joe Crack, his mother and his oldest son, Joey Jr. Chillin' in front of the Projects. The only thing Ms. Cartagena rocks that sparkles, besides her green eyes, is her wedding band from Fat Joe's father, a Cuban exile who came to this country before Castro and Company kicked some ass. As Joe playfully roughs up his son Joey Jr. who's going bananas having fun with Poppa Joe, Mrs. Cartagena seems at peace. I think how this scene of a serene family living in the ghetto doesn't allude to the past, but rather a developing future. I asked Mrs. Cartagena about her son's promise of finishing school.
"I want him to graduate and bring me that diploma the he offered me when he was 16 years old, because I raised him to finish school, go to college and be somebody, not just to float around."
"Do you think he's floating around?" I ask, somewhat taken aback by her forwardness (I see where Joe gets it from "No. He's very successful. But still, he could be even more successful. The more education you have, the better off you are "I agree with her, there's nothing wrong with making it a point to educate yourself. Especially now, considering Fat Joe is at the helm of his own projects as the general partner of Terror Squad Productions. Right now, however, Fat Joe's lifestyle isnt about reading books. Maintaining his family, hanging out with his boys, finishing his album, breaking night promoting Big Punisher and planning the stages for Terror Squad's future development is taking precedence. I still believe, however, as a wise man once told me, you make time for what you want
There was a moment back when we were walking up 165th, Street, a school boy, around 11, crossed the street with his mother to ask Fat Joe for an autograph. Joe firmly asked shorty how he was doing in school and his mother answered for him, stating he could be doing better. Fat Joe's response as bowed his head and concentrated on the Fat Joe tag he took the back of the notebook was, "Education is the key shorty knowledge is the only thing they can't take away." We never clarified who "they" were, but, I found Fat Joe's response simultaneously odd, yet poignant. Did he really believe what he said, and if he did, how did it apply to himself? "I didn't finished at Bronx Alternative because I wanted to use my smarts to get over in other situations. But, if a kid right now, is trying figure out if he wants to be the baddest nigga In the area, or he wants to be the baddest nigga in his graduating class, the to go is to be the baddest nigga in your graduating class."
Joe lounges in his mother's crib w/ the remote control on his lap, a portrait of Joey Jr. above his head. Photo by Analisa.
Joe says this last point with a higher octave level, pounding my arm
adding more emphasis to his words. I believe Fat Joe. There were times when he asked me questions, be it about my views on the Entertainment Industry, Puerto Rican Prisoners of War, MOVE, or even Karma-- and he listened intently, absorbing everything I said like a sponge. Fat Joe's intelligence was revealed in his ability to retain information. He learns mad quick. Something his Mother is proud of (she kept all his kindergarten and grammar school Awards of Excellence) and something that enabled him to survive in the streets and now, in the Rap Industry. No question, the streets were iller.
Joe survived the streets of the South Bronx like a cat with nine lives. One Fourth of July, a heavyset Joey Crack turned the wrong corner, away from his family and friends outside on the block, into a bodega to buy a diet Pepsi. Upon his exit he was met by an enemy, who, despite the summer night, was rocking a winter coat. He stood stone cold as his eyes pierced Joey's own with a question, "What up, now?" Joe Crack had been caught sleeping. His only line of defense was the bottle of diet Pepsi he smashed over the kid's face. Joe managed to dip back around the corner, but ended up. catching bullets in front of his peoples, and more importantly by his Moms. "I definitely gave my Moms mad drama growing up, and it hurts sometimes, because I know she still be having nightmares about that shit."
The hurt that Joe speaks of, is the reminder that his life has not always been so good. He has seen some of his closest boys come and go between prison bars and funeral. homes. On the day of the cover shoot, we were in his mother's house, looking at old pictures and literally everyone (except him) in the photos had been murdered or died some other tragic, untimely death. How many young people in American are in the position to say the same thing? Too fucking many. "I consider myself to be a very blessed individual. My man Charlie is doing 20 years for murder and my other best friend, Tony Montana is dead over the drug game." The subject of Charlie and Tone bring Fat Joe to high emotional peaks. "There wasn't a better nigga than Tone man, he was the one nigga I really loved, he was really like my brother from another mother. If you wasn't his friend you would be scared to death of Tone, but if you was his friend you knew the love was there. And it wasn't until I met Charlie, who lived on Brook Avenue, that I
But growing up didn't last and karma caught up with everybody. Joey Crack was no exception. The difference was Joe had visions of becoming a famous Rap star. "I knew my hangout was money, bitches and business and I didn't want to fuck with niggas that didn't want to do nothing in their life. I couldn't put myself to that, I didn't choose my life to go that way. If not, I would've still been Joe from around Forest Pro- jects." So a determined Joey Crack focused his energy in the likes of brothers like Diamond D and Lord Finesse. Diamond produced most of the tracks on Fat Joe's first album.
That album was Represent, and when it came out, life was changing for the young rapper. Char- lie was locked up, Tony had been murdered, half of Fat Joe's album advance was spent on his mother's hospital bills for cancer treatment and his oldest son, Joey Jr. was born mentally challenged. So when Fat Joe came out with the "Shit Is Real" and it sounded like he really meant it you know why. Despite the trials, tribulations and criticisms, he maintained and slowly improved his lyrical skills. The approach of his second album Jealous One's Envy wasn't much different, save the production and tighter rhymes, anger prevailed. Fat Joe had some soul searching to do and he took some time off to find out. A little over two years. Much of the time was spent on introspection and personal growth.
Maturity, age, a soulmate and another son helped shift his perspective. "When I pray at night now, I thank God because I don't even know why he picked me out of all the Latinos on the East Coast. What made me sparkle more? It's got to be destiny." It is the new found sense of purpose and vision that is slowly transforming Fat Joe.
"I feel responsible for holding it down in Rap as far as the Boricuas and Latinos are concerned. A lot of Black rappers have been influenced by their friends or wives who are Spanish, so a lot of rappers
want do joints with me to represent, because they know Spanish niggas love me. The other aspect is that a lot of rappers talk that bull- shit, but a lot of niggas ain't 'bout it, 'bout it like Fat Joe. Rappers could have 3 times more money than me, but they know Fat Joe lives what they
rhyme about, so they respect me like a Don." It is the developing
(This Interview was done by: STRESS. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
Quick Side Article Tour: Vibe Magazine (August 1998) Big Pun & Fat Joe - Two Tons Of Fun [Pound For Pound]
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BIG PUN AND FAT JOE ARE MORE THAN BIG POPPAS
TOGETHER, THESE BRONX HEAVYWEIGHTS SERVE UP LUSCIOUS LATINO FLAVOR. MIMI VALADES WEIGHS IN. PHOTOGRAPHS BY: PIOTR SIKORA
Woooooooooaaaaaah! says Fat Joe as he watches neon-colored cartoon character jump off a bridge. Eyes wide and mouth open, he’s hawking a television in the living room of his small one bedroom condo in the Throgs Neck area of the Bronx. Since the half-Puerto Rican and half-Cuban tapper is terrified of heights- and refuses to fly in airplanes- watching the animated leap delivers some sweat to his dome.
No one would have anticipated this kind of reaction from one of the few rappers who’s lived the ill rhymes he recites. “Yo, I got problems, man, “he says giggling.” I was definitely the type of kid that would climb up a tree and then be too scared to come down.”
When Joseph Anthony Cartagena landed on the hip-hop scene with a major label, in 1993, all the odds were against him. At the time, aside from Cypress Hill, no Latino lyricists where making any real noise. Joey was just another streetwise fat cat with okay rhyme skills. Nevertheless, his first single, "Flow Joe" (Violator/Relativity, 1993), hit No. 1 on the rap charts that year. "Everybody knows Fat Joe's in town/'Nuff respect from the Boogie Down," screamed Cartage- na on the slow, thumping track. He was determined to go from ghetto mouthpiece to hip hop superstar.
But the 27-year-old MC's got much on his mind this Saturday afternoon; Joe's attention is divided between the always ringing phone and the television's remote. He's thinking about important things-Fat Joe's protégé, Big Pun, has a show to do in Delaware tonight. Questions, questions. Joe is scrambling to figure out whether he should accompany Pun or put in an honest day's work with his street team, who are on a mission to make his own Fat Joe sticker campaign (for his third LP, Don Cartagena) an equal or better effort than what he and the crew did for Punisher (whose stickers could be found on highway exit signs, public lamp- posts, and anything not moving).
"We're painting big walls that look like the sticker all over the city," Joe says. And there hasn't been any beef with the cops just yet. Joe has convinced various building owners that his murals will look much better than the crude tags that presently scar their properties.
After deciding to make it a night of promo for self, Joe has his girlfriend find his work uniform-a hoodie and worn-out sneakers. He then jumps into his black 500SEL Benzino with the caramel leather interior. On the way to Pun's crib, we drive along the Cross Bronx Expressway to check a piece that is near completion. It's drizzling, but two kids continue painting the four- story design. "I got this idea from the Ruthless Records commercial where the guy with sunglasses sees the label's poster everywhere. And that's my goal," says Joe, a sometime graffitist himself,-to be everywhere.
As Joe's hooptie-deluxe pulls up near Pun's rented limo, a tinted window slides down to reveal an incredibly chubby hand encircled by a $17,000 Cuban link bracelet that reads BIG PUN in ice. It sparkles brighter that the streetlights above. Joe shakes his head with disapproval; his eyes are saying that it is a little excessive for a new artist to purchase such an extravagant item-before receiving a royalty check.
But there's no question that Christopher Carlos Rios is destined for ridiculous success. He's not just a dope Latino MC; he's a rapper's rapper armed with chilling, detailed stories that are backed by a non- stop, attack-the-track flow. Gente like Power Rule, Mellow Man Ace, Geraldo, Kid Frost, Kurious Jorge, Tito (from Fearless Four), and Ruby D (of Fantastic Five) might've caused some ripples, but aside from the fact they're Latino, none made any tidal waves. Big Punisher can rip a track to pedasitos and hit you with a party joint that'll shake your culito. Of course, this Boricua from the Boogie Down Bronx will remind many of the late, forever great Notorious B.I.G. The two have similar personalities-charm- ing, funny, and genuinely concerned with winning both underground and mainstream hip hop fans. Biggie's irreplaceable, unbelievable, but Pun's not a bad alternative.
Pun's first foray into the rap game was in a group called Full of Clips (his name at the time: Big Moon Dog), which consisted of the colossal one himself, and round-the-way friends Triple Seis, Cuban Link, and Prospect. A chance meeting with Fat Joey at a Bronx car wash soon after would put master rhymer to microphone.
"I saw them and just didn't like their appearance off the bat. I was like, Yo, that nigga Pun is just too big." Joe says. "I was already a fat Latino nigga rap- ping, so I didn't know if it could work for him too." To top it off, Pun had braids to his shoulders and rhymed about some Satanism/mass murderer-type shit. "[But] at that moment, I knew Pun was phenomenal. He said this rhyme, and I was like, Oooooooohh! I asked him to come to the studio the next day to drop it for my second album, Jealous One's Envy [Violator/Relativity, 1995]." The result was "Watch Out," which featured Terror Squad members Armageddon and Keith Nut. Nowadays, Pun's scorching "Still Not a Player" single gets more play than Yankee stadium.
The true test of a rapper's longevity is how effi- ciently he or she can rock in person. With this said-all fat jokes aside-I'm sure that more than a few of you out there are wondering if this rather large MC can perform live, go the distance, and not pass out from exhaustion. Although Big Punisher weighs in at 450 pounds-plus and oftentimes seems to be struggling for breath, he holds his own onstage at Wilmington, Delaware's Continental Ballroom (well, actually, he gets by with a little help from his friends Cuban and Prospect, who reinforce Pun's vocal barrage). Inside, while the intimately packed crowd of about 300 yell "Hellaware!" nonstop, Pun and his charged hype men satisfy the audience. Who said Latinos can't tear shit down?
When it's all over, Pun and his peoples linger, signing autographs on dollar bills, dancing, and talking with some cluckie-cluck girls before step- ping back to the limo for the long ride home. When we're a half hour away from the Bronx, Pun awakes to call his wife of eight years and jokingly advis es her to get her "boyfriend" out of the house. "I'm giving you ample time," he warns. It's about 4 a.m. when we arrive, and Liza, a 25-year-old part-time college student and mother of his three children, just grins.
Growing up in the Bronx's Forest Projects, Joe witnessed hip hop's evolution in thefirst person. His brother, Angel, was even a crate boy (meaning he carried records) for Melle Mel and Grand- master Flash. And while many love to refer to those early park-jam sessions and block parties as the good old days, some of us who witnessed the movement firsthand remember times being a tad bit iller. "Niggas was risking their lives just to hear hip hop, 'cause the radio wasn't playing it," Joe explains. "People talk- ing about back then it was more positive? Get the fuck outta here! Niggas was shooting, robbing you, and taking sneakers right the fuck off your feet!"
Fat Joey was one of those sinister shorties. "I start- ed flipping on the kids who were bothering me," says Joe, who claims that he was teased mucho as a youth because of his portly frame. "People started to get scared when I was around, and I felt a certain power to it. I did a lot of things I ain't too proud to talk about," he admits, "and there's people in the neighborhood now who still might be like, That nigga is crazy." "When childhood friend Lord Finesse got signed to Wild Pitch Records in 1989, Joe figured that he too would one day put his poetry on wax. Not everyone was so sure that he was going to pull it off, though. "You know how every street hustler says he's gonna clean up his act? That was Joe," remem- bers Finesse. "I just couldn't take him seriously when he said he wanted to rhyme. He just seemed too into that life-jewels, getting dressed up-to be a struggling artist." But Joe wasted no time: He stepped to yet another neighborhood homie, producer en fuego Diamond D, and asked him for some demo beats. Fat Joe was for real about rap.
"I did Amateur Night at the Apollo and won, like, four weeks in a row! We ripped shit-me with two Spanish girls dancing," Joe says. Cool DJ Red Alert was in the house one of those tal- ent show nights. Red, who was im- pressed by the fat man's skills, invited Joe to cut a radio promo for him. Of course, the hungry artist delivered it to him the next day. "I judge promos like I judge records," Red says while checking out the Girbaud fall fashion show in Midtown Manhattan. "It's about the creativity. So if it's good, I'll play it. And Fat Joe sounded good." The third promo he recorded was atop the "Flow Joe" beat- which ended up being his first single and led to the solidification of his first deal with Violator/Relativity Records. But Joe's relationship with Relativity (which put out his Represent in 1993 and Jealous One's Envy in 1995) would eventually sour.
"They thought of me as an under- ground artist, and I got into this business to be a superstar, not an around-the-way rapper," he stresses. "My two kids got to eat off this. Plus, how humiliating is it to become a rapper and be back in the 'hood because you didn't make it, and niggas are snapping on you?" After dis- cussing his disappointment, Joe says Rel- ativity released him from his contract without a fight.
Not many recording artists can manage their own careers; thus, most don't fuss much with business ventures in general. But not if your name is Fat Joe, who owns a clothing store in the Bronx named after Nas's first solo cut (Halftime), a sportswear line (fj560), politics record deals for his homeboy (Big Pun), and forges forward with a label of his own (Mystic Entertain- ment/Atlantic). When one does the math, it's easy to understand just why Joe might be a Latino Berry Gordy in the making.
Pun is extremely grateful that ambitious Joe is on his team. Then there's the team team, the Terror Squad (Cuban, Seis, Prospect, etc.)-their crew of MCs, muscle, mon- ey, reality. They're the people in Pun's and Joe's life who keep them centered and on point-friends who don't hes itate to comment on Punisher's size. "All my peoples be like, "Yo, lose some weight. You could be the next L.L..,'" Pun says days after the Delaware show (he recently lost 30 pounds and is hir- ing a nutritionist). "Steve Rifkind [pres- ident of Loud] offered me money to slim down." Pun, who used to be "cock- diesel," says his present weight isn't the result of medical complications.
"When I was five, I broke my leg at this Manhattan building's playground. My mother sued them, and when I was nineteen, we finally won and got some money," he explains while watching MTV from the floor of his small living room. Until then, Pun had worked a series of odd jobs, and coming into the settlement money (close to a couple of hundred thousand dollars) was like win- ning the lottery.
"I thought I didn't have to work any more," he says over a plate of General Tsao's chicken. "I bought two cars and was just feasting-eating, chilling, and not exercising." Pun even boxed before the massive weight gain. "It kind of bugged me out, because
when I was young, I was kind of spe- cial. I don't mean to brag, but I was so handsome," Pun says sheepishly. "[Now,] I'm attracted to every woman I meet. Intensely attracted. And I real- ly started feeling that way after I gained my weight," he says. "I guess that's my way of looking for affection."
Well, if it's any consolation, Pun the MC is now getting some love: Capital Punishment (Loud) is a heavy plate of stinging beats and stunning rhymes- "You Came Up," featuring Noreaga; "Caribbean Connection," featuring Wyclef Jean; and "Super Lyrical." It debuted at No. 5 on Billboard's pop chart and at No. 1 on its R&B and rap charts. And when Joe's Don Cartagena (Mystic Entertainment/Atlantic) drops in August, kids will find the same raw- ness that put him at the forefront of the sophisticated thug-core sound. It's danceable, but never corny, hip hop. It shows FJ's incredible development as a lyricist. Joints like "John Blaze," the all-star MC lineup featuring Nas, Pun, Jadakiss (from the Lox), and Raekwon; "Destiny," part two of "Twinz" on Pun's album; and "Find Out" (produced by the one and only Marley Marl) are enough to soothe the true hip hop lover. Together, these wondertwins comple- ment each other. Fate introduced them and made each a better hombre and more equipped to shine. KRS-One said it best: The Bronx keeps creating it.
(This Interview was done by: VIBE MAGAZINE. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
Juice Magazine Issue #40 (April 2002) Fat Joe - 20th Anniversary Issue
20YearsJUICE - an anniversary that wants to be celebrated. Over the next few weeks, we are therefore publishing JUICE history milestones digitally for the first time. The former heavyweight Fat Joe moved blank in April 2002 for the title story of JUICE. For author Davide Bortot, the story gains legend status "especially because of the photos."
For ten years, Joseph Cartagena and his Terror Squad stood like hardly anyone else for a New York hip hop generation, who is slowly being forgotten in all the hustle and bustle of the champagne gang. For ten years they represented the Bronx. And for ten years they prepared the way for all the Latinos, who seemed to have no place in this game for so long. But when Big Pun died, the whole burden shifted to Fat Joe's shoulders, and the family began to crumble. Well, a good two years after the death of his closest friend, Joe wants to take on the challenge anew. And make all the drama forget.
It is one of those gorgeous mornings in Miami: crystal clear sky, delicate sunshine. Already at this early time of day it has 24°C in the shade. The grey February Cristianesses of New York is three flight hours away and yet seems to be in another world. Fat Joe steps on the veranda of his magnificent domicile right on South Beach. From the boxes, the brand new darkchild remix of J.Los >>Love Don't Cost A Thing» pumps with the host at the mic. His wife Lorena brings breakfast, and the first Philly Blunts are rolled. The Don will treat himself to a few days of vacation from the city and the shop he has learned to hate both in recent years. And he will never be able to leave behind. Because Hip hop, he says, is his life. »I bought this house two years ago, but I was only staying five or six weeks a year.
Because you lose the focus if you are here for too long. It is easy to relax in Miami to feel the dirt of the streets. If I made a whole album in Florida, it would never be as good as a record from New York. Because here you are less hungry. The people in the city are hungry. Everyone is fighting to be played by Funk Flex. Everyone is fighting for space, everyone wants to be the king." And as much as he abhors him, all the hatred that is currently fulfilling the streets of New York, it is the climate of the urban guerrilla Joey Crack: The climate in which hardcore classics such as »Represent', »Jealous Ones Envy», »Don Cartagena' and now the new album »Jealous Ones Still Envy», were able to flourish.
After the first single "We Thuggin," there was a lot of discussion with R.Kelly, about the alleged transformation of the former underground titan to the jiggy club player, who can only serve the ladies and the A&Rs. The second single, >>What's Luv', with Ja Rule, Ashanti and radio king Irv Gotti gave the haters only extra food: Fat Joe, so the tenor, has sold his roots for entry into the exquisite Platinum Circle. Joe simply knows too well that a universal hit today is the only way to secure and be heard a few square metres on the highly competitive battlefield of the urban biz. And after the death of Big Pun, who had always been the designated star of the Terror Squad, it was now his job to provide these hits. Banger like the brutally hymnal "Fight Club" with M.O.P. and Petey Pablo or "King Of N.Y." with Buju Banton speak another language anyway. With the exception of two, three programmed radio hits, Joey has remained the old woman. He still sees his guys from D.I.T.C. (with the exception of Diamond, the producer of his first album) almost every day. The Beatnuts are represented again with a joint on the album. Premo is signed at Terror Squad, where he will drop his producer album this year, which Stevie Wonder and Fred Durst featuret and, according to the boss, "a kind of "the Chronic" for the Eastcoast is to become. And his protégé Remy Martin will also be carefully built up. The main point of reference in Joe's life is and remains Christopher Lee Rios.
It showed how important Pun was actually shown last year, when three MCs separated from the terror quad environment from the dispute with Cuban Link, Sunkiss and Triple Seis. Joe. wants to comment on the separation as little as the events at Angie Martinez' release party in the "Jimmy's". The hotly discussed article in the source, which at least attributes to him a partial debt to split and even hints, it could have been Joe himself, who cut the face with a glass flock in this night of shave, he described as a "piece of shit". He was quoted as sayings that he had never made. And why Cuban and the others have developed this hostility, he cannot explain himself in the best will. For him, however, it is certain that it was the death of the Punisher, who once shaken the so dense network of the Terror Squad. "Pun was extremely important for Terror Squad. We didn't really know how important. He has kept us together, he kept the spirit alive. He was a real friend, he was loyal and he taught us all a lot." Joe speaks out each word carefully, his voice becomes quiet whenever the speech comes to his ehemalige competitor. And that does not happen too rarely. "Before I met him, that was in the final stages of the production of 'Jealous Ones Envy', I was lonely. I was the only Latino in this business, I wasn't as good as I'm lyrical now, many people made fun of me and take advantage of me. I felt very rebellious, as if I had to prove something to everyone with this album. Pun has changed all that. After he died, many doubted that the crew would continue to exist. Even my closest friends have wondered if I would manage to continue. But I did it. And that is why I wanted to return to this particular point of my life. To Jealous Ones Envy, 1995. I knew that I would have to take this album to the next level with 'J.O.S.E.'. For Pun. And we did that."
He is rather secondary to the beats, although with buckledry, alchemist, rock gamer And the mixtape DJ Ron G did not stand the worst on the rulers. "J.O.S.E." is his best album because he raps about the Real Shit, the inner life of Fat Joe. >>If you heard the album, there will be nothing left about my true personality that you don't know. I'm talking about what I think about the police, what I think about the government, what I think about the streets and bites. It is my most controversial album. Not because I'm discussing someone, but because I'm doing everything, even things that many won't love to hear that much mother wouldn't want you to say.
»YOU DO YOUR JOB, AND YOU DO IT VERY WELL, VERY PROFESSIONALLY. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A TUFF GUY TO BE MY FRIEND. YOU JUST HAVE TO BE THE ONE YOU ARE."
Joe is now 31 years old. And old enough not only to override his mother's preferences, but also to be in a position that allows himself to be called to give the kids in the biz something. About the origins of the culture with which they earn their daily Crystal. About Beef and Unity. And about life itself. Even if he is usually not heard, as in his attempts to tee the mediation between Jigga and Esco. Although he has his unique favourite with Nas, he considers her beef as superfluous as it is dangerous. >>Black and Hispanic young people earn a lot of money with hip hop, and that is a wonderful thing. But instead of looking forward to it and sticking together, everyone attacks each other. That is sad, because we should actually help each other. And I don't believe that all these disputes are staged to sell more records. These kids often simply don't know how big they are, how big HipHop is. They don't know that they have fans and that they can make people kill each other. 'I love Jada.', 'I love bewildie' " booom. Shot in the face with a 45. Sometimes you have to be a bit responsible. But the media is fueling this shit. I hate fucking NYC radio at the moment. It's like a fucking soap opera. Who said what? Who has yearned whom today? Too much! No one who really loves hip hop can listen to more radio in New York. It is a disgrace.
Joe's anger is not put on. With the stylized holiness of the recedeer Bad Boy-Hustlers Mase, who told me the night before via BET that "rap" in reality stands for "Rhyming against preaching", has so little to do as with the recurring expressions, since everything is only meant lyrically and not at all that. Joseph Cartagena knows that it was not even said too long before. And then people had to die. Without reason. Without meaning. Jealous ones still envy. »I experience envy constantly, both both in a large and small. Some little hustlers just hate you because you are up and not them. And with the government it is ultimately the same game. For ages they promise us help. But at some point I understood that they didn't even want people in the ghettos to get the chance to start their own business at some point.
The state deliberately keeps the Ghetto Youth below. If they catch someone with some grass, they force him to sign a paper that will save him from prison, but sheer his whole future. These are kids! Everyone once built shit when they were young. And many then have become important pillars of society. However, if you are 15, 16 you cannot have the responsibility of a 30-year-old. But what does the state do, what does the police do today? Instead of seeing their youth, they keep them small and in the ghettos. They want us all to stay in together there. Also people like me who are lucky enough to be able to buy a house. But I can't buy it where I want. I may be able to live where Jay-Z lives. Fuck that! I want to live where Mr. Giuliani lives. If I want to take out insurance for my family, they don't want to do business with me. You can still have so much money, you will always stay out of the ghetto's nigga."
And so money for Fat Joe has lost almost any meaning. For him, money merely means security. Security that he never had and which he now wants to give to his family. And not only the one: Joe feels committed to all his Hood. Where he comes from, he says, he is a kind of Messiah. »I help everyone. Someone's mother dies? You call Fat Joe so he paid the burialSomeone can't pay his rent? They call Fat Joe. The whole fucking neighborhood always comes to Fat Joe." The Don. Don Cartagena. Big Pun has given him this name, and he feels comfortable in the role of the just, patronistic gangster, who gives his environment security and demands the respect deserved for it. It is not about fame, which has long since no longer been a source of drive. The constant search for the brightest spotlight on the biggest stage in the full concert hall is past for Joe. Suddenly I have to think about how the young lady at the hotel reception tells me about a fat jouke in the "Jimmy's" she once saw. How she explained to me how much the people from the Bronx Joey would worship. And how their eyes shone.
When I tell Joe this anecdote, he starts to smile. For the first time since we returned to New York City in mind. Almost moved it seems to be moved. A tattooed 400-pound upwards colossus with a melted streetfighter hearts. »Okay, it still makes me happy and satisfied that people like my music, because that's why I do it. But it doesn't make me high anymore. I no longer try to be the most famous, or think to myself: Wow, I am lovely. I am away from this." If Fat Joe helps his Bredrin and Sistaz, it is because he has his principles - despite all the contradictions in his statements. It is Joe's very personal code of the streets, which he follows as iron as nothing or anyone else. Justice, (family) feeling, respect. As I said, El Don Cartagena. "When you came to my house, I treated you like a perfect gentleman, a good host. You do your job and you do it very well, very professionally. And you give me respect. So I give you respect. You don't have to be a tuff guy to be my friend. You just have to be the one you are."
Nice gesture. And this even though he thinks that I look like "one who only hears Mos Def and such a stuff." A kind of music that is not necessarily among Mr Cartagena's favorite. »I don't like Mos Def, I don't like Talib Kweli. I don't think that's real hip hop. Why? Because everyone believes that the real hip hop is. To be hip hop, you have to be rebellious and swim against the stream. Mos' Flow is definitely dope. But just because he is shooting a video that looks like underground doesn't mean that the cool underground hip hop is. This is bullshit. And it is not original. We are original. We are the first Latinos to run a hip hop label alone. We were the first Latinos to walk Double Platinum. We were the E-r-s-t-e-n. And what does Mos Def do? Nothing other than KRS did. It sounds like fucking Q-Tip. You may be able to scare the 15-year-old, but not me. I have seen this before, I felt that. "Check da Rhyme, yo / check the rhyme, yo. I was Native Tongue. I don't hate Mos and Talib as people, they are cool guys. But what they do is bubblegum. Easy shit to do.
Without wanting to psychologize, what speaks of Fat Joe is the anger of a man who has been plagued by countless private strokes of fate in recent years and has repeatedly stood up. And it is the offended pride of a man who lives hip hop since he was seven years old. Even today with the same passion as 25 years ago. And who has never received the respect and recognition that he (not only) deserves in his opinion. »I'm certainly not the best rapper, but I'm working hard to improve my lyrics. Fat Joe is the only rapper in history that has improved over time. With so many people, the first album was a classic, and then they got worse and worse. My new album is better than all of my previous ones. We sold millions, but that was overlooked. BET has once made a special about the 50 best MCs. Big Pun was in 45th place - behind Luke, Da Brat and Missy. Come on! Missy? Since Brat? That is ridiculous. What do you think we felt? All the time, all the passion we have put into the matter. Or look at the last source, this anniversary edition with a review of all 150 issues. Do you think Fat Joe would be mentioned once? Not a single shitty time. Yet this is what we do, history. It may not be everyone's story, but it is certainly the story of some people. But I'm not looking for recognition anymore, because I don't think I'll ever get it."
When "We Thuggin" was pumped through the world's radio stations for the first time, many saw Fat Joe on the peak of personal happiness. Happiness that he had bought from treason in the culture that probably saved his life. Anyone who really wants to listen to Fat Joe will understand that it is not. And what remains of Judas in the Temple of HipHop is a Bimma X5 and a jet ski on your doorstep. Fat Joe will return to New York tomorrow. Reality calls.
Text: Davide Bortot
Photos: Berry Behrendt
(This Interview was done by: JUICE MAGAZINE. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
OZONE Magazine Issue #25 (July 2004)
“I've always got that New York hardcore hip-hop vibe. I am that. That's what I live and breathe. Being in the South just allows me to open up and try some new shit.”
Do you feel like you and Pun paved the way for other Latino rap- pers like Pitbull?
Definitely. Pitbull is my man, and he's killing it. We support him; I did records with him already. I actually helped him get a deal. I put in a good word for him over at TVT. I'm that way. I want to see all my brothers rise. I'm happy for him.
What was it about Pitbull that appealed to you?
He was just a nice dude. I just got this vibe, and my intuition is always right. When I feel a certain way about someone, like you for example, I'll always show love. Pitbull I always seen him and felt him. He was just dope, and he's just getting better and better.
Is there an initiation process to be down with Terror Squad? Who decides who gets to rock a TS chain?
Everybody wants that TS piece. Some people have been down forever and don't get the chain. You have to earn and contribute to get the chain. [DJ] Khaled deserves a TS piece a block long. He earned my piece and more.
Is he one of the reasons you're always in Miami?
Yeah, this is my second home. My place will be finished in two months. When I come down here, I stay at Khaled's house. We recorded the whole [Terror Squad] album at Khaled's studio, Jerusalem. I love Khaled. I can count all the people I love on one hand. Whenever I'm stressed out and Joe Crack feels like the world is going wrong, Khaled is there for me.
So is this upcoming album a compilation album?
It's a Terror Squad album. Remy Martin is on there, Tony [Sunshine] got so- los, Armageddon and Prospect are on there, and [Big] Pun is on there. I got a joint on the album with me, Big L, and Pun. It's crazy, verses from Big L and Pun you never heard before. It's called "Bring 'em Back." It's sick.
I noticed you switch up your flow a lot.
At times you have to be inventing stuff. That what helps you have longev- ity. I've come up with so many names, come back so many times. You have to come back with a new flow every time. I feel like I'm the best I've ever been. I'm letting myself be creative, and talk about different things. I'm just expanding right now, and not afraid to take a chance.
(Joe interrupts the interview when his right-hand man Macho arrives with suntan lotion. "No homo... Mach, put that shit on my back, please!")
How did you still keep that New York feel to your music when you're down here in Miami so often?
I'm so New York. I'm the King of New York, nobody else. I know everyone who owns anything in New York, even the guys who own the Frankfurter stands. I come down here and get that Southern vibe. {sings) "Ohhh, I like it like that, Slow motion for me." That shit don't be poppin' in New York but I be up on it. Now I'm starting to twist my flow certain ways, so now it can only help me. I've always got that New York hardcore hip-hop vibe. I am that. That's what I live and breathe. Being in the South just allows me to open up and try some new shit.
Are you still on Atlantic Records?
My solo deal is through Atlantic. They're offering me too much money for me to leave. The Terror Squad album is through SRC/Universal. I love Steve [Rifkind]. I never met another rap executive better than Steve Rifkind. He's a real loyal dude. When this business is sometime-ish, he looks out.
Are the other members of TS on SRC as solo artists?
No, they're on Terror Squad/Universal. I've got a joint venture with them right now, and I'm on Atlantic. So I've got like two joint ventures.
Is Terror Squad more like a clique or a label?
We function as a label, but it is a clique.
What appeals to you about the other members of Terror Squad?
Prospect is dope. He's just got to get really, really focused. He brings a Pun-like element. Pun always liked the way Prospect rhymed more than anyone else. He spits that vintage flow.
There was a rumor going around that you and Cuban Link had an altercation in a hotel down here in Miami?
Wow. I haven't heard that name in so long. Actually, the day he said I did that, I was sitting front row at the Heat game. I'm not trying to hurt that dude. We're happy right now, we don't need that.
(A plane flies by overhead, advertising Fat Joe's event later that night on South Beach. "See that?" he points. "That's why they're mad.")
I heard you just bought your wife a new car?
I stay buying her some shit (laughing).
How do you balance your personal and professional lives?
(shakes head) I don't know. It's hard to balance both, but I try my best.
Do you have any kids?
Yes, I have two sons: Joey and Ryan. They come and visit all the time. My son just told me he doesn't have summer camp, so he's coming to be with me every day. I told him I was going on tour, but you know, I've got to fig- ure it out somehow. We're on the Latin Kings of Hip-Hop Tour. It's me and a bunch of popular Spanish rappers. I'm the headliner, of course.
Do you think Latinos get respect in hip-hop?
Fuck respect. I don't care about that. It ain't about respect, just hot mu- sic. They never give us our respect though. Fat Joe been in the game ten years, selling millions, yet they still don't consider us. I sold four million on my own.
What do you think it will take to get that respect?
We continuously keep coming back with hits, winning the Rucker, we the livest out there. We're making movies and we still don't get recognized. I don't know what they want from us.
Are you coming out with a solo album soon?
We're working on my album and Remy's album. We've got Khaled, Cool & Dre, Street Runnerz, and DirtBag so far.
Anything else you want to say?
We love Miami!
(words & photos: julia beverly-design: bobby novoa)
(This Interview was done by: OZONE MAGAZINE. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
The Source Magazine Issue #178 (July 2004) Fat Joe Terror Squad cover
Ad Extra: Complex Magazine (2004) - Marc Ecko Scopes FAT JOE in the Mojito
Appeal Magazine Issue #32 (March 2005) Fat Joe - Got The Whole City Behind Him [Unfinished Business]
Mass Appeal is an American media and content company based in New York City. The name originates from the Gang Starr song of the same name from the album Hard to Earn (1994). The company was founded in 1996 as a graffiti fanzine and since has grown to encompass a magazine, website, film, television, music label and creative agency
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Words: Toshitaka Kondo &nsbp; Photo: Clay Patrick McBride
After a decade of playing underdog to New York's finest, Fat Joe is refusing to lose, finding respect and cooking the crack back into east coast rap.
It's like New York's been soft ever since Lil Jon came through and crushed the buildings. The King of Crunk spearheaded a movement in 2004 that resulted in Southern rap getting 43.6% of total rap radio spins, compared to 24.1% for the East, according to a Mediabase urban top 100 airplay survey. Remember the last time the East didn't rule radio? The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Nas, the Wu-Tang Clan and many more, came out firing until the Rotten Apple was back to thumbing their noses at out-of-towners because they invented this rap shit. So who's gonna take the weight this time? How about Joseph Cartagena, better known as Fat Joe (Da Gangsta for you ole' skool headz).
The 34-year-old Bronx Native has been ready since-on some T.I. shit-he tried to strong-arm the crown dropping the inflammatory "King Of New York" on Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E) [01] in the middle of that Jay and Nas beef. Relegated to an afterthought in a two-horse race, a fire was sparked. "Whenever anyone denies or doubts me, it forces me to get serious and get better," he says riding shotgun in a tinted-out Escalade headed into downtown Manhattan coming from the offices of high-end designer Jhane Barnes. Steadily improving his flow and lyrics, Cook Coke Crack is being taken very seriously now, despite a future that looked bleak in 2000 when Big Pun tragically died. Refusing to quit, Joey Crack reinvented himself as the pop-friendly teddy bear -picking up a Grammy nomination for "What's Luv," with Ja Rule and Ashanti -who infamously pulled out his kangaroo pouch on MTV. He subsequently became the second Latino rapper to go platinum (respect to Pun for being the first) with J.O.S.E., single-handedly keeping the Terror Squad afloat.
Joey Crack's mission to resurrect New York hip-hop started with a bang, with the Terror Squad dropping the undeniably hard True Story [Universal, '04] (shamefully only 382, 982 of youse supported), which recalled the early '90s and fired off the rockaway anthem and #1 Hit, "Lean Back." "He's a definitely a serious contender for the King Of New York after a record like 'Lean Back, "says Just Blaze who produced Joe's current street single "Safe 2 Say". "If he can duplicate that success, Joe's going to be the leader of an East Coast comeback." His upcoming April release, All Or Nothing [Atlantic] features more murder on wax and grimy sounds courtesy of producers like Just himself, Timbaland, DJ Khalid, and Cool & Dre, serving as Fat Joe's reminder that the sun still rises in the East.
Why are you a contender for the King of New York?
For you to be King of New York, you have to walk these streets like I'm walking them with you. Do you see any cops here? Do you see me with millions of dollars in jewelry on right now? That's the King Of New York. I have more hip hop history than any other rapper doing it today. This is a fact. Growing up in the Bronx, being down with Zulu Nation. Going to jams with Grandmaster Flash. Seeing KRS-One perform before he even was big in the South Bronx. I still am a member of Diggin' In The Crates Crew. Yet, they always come back like, "He got lucky." How many times could I get lucky? I could break down to you literally 5,000 groups from Fu-Schnickens to niggas who've been out since I've been out and they're not here no more. No disrespect, but Onyx sold four million. Joe's still here.
If you were gonna make a list of three other contenders, who would they be?
The truth is, I'm that nigga you see. You don't see nobody else. That's why I've never been able to crown a nigga king other than myself. How could you own New York when you a fucking coward? When Pun was here, I stood behind him. Put the umbrella up for him cause I knew there was no way I was seeing Pun. He was a real nigga and lyrical. But I'm in Memphis, Tennessee and niggas who've never been to New York telling me, "Yo, such and such is King of New York. That nigga's a fucking coward." That's why I said I was King of New York when niggas thought I wasn't, and I was. I'm trying to tell them, I'm the only one that'll die for you. During the East Coast-West Coast beef, niggas might have made dis records, but I was the only one who physically took on West Coast niggas.
You actually had physical altercations with West Coast dudes?
Hell yeah! Terror Squad brung it to niggas at "How Can I Be Down?" [conference] in front of the whole rap community. I ain't gonna say what happened because it's way beyond the past, but we the only niggas that made East and West Coast niggas talk about, "Let's make peace.
Speaking of physical confrontations, you talk on the new album about getting shot in front of your mother. Is that true?
That was real. One day, Fourth of July, 1992, I went to the store around the corner to get a Diet Pepsi. When I came out the store, this dude that I always picked on was wearing a trench coat just smiling at me. So I ask him, "Fuck you looking at?" Even when he pulled out the gun, I asked him what he was gonna do with that. He's pussy. So I threw the [glass] soda [bottle] and cracked his whole forehead open. Then he cocked back that gun and hit me in my arm and in my back through my stomach. It was a cookout, so the whole family was there. I remember running to my car, and my mom's looking at me with my shirt all bloody. I'll never forget looking back at my mom. Oh my god, it was unexplainable. I'm in the hospital and the cops bring the dude who shot me, and I said, "I don't know him." The cops were like, "Joe, if you die, you should tell who the guy is. I was like, "I do not know this nigga." So the dude started crying saying, "They're going to kill me," and told on himself.
Holding down a table in the back of Katz's Delicatessen on the Lower East Side, Tony Soprano-style, Joe greets everyone from autograph-seekers to M.O.P.'s Billy Danzenie. While Don Cartagena is all smiles on this cold Monday-which happens to be Martin Luther King's birthday-trouble has found him once again. Just when that beef shit got played out, 50 Cent's back. Whether it was appearing on archrival Ja Rule's "New York," or subliminals 50 felt were being thrown his way, the Terror Squad general is in the crosshairs. 50's "Piggy Bank" includes lines like, "You thought 'Lean Back' was big in the club/My shit did 11 mil, your shit was a dud," and refers to Joe as a "fat fuck." While hip hop beef has taken on a very WWE element, Joe acknowledges the danger inherent. "When niggas diss Joe, what do you expect Fat Joe to do when he sees a nigga somewhere?" he asks. "When you got grown-ass men that have certain reputations going at each other, it can only lead to violence."
There's rumors that 50's coming at you with "Piggy Bank."
That dude is crazy. He must think everybody is talking to him. Hallucinating shit 'cause I ain't got no problem with this nigga. I never dissed him in my life. He should have just said, 'Yo, these niggas did a song with Ja Rule. They supporting Ja Rule, fuck him.""
Yeah, in the new XXL 50 is going pretty hard at Jadakiss.
Jadakiss shouldn't have pulled up his skirt. [50] went on the radio and said he was gonna diss Fat Joe and Jada, and Jada went up there and said he didn't want no problems. Fuck all that. I'm never like that. You'd have to kill me. I personally don't want it with 50 Cent. But my respect means everything to me. So you gonna have to respect me. I'm never backing down from anything.
Going back to some old beef, what's the origin of you and Jay-Z's beef? 'Cause it just seems pretty personal between you two.
We're kind of the same people somehow, some weird way. Not the same as far as streetwise and street credibility. As far as ego and stubbornness, he holds his ground. I hold my ground. Back in the day, we got it on in Carbon with Terror Squad and Roc-A-Fella. It was 15 of us against 70 of them. We were completely victorious. I chased out about 40 niggas by myself. Pun was there, throwing tables and chairs. Physically, can't nobody see us. And ever since then, it wasn't the same. 'Cause we used to do shows together. First time I ever met [Jay-Z] at the Palladium, he asked me to be in his first video, "Dead Presidents," and I told him he was dope. We [did some shows at] the beginning of the "Hard Knock Life" tour and then that shit happened in New York.
Were Jay-Z and Dame Dash there?
Yeah, they were there.
Were they involved in the altercation?
I don't know. I ain't ... You know what I'm saying?
I heard that Jay got hit with a Champagne bottle.
[Pauses] I thought he did. But that's old shit.
Have you spoken since then?
We sat down a couple of times 'cause people we love are cool with him and cool with me. Right now I be flying private and he use the same company. There's times I get off the plane, he gets on.
With Pun, there was obviously a lot drama with Liza, Pun's wife. Has that been resolved?
I don't really speak to her. As far as her kids, she controls the kids. Maybe in the future when they old enough, they can come see me and I'll treat them like my own. After [Pun] passed, I tried my best, although they're always different views. I was a loyal, good friend and brother. Pun made millions of dollars.
One of the underlying themes of the album seemed to be that you're one of the only real ones doing it. In what sense?
In every sense. They ain't no real niggas who actually did what they talking about and make music. Even though a lot of my shit is exaggerated 'cause you know this is entertainment. But these niggas really never done none of this shit and talk like that.
Which other rappers do you feel are real right now?
Tough question.
You do a lot of collaborations. Those dudes aren't fake right? That's not true. It's entertainment. Just 'cause you ain't real-'cause mostly all these niggas ain't real-doesn't mean I can't work with you.
There's gotta be a couple.
I gotta go back to Pac and Treach from Naughty by Nature. That's a real nigga. I love N.O.R.E.. It's a real short list. Raekwon from Wu-Tang. M.O.P. and Mack 10. A lot of these niggas disappoint me. For me, it's about the respect of my peers. It's about the industry finally saying, "Yo, this nigga is hot. Joe Crack is killing them right now." That's all I wanted. I could die after that.
(This Interview was done by: MASS APPEAL MAGAZINE. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
XXL Magazine Issue #69 (May 2005) Fat Joe - Real Talk
BLOW! Magazine (2005) Apocalypse Joe
Quick Side Article Tour: Ozone Magazine Issue #51 (November 2006)
Well, this is the first time I've done an interview in a bank. Having been in the game a long time, what's your advice to new rappers in terms of how to handle their money?
You gotta set aside some of your money for blowin' it. Everybody wants to get rich and famous and blow it, and it never fails. I've seen the smart- est of the smartest people - including myself-blow the first money they got. You've been waiting forever to go to the clubs and pop the bottles. You've been waiting forever to get the $100,000 chain. You've been wait- ing forever to get the Bentley. I think what's helped me survive is just always remaining humble, thinking about a rainy day in the future.
When you first got a lot of money, you blew it?
Definitely. I was surrounded by a lot of people that had a lot of money be- fore I became a successful rapper, so the money didn't really impress me like that when I started selling records. I had seen money come and go, so I've always tried to be cautious. But I too have been guilty. When I got my first million dollar check, I bought like ten dudes $50,000 Escalades. We kept comin' out here to Miami and renting mansions and poppin' bottles, and it's the movie you see over and over recycled. So one day I went to the bank and tried to with draw like $50,000 and they told me I didn't have that much money in my account. The lady was like, "There must be a mistake here," and I started sweatin' bullets. I started catching this anxiety and I was like, "Oh, my God." Ever since you're a little kid you have a dream of having a million dollars. Once you get a million dol- lars, you think it's like water and it won't stop coming out the faucet. And before you know it, that million dollars is gone. And in our tax bracket, it's really like half a million, cause when you make a million half of that goes to the government. And then you keep the other half. All the way home [from the bank] I prayed big time. God gave me some more hits, and I knew never to make those mistakes again. I play and I ball but I do it carefully.
Well, speaking of coming with more hits, some people have criticized your new singles saying that they sound Southern, but you're from the Bronx.
I'm not tryin' to sound Southern, but you know, I've been in Miami for ten years. 90% of the new album is that boom-bap, New York Terror Squad Diggin' In The Crates sound. I like to make music that's relevant. If the DJs in the club are playin' four hours of music that makes you nod your head like this, you can't make the world stop and rock to some slow swag or whatever it may be. I try to do my New York rap, my Bronx Terror Squad rap, but to a beat that'll be consistent with what's being played in the clubs and on the radio. It's something I've been criticized for, being from the Bronx and being an underground hip-hop head, since day one. Every time I change and stay current, they get mad at me. My biggest hits were "What's Luv" [with Ashanti] and "Get It Poppin"" with Nelly. They say they don't wanna see Joe with Nelly, but they don't get mad when they see Jermaine Dupri with Nelly. People don't realize that Fat Joe, for some reason, is under a huge microscope. When you read the [message boards on the] internet, the records they want me to put out is the records that won't get no spins. They wanna hear songs like "Fuck Your Mother" by Fat Joe, know what I'm sayin'? But dawg, I can't really get no spins like that.
Do you think New York in general is just frustrated right now with the climate of the music game?
I mean, we all just gotta make music, you know? The hit records. I hear little whispers. They are frustrated.
What do you think about the Papooses, the Saigons, the Tru-Lifes? Do you think there's a wave of New York rappers that are gonna make noise?
You're asking the wrong guy that question. At the end of the day it's all about the music. I don't care if you're from the South, the North, or the West, if you make a hit record, it's a hit record. If it's something people feel and can emotionally vibe to, then it's a hit. A lot of young cats spit lyrics, but they gotta be able to make hit records and come up with hit choruses and hit hooks. I don't get mad because the South is winning right now, because it's just an other black brother or Latino brother win- ning anyway. That's what I've always been about. Winnin' is love. I have fun, you know? In New York they criticize the South, but when we're in the club we're the first ones to nod our heads to "Every day I'm hustlin'," and we're like, "Oh shit, that's that shit." So I don't see no boundaries with music. At the end of the day we got in this game to make music for everybody, so we should appreciate everybody's music.
So you're not signed to Atlantic Records?
Nah, I wanted to go in dependent. I saw what [artists like] Mike Jones and Paul Wall were doing. I'd been with Atlantic for ten years. I was getting great advances, but I was really just an artist. At the end of the day I was
only getting 80 cents or maybe $1 per record. I was talking to [an indie artist] and they get like $7 a record and they own their own masters. So I stepped to Atlantic and said, "Yo, I think I can do this. I wanna go inde- pendent." It works out very well for me financially. I got relationships. I can put together the right team to market and promote because I pretty much get my own shit done anyway. And it's affordable for me. If you're with a major and you don't go platinum, they're mad at you. But if you go gold independently at $7 a record, you're paid. So I felt like that was the right thing for me to do.
Why not try to negotiate with them for more money per record?
If you have an employee that you're givin' 80 cents a record and he steps to you and tells you he wants $7 a record and the masters, you're like, Nah. I don't see that happening. When they finally gave me an offer, they still wanted half of my masters. Koch Records was offering me a better deal [than Atlantic]. And we loved what Koch Records did with Khaled's record [Listennn] so I was really gonna go to Koch. But EMI created this company called Imperial Distribution - that's EMI's answer to Koch and Fontana-and they offered me a deal that was too good to be true. I put up my money and they give me a nice distribution deal, and at the same time, I have the backings of Virgin so when I go for radio adds I can get their radio staff involved. I also have my own radio staff, my own video staff, my own publicists. We are really, really in dependent, but they'll help us push the buttons, and I get to keep my masters, my ringtones, everything. I get $7 a record.
Do you think this is where the game is headed-will we see more major label artists leaving to go independent?
This is definitely where the game is headed. And the smart people like the Cash Moneys and the No Limits are getting rich for ever. But us in New York- and me, myself- are guilty of [the mentality] where they give me a million dollars and I don't care. Give me a million dollars and pay for me and my crew to fly wherever and I'm good. But at the end of the day, boy, I wish I owned the masters to "What's Luv." Boy I wish I owned the masters to "Lean Back." I don't own no masters. So with this project right here, there's a lot of passion involved. Everybody wants to see [this project] win. These are the things that make good stories, you know, so I'm excited.
We haven't been seeing you lately with Tony Sunshine, Remy Ma, and the other Terror Squad members, and I know you had some friction with Remy not too long ago. What's going on with the rest of the camp?
We're all good. Tony's almost finished with his album. Tony is so talented; he's a superstar. Record labels sleep on him because he is a Latino doing black music. We just recently signed a new deal with him on Terror Squad/UBO. We just brought him down here [to Miami] to work with Scott [Storch]. His album is like 80% done. Remy is about to go back in the studio. Me and Remy argue all the time behind the scenes, and it just so happened that she argued publicly. But it's all love. She hits me every day. We're family. She's signed to Terror Squad. She's about to work on her next album. I just think she was misinformed. Remy's definitely the best female artist out there and her album was incredible, so she should've sold two or three million records. Because of her and her project, I haven't spoken to Steve Rifkind in maybe a year now. I can't re- ally do business with Universal no more because I'm passionate about my artists and my family. I had to tell the chairman of Universal to suck my dick, cause it was just too much of me fightin' for her. I know how to set up records; I know when a record label is behind the artist. They wasn't and they kept lying to me.
What exactly did you feel the label did wrong with Remy's album?
They didn't spend the money. In order to promote, you have to spend the money. In order to make records pop at radio, you have to spend $100,000 on Urban, $125,000 on Rhythmic, $100,000 on Pop. Like that Ne-Yo record - that could've been the #1 record in the country. [Remy's single] "Conceited" could've been the #1 record in the country. They never spent the money it took. Basically they threw her album out there [off the Terror Squad name] and Remy fans had to go find it.
Did you feel that it was the same situation with the Terror Squad album?
Exactly the same situation. The problem was, that "Lean Back" record was just too big. I sat in on meetings [at Universal] where the radio dudes would say, "We spent no money on this." And I'm like, damn. "Lean Back" was a freak of nature. It was the biggest, greatest accident in the world. It was just so big that people supported it, and it blew up. So it was the same thing with the Terror Squad album. We didn't have no funds to go on promo tour. It was a lot of the same shit. But at least that album was successful-it sold 600,000 records. The single "Lean Back" went platinum. Everybody was talkin' about, "Ooohh, it didn't sell," but to me it did great as a group album. So then Remy went on the radio and blamed me for everything I been arguing with these [executives at Uni- versal] about. You know, I had to take it on the chin. You wanna know why? Cause your readers don't know [the chairman of Universal] Mel Lewinter. Your readers don't know Steve Rifkind. They know the Puerto Rican guy Fat Joe, or the black guy P Diddy.
But you and Steve Rifkind go way back, don't you?
Way, way back. You know, I had a lot of respect for him. His hands are cuffed. I believe that he always had my back. I felt like he kept goin' up there just like me, cause there is always a boss. Diddy's really not the boss, Fat Joe really is not the boss. We all have to knock on the door. We're all middlemen. We're negotiators. We knock on the door and be like, "Yo, I need this," and it's up to the boss to shut you down. So I think Steve Rifkind just got shut down every time he went up there. And it's hard for a female artist right now anyway. With female artists, if you ain't Beyonce, it's hard to sell a record now. Lil Kim, Shawnna, all these girls are very talented and made hit records, but for some reason we're in a zone where girls are not really sellin' like that. I tried to tell Remy, "Yo, everybody knows you're dope, this is a stepping stone." I didn't just wake up and sell a million records. She threw me under the bus, but other than that, we're beautiful.
What's the name of your new independent album?
Me Myself and I.
Very appropriate.
Super appropriate. I'm like one of those Spanish conquistadors with the spear in my hand. I'll fight the world. I'll throw rocks at tanks.
It seems like you kinda trimmed down your entourage a lil bit.
I wouldn't say that, cause the goons are always around. But if I get in trouble, I want to get myself in trouble. I don't want a nigga fuckin' my life up because he thinks he's doing the right thing for me. "Damn, Julia, you didn't want me to kill that guy in front of the Sun Trust right now cause he was fuckin' with you? I thought I was keepin' it real!" (laughing) Naw, I can't deal with that. The niggas that are with me are very focused. They know if it's time to get busy, it's time to get busy. Otherwise, let's just entertain people.
Let's talk about 50 Cent - the beef between you two seems like it's kinda died out. Do you think it was a publicity stunt?
It was definitely a publicity stunt, but you can't use me for a publicity stunt. Somebody's going to have to answer at the end of the day. We got beef forever.
Do you just try to avoid each other?
I don't know if we try to avoid each other. It just is what it is. I never see myself squashing the beef with him. I don't really squash beef with nobody, it just rides out. We can be old men when we see each other and it is what it is, you know? It's just like that. He had ample time to squash it before it even happened
So the beef really came from you appearing on Ja Rule's "New York New York" record or was that just a cover for other motivations?
I really don't think it was just the "New York New York" record. Some people, no matter how big they get and how much money they have, they're just jealous people. When they see niggas get successful they try to shut them down. I don't want to keep singing the same ol' song and dragging it out. You, yourself, you've never seen 50 Cent with out the fuckin' niggas with earpieces, with suits on, with fuckin' black shades on, right? The police. Mountains of 'em. I guess he's thinking: I never come out, and every time I do come out, I got 20 cops with me, so this nigga [Fat Joe] can't get to me. It's not like I'm going to run into him at the Carolmart, you know? And it's sad because the only places that we see each other are places where it's uncalled for, like the [MTV] VMAs Cause that's the only places they go. They never come out of the house. It's a tricky situation cause [if something pops off] they're going to blame Fat Joe. I went to the BET Awards with Khaled and it was just me, Khaled, and Macho. I had no clue that Busta Rhymes had brought Lloyd Banks, Eminem, and all of them. They got 150 niggas with them and they only gave me 3 tickets. Security is following me around like I'm a murderer, a madman on the loose, and I didn't realize what was going on until a little birdie came and told me that them [G-Unit] niggas was over there. I had been standing in front of them the whole time and didn't even know it was them. They was really tryin' to act like they ain't seen me, to be honest with you. The security of the BET Awards is fuckin' following me, and I'm like, "Yo, these niggas got 150 niggas with them." Are you serious? I'm three deep. It's just amazing, man.
Do you respect 50 as a businessman in terms of what he's done for hip- hop by making money through other ventures, like the vitamin water and the shoes and all that?
I don't see what that nigga has done. I don't see that nigga at all. It's that simple.
When does your album come out?
November 14th. The second single is me and Game, it's called "Breathe and Stop." We're gonna shoot that video in Jamaica - Nu Jersey Devil produced that. I got Lil Wayne on two joints on the album. I can't wait til the fans get the album so they can hear the music and love it and ap- preciate it, cause I put my heart into this album. It was so many fans like, Yo, this nigga Joe got too much hits for the girls," you know, they want that crack music, that fat gangsta. So I gave them an album that's straight cooked coke. Let's see what the fans wanna do with it. I make music because I love to make music, but in 2006 it's turned into a world where it's all about the gossip and who got beef. When I came into the game all I ever wanted to do was make great music and have people respect me for being an artist. The name of the album is Me, Myself, and I because I just locked myself in the room to make some great music, music that I love. It's a real hardcore album, the original Fat Joe.
I know you did some records with The Runners, of course Cool & Dre, and DJ Khaled - are there any other producers you worked with?
I did like three joints with Street Runner, and three joints with LV, who's actually my DJ. He produced a lot of work on Puffy's new album. Him and Street Runner are the future. I did two songs with Scott Storch. I worked with The Runners. Khaled's got two mean songs on the album. Whoever brought me great music that was in the vibe of the album, I worked with them. The regular listen er isn't worried about who pro- duced it, they just hear it and they like it or don't like it.
(This Interview was done by: OZONE MAGAZINE. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
Quick Side Article Tour: Ozone Magazine Issue 65 (November 2008)
CRACK HOUSE: FAT JOE DEMANDS RESPECT
Words by Randy Roper
With monikers like Joey Crack, Coca and Don Cartegena, it's safe to as- sume Fat Joe knows a thing or two about the drug game. Not to get anyone indicted, but with a new street single entitled "Crackhouse,"
the street hustle for the rap grind. And after eight solo albums and more hit records under his belt than your favorite rappers, he's still relevant in today's fickle rap game. Luckily for the rap game, he chose to spit crack instead of selling it. In the movie that is Joe's career, the gangsta didn't die, he got chubby and moved to Miami.
You go by the nickname Joey Crack. Is that a drug reference or how did you get that name?
The way I really got that name, was when I was younger and I was in junior high school, the teacher would ask me to write on the chalkboard or some- thing and my pants were always baggy, so the crack of my ass would show. So the girls would tease me and call me Joey Crack. That name's still with me, [after] all these years.
When people hear "Joey Crack," they think of drugs.
I'm spitting that crack, you know. I'm what the streets call me. I'm what the streets made me. The streets call me Joey Crack. That's cause I got that ad- dictive flow. I love [the name]. I have police niggas stop the police car and be like, "Joey Crack!" (laughs) That's the craziest shit when the police be like, "Joey Crack, what's up, nigga!"
You've been in the game for a minute, and there's a lot of trap rappers in the game now. Do you think there is too much drug talk and too much trapping going in rap music now?
I mean, they're just rapping that real shit. When you talk about niggas rap- ping, niggas are just painting a picture. We're poets, we're authors. We're like the niggas who make movies. If there's a nigga in jail in a box, and he don't see no light of day and the only thing he can do is listen to his Walkman, we're painting a movie for that nigga. It doesn't necessarily mean that every nigga spitting about crack is hustling crack or selling crack, it's just niggas painting that movie. It just seems like we all wanna be the next Scarface.
Out of all the rappers that rhyme about selling drugs, how many of them do you think have actually sold drugs?
I think almost everybody has. We all grew up in poor, fucked up neighbor- hoods, so you know when I left the game and I said I was gonna become a rapper, hustlers, all them niggas were looking at me like I was crazy, "Crack, you crazy, there's money out here." I decided to change my life through mu- sic, and most of them niggas done got locked up for 75 years, unfortunately. I was ahead of my time and now I see hustlers going into the [rap] game. Niggas used to laugh at me when I told the real niggas, "I'm about to get this rap money." At the end of the day, I think niggas hustle cause they have to and it's survival. But when you turn around and you make it legit in the industry and you're holding money, I don't think there should be no reason to go back and go hustle.
Do you think there's more money in the rap game or the drug game?
There'll always be more money in the drug game, but who's to say that you're gonna get that money? In the drug game Pablo Escobar and [those type of] niggas made billions of dollars. But a nigga on the corner or a nigga in front of a trap house, he ain't making billions. At the end of the day, if you're able to rap about hustlin', and you're able to be a rapper, you making legit money. You ain't gotta go to jail for that. But when you're hustlin', you know it's one or the other, dead or jail. And if you go to jail, you shouldn't be snitching on niggas cause you knew what the fuck you was doing. And I don't understand niggas who snitch on niggas knowing that they were doing what the fuck they were doing. You're caught, why you gonna snitch on the next man cause you fucked? Knowing damn well that you were breaking the law, doing what- ever it was you were doing. You knew what it was when you was in the game.
You said everybody wants make the next Scarface. What do you say to people that look up to drug lords?
Well, you know, the young niggas just gotta know this is just entertainment. Just because it's a black or Spanish nigga doing it, should be no difference. If a black or Spanish nigga says, "I'ma blow your head off," for some reason people believe it. But when Eminem says that he's gonna put his fucking wife in the trunk and ride around with her dead, we don't believe it. Rappers are poets; we're painting a picture. We're making movies through music. When you see [Martin] Scorsese or one of them niggas that do the movies, you don't look at them like, "Oh shit, that's a real nigga, he's gon kill you." You just gotta know that this is entertainment.
So when you do a song, like your new song "Crackhouse," are you referring to an actual crackhouse? Or is it like this is Joey Crack's house?
We're referring to [a crackhouse], but the "Crackhouse" song itself, actually is talking about me. You know, Joey Crack, you're in Crack's house. Like "Run's House." "You're in the crackhouse, welcome to the crackhouse."
So, you moved from New York to Miami.
I got both. I live in New York and I live in Miami as well. I've been in Miami for like 10 years, just back and forth, New York and Miami. I just love the vibe in Miami. Niggas show love, good niggas, loyal niggas. So I fucks wit' them.
Miami is on the coast and there is a lot of drug trafficking going on there. Is there more drug trafficking going on in Miami or New York?
I think everybody gotta get their drugs from Miami. The shit comes in from Columbia and all that to Miami. And then niggas gotta take it everywhere else. So I think it originally hits Miami before anywhere else.
As far as music is concerned, you're a New York rapper that said "change your style up, switch to Southpaw." So you feel you have to go to Miami to get that flavor in Hip Hop right now?
Not really, my nigga. I been there for like 10 years. The whole Miami move- ment, we have a lot to do with starting it. I went to Miami on a promo tour and heard Trick Daddy. Took his demo, gave it to Atlantic Records, next thing I know, Craig Kallman signed him a week later. As far as DJ Khaled, we brought him along, now he's the biggest nigga in the game. Cool & Dre, we brought them along, biggest niggas in the game. Khaled discovered Rick Ross, popped that off. So, in the most respect way, I feel like I got a lot to do with shit moving the way it's moving.
You do have a lot to do with that and you've been in the game for a long time, but you're not getting that respect. Why do you think that is?
I really don't know, man. You look at most of your rappers and they got one hot album, or one hit record. And then they do a second album and the shit is wack or whatever the case may be. The longevity for a rapper ain't there no more. So, when you got somebody like Fat Joe, who's been in the game 14, 15 years, dropping crazy hit records and crazy hit records, and got a hit now on the charts, it's like, when are you gonna show the nigga respect? When are you gonna admit that the nigga's spitting that shit?
I heard people say, "Fat Joe's only around because of the song he did with Lil Wayne." What do you say to people that say things like that?
I mean, they say that all the time. "Lean Back" was #1 in the country 19 weeks. "What's Luv" was #1 in the country, spun 38,000 times. "We Thug- gin'," smash hit record. "Make It Rain,"
smash hit record. People don't really like it. You know, I don't really love the record I did, "Get It Poppin'," but that shit went Top 5. "Make It Rain" went #3 in the country. Now I got "I Won't Tell," and that shit is like #18 in the country, moving on up. You can't categorize me as one song. I got too many hits under my belt. Can't nobody take credit for nothing. And by the way, the joint with me and Weezy, I came up with that hook. Then I asked Weezy to get on that right there, you know what I'm sayin'. And that's my brother. People can say whatever they want; it's all about unity and that commission. Niggas together.
"IF A BLACK OR SPANISH NIGGA SAYS, I'MA BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF PEOPLE BELIEVE IT. BUT WHEN EMINEM SAYS THAT HE'S GONNA PUT HIS FUCKING WIFE IN THE TRUNK AND RIDE AROUND WITH HER DEAD, WE DON'T BELIEVE IT.RAPPERS ARE POETS; WE'RE PAINTING A PICTURE."
Speaking of unity, we have to touch on the other side, the beef side. G-Unit just released another diss record going at you. That beef has been going on for a long time. Is that something that you're tired of yet?
50 Cent is pussy, man. Niggas is pussy, man. He got shot a bunch of times by a nigga. A nigga be in the club everyday, he don't go get him. Ja Rule's a little nigga, he ain't even slapbox with him. And a nigga wanna come fuck with Fat Joe? I don't believe this guy. We don't believe you, you need more people. Go fucking rot out in your fucking mansion.
You also said in the past that you've made more money since you've been beefing with G-Unit.
Ever since I went independent, I've been cha-chinging it all the way. (laughs) Like, they can't stop me, my nigga. They got it fucked up if they think so. If that was the case, the nigga would have been stopped me along time ago. You can't stop me. I make hit records. At the end of the day, you can't stop somebody that keeps making hit records. And by the way, 50 Cent is just 2% of the game. There are 98% other people who love Joe Crack. You see in my videos, how many niggas come support me in videos and wish me well? We don't give a fuck what them niggas say.
What does the title of your new album The Elephant in the Room mean?
The room is Hip Hop and I'm the elephant in the room. Ask one of them niggas that told you, "Yo, Joe's hot cause of 'Make It Rain'," who they know that's been in the game for 15 years dropping hits after hits, after hits, after hits? That's something niggas gotta ask themselves. That's exactly my point. I constantly keep coming back with hit records. Yo, by the way, have you checked the Billboard, have you watched your BET or MTV screen to see who's on there all fucking day? Don't you see how this nigga is spittin? Nigga been in the game 14, 15 years, fucking wit' new niggas that just got in the game, spittin' neck to neck wit' these niggas.
Do you smoke while you record or before you record?
Nah, nah, nah, I don't even smoke to be honest with you. I drink but I don't smoke.
So what's your secret to success when it comes to making a hit?
I know how to make 'em. And everybody don't know how to make 'em, that's the problem. A hit record is something you hear on the radio all day and you see on BET and MTV all day! A hit record ain't what these niggas be thinking, they do a little pitty-pat record and it's a hit. And niggas don't got hits.
(This Interview was done by: OZONE MAGAZINE. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
Quick Side Article Tour: Ozone Magazine Issue #67 (May 2008)
FAT JOE & BIG PUN, 1999
OPIUM GARDENS (MIAMI, FL)
PHOTO BY J LASH
Big Pun was one of the few examples of a sidekick rapper who eventually outshone the man who put him on. Introduced as Fat Joe's associate, Pun's debut Capital Punishment, alongside albums from DMX, N.O.R.E, Cam'Ron, Busta Rhymes, Canibus, Jay-Z, Redman, The LOX and Ma$e served as one of the cornerstones of East Coast Hip Hop's 1997-98 relevance in the midst of No Limit Records' reign of dominance. One of the few lyrically inclined rappers who was able to blend comedy with harsh reality, Pun became the first Latino rapper to go platinum.
Even though he was known to the general public as a member of Fat Joe's Terror Squad, most of the clique was made up of Pun's own Full A Clips Crew who came along with him when he chose to align himself with Fat Joe in the mid-90s.
Hoping to duplicate the success of his first album, Pun was set to release his sophomore effort Yeeeah Baby. On the lead single "It's So Hard," Pun, who had well-documented bouts with weight gain, exclaimed "I just lost a hundred pounds, I'm tryin to live, I ain't goin' nowhere. I'm stayin', alive baby!" Unfortunately a fatal heart attack and respiratory failure claimed his life in 2000 before the song and album were released. Being that he was the proverbial glue that held the clique together, TS began to slowly crumble in the years following his death.
Claiming to be a mix of "G. Rap, 'Pac, Master P/All balled up with a twist of Marc Anthony," Pun was a rare breed of emcee who was able to introduce listeners to a new culture and remind others of theirs all at the same time. He opened doors for other rappers like Pitbull to take Latino rap worldwide.
(This Interview was done by: OZONE MAGAZINE. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
Quick Side Article Tour: RUKUS Magazine (September 2010)
ALL ACCESS
The Latest Albums Reviewed!
The Terror Returns Written by: Alex Groberman
The last decade has been up and down for the man known to his fans as "Joey Crack." Between losing his friend Big Pun, poor album sales and an ill-advised beef with 50 Cent, Fat Joe stumbled on the success ladder. To maintain some kind of recognition amongst his younger audience, Joe resorted to lyrically basic, feature- friendly singles that quickly wore out his credibility with his original supporters.
That all changed in "The Darkside Vol. 1," as Fat Joe returned to his original recipe for success: pure, unfiltered spitting.
The album begins with amazing choir note and blaring synths on "Intro" where Fat Joe shows he hasn't forgotten about his enemies with a bold exclamation regarding his old nemesis 50 Cent: "We'll throw the biggest party when Curtis die." The same refreshing gutter attitude carries over into "Valley of Death," a song with a triumphant production brought by Cool & Dre. Excellent beats continues to be the name of the game on to the Just Blaze tune, "I Am Crack" where Joe takes on the role of the drug, and speaks in first person as if he was the narcotic. It is on this song in particular that we understand what Joe meant by "returning to the darkside" when he proclaims: "It's crack baby, minus the incubators."
The albums first disappointing song comes on the Clipse and Cam'ron assisted, "Kilo." While the song is an unquestionable banger, Joe ends up being shown up by his guest features. In fact, while the tune appears on Fat Joe's album, it feels as if the subject matter and style of the song would have fit better if the final cut left "Joey Crack" off. The only other mistake on this album had to be "Heavenly Father," a Lil Wayne sampled tune that wasn't all that great to begin with.
Joe's first single, "(Ha Ha) Slow Down" is the ultimate hype-up song, and should have clubs and parties blasting it out all summer long. Young Jeezy provides arguably the best feature on the entire album, and a few seconds into the tune you instantly recognize why Fat Joe opted to use it in his return party.
Yet, the album truly becomes borderline classic with the DJ Preemo laced "I'm Gone." In perhaps Joe's finest showing over the last decade, the slow-and-simple piano and violin loop accompanies lyrics like: "Premo on the beat, yeah I know it sounds different / But his mans just passed, his soul's just risen / Cold, cold, world is the word that was given / As he see me fifteen with the burner out of prison / Gangster - f--k that, I'm Gang Starr/ Tell Nas Hip Hop's dead now, my man's gone / As I rise to the top, knee-deep in the game I survive every shot / Back to life like Thriller, back to reality / Flipped the light scoop, got everyone mad at me /...I'm hungry, ... I'll eat your flesh / I'm a butcher, chainsaw through your spleen and chest /...Joe Crack, yeah man on fire / Conversate with the devil, rockin' diamond messiahs."
"The Darkside Vol. 1" is without a doubt the best produced and constructed Fat Joe album ever. Yet somehow, Joe manages to overshadow the phenomenal beats with lyrics reminiscent of his early D.I.T.C. days. Whether this is truly the return of "Joey Crack" remains to be seen, but for now, fans can sit back and enjoy as this blast from the past provides listeners with one of the best albums of the new year.
Fat Joe: The Darkside Vol. 1
Label: Terror Squad/E1
12 RUKUS⚫ September 2010
RELEASE DATE: July 27, 2010
(This Interview was done by: RUKUS MAGAZINE. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
Quick Side Article Tour: Black Urban Music (Sept 2013)
39-40
MOBB DEEP
Shook Ones pt.2 The Start of your ending (41st side)
Released October 3, 1995 Released October 3, 1995
Album Jealous One's Envy Album Jealous One's Envy
Genere Rap Writer(s)/Composer(s) Joseph Cartagena
Label Jerror Squad, Relativity Record Label Jerror Squad, Relativity
Mobb Deep's hit single Shook Ones Part 2, ranked 35th on the Rolling Stones list of 50 Greatest Hip Hop songs of All Time. The song reflects the fierce, even hostile competition present in rap music. Prodigy raps:
For all those, who wanna profile and pose Rock you in your face, stab your brain with your nose bone."
In these lyrics he is threatening anyone who challenges him and Havoc. He is saying that they would be willing to retaliate with violence.
He continues:
"You can put your whole army against my team and
I guarantee you it'll be your very last time breathing."
These lines demonstrate the fierce pride that in turn instigates the hostility mentioned earlier. Competition in hip hop is common, however it is this sense of arrogance that leads rappers to be issuing threats to their competition.
The Start of Your Ending (41st side) by Mobb Deep portrays the rap group as a real mob. Throughout the entire song the rappers describe how tough their 'crew' is. Havoc raps:
"Man I never did forever wildin' that's how we live up in the Bridge
You just sit scared cock back the gat then hit a nigga like a bid"
He is explaining that life near the Queen's bridge is hard; therefore they became ac- customed to violence and other criminal ac- tivities in order to survive. It is for this reason that "you can ask around, don't fuck with the Mobb." Hardened by their life experience, they will resort to violence if they are 'messed' with. This track portrays violence as an acceptable form of retaliation which regrettably trans- lates this belief to the audience.
(This Interview was done by: BLACK URBAN MUSIC. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
47-48
FAT JOE
Success KING of NV
ReleasedOctober 3, 1995 ReleasedOctober 3, 1995
AlbumJealous One's Envy AlbumJealous One's Envy
GenereRap Writer(s)/Composer(s) Joseph Cartagena
Label Jerror Squad, Relativity Record Label Jerror Squad, Relativity
This is the first single from Fat Joe's LP "Jealous One's Envy", the second studio album of Puer- to-Rican/Cuban rapper Joseph Cartagena. The track "Success" presents the greatest general- ization of what it means to be successful, sum- marized by the hook of the song:
"Hustlin is the key to success Money is the key to sex
The life is gettin cash, drinkin Mo', gettin blessed The games people play The names people slay
It's just another ordinary day"
In Fat Joe's view, hustling is the path to success, and that life is all about "getting cash, drinkin Mo' and getting blessed". The track takes it's materialistic theme further with Fat Joe rap- ping about his crew "rockin gold collars", as well as their overstocked supply of weapons and drugs. The cherry on top can be seen in the ref- erences in the song to the Wu Tang Clan joint "C.R.E.A.M", with Fat Joe's drop of the phrases "CREAM" and "Dolla dolla bill" in various parts of the song. Unlike Fat Joe's pigeon holed view of success, Wu Tang's classic is an introspective look to the struggles of the street, and the allu- sion to such classic tracks only makes Fat Joe's track seem even weaker in its lyrical content.
Another track of Fat Joe's second album, the song "King of NY" makes this category along with the previous track "Success", its lyrical con- tent once again dealing with the fast cars, boat loads of money and big houses. The title of the song itself a brag, Fat Joe wastes no time on this track in explaining why "Don Cartagena" is the so called "King of New York":
"Aiyyo, who can test I, the true King of N.Y. Well ever since Big Boy died from Bed-Stuy I've been, controllin the street, holdin the heat Shit I only want what's stolen from me (Nah you ain't fuckin wit us)
Rollin with me, could only get you fast cars and Fuck mad bitches and, dine amongst the stars, But we gettin mad chave in the life we live MTV's comin over just to feel my "Crib""
In only 8 bars, Fat Joe mentions MTV Cribs, fast cars, sexual intercourse with fine women, and eating out with celebrities. Further down the line, Fat Joe even makes reference to the other offender by him in this category, confirming that hustling is indeed the key to success.
"Man I'm feelin great (Whoo!) Pushin mad units Hustlin is the key to success but could you do it I been layin it down, the spray and the town It's about time the rightful owner claimed his crown"
The brag rap nature of the song along with the many outlandish claims of success makes this track a major contender for the worst offender of this category.
(This Interview was done by: BLACK URBAN MUSIC. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
Quick Side Article Tour: Empire Radio Magazine Issue #17 (MarchApril 2013)
THE REINVENTION OF
FAT JOE
By Shaun Redwell
ERM: Joey Crack what's the word my man?
FAT JOE: Redwell my brother long time, long time...
ERM: I consider you a Vet in the Hip Hop world my dude. Now as a Vet what is the major shift in the Hip Hop world that you see now vs when you originally started?
FAT JOE: Man honestly I'm a fan of these new dudes. When I first started there was alot more record label help, artist development etc. Now it's all about how hungry you are and how bad you want to be successful. That's why I respect these new cats man. They put in work.
ERM: Knowing that Dark Side Vol.2 was your first official mixtape how do you feel about the trend of mixtapes in Hip Hop now?
FAT JOE: I feel like mixtapes act as albums almost. They allow you to be cre- ative and feed the streets at the same time. Plus it gives locals and indepen- dent artists the avenue to be heard. With all the blogs and mixtpae sites out now, they keep your fans in tune and keep you workin'.
ERM: How was your experience on Hip Hop Squares? You seemed to be enjoying yourself.
FAT JOE: Man I really love being on the show. Shout out to MTV for even considering me to be a part of such an amazing show. Anytime I get to sit, hang and have fun with my entertainment peers and get paid for it (laughing) it's a great thing.
ERM: We wanted to commend you on your weight loss. What was your biggest motivation to drop your weight?
Appreciate it my brother. The biggest motivation for me has been me losing a couple of close friends; Pun being one of them. I new I needed to be healthier and wanted to be an example for the people around me and for
everybody struggling with their weight. Man, the friends I lost were my size and younger than me. That That kind of thing opened my eyes and made me realize that I needed to make a change. I've come too far to die from weight issues. I wanna enjoy my kidds and my success.
ERM: I heard you had a secret behind your dramatic weight loss. Can you share that secret with us?
FAT JOE: (Laughing) I don't have any secrets my brother, why does everybody ask me that? (laughing) the secret is there is no secret. I put in work. I hit the gym on a regular, I eat healthy and I'm active. I had to get that weight up off me. Plus I need to be cock diesel in the next few months. (laughing) Ladies love that diesel (laughing).
ERM: What is Fat Joe free time like when he doesn't have a busy schedule?
FAT JOE: Man I always have a busy schedule. (laughing) But when I'm not on the road, it's all about my people. I love spending time with my family whenever I can.
ERM: The new style of clothes in hip hop is changing everyday even jewelry converting into Gold. What is your intake on that?
FAT JOE: I love it. I'm skinny now so I can fit a lot more stuff. (lauging). Man back in the day I used to buy jackets and would have to buy two and have somebody sew them together just so it would fit (laughing). Not no more. Man imagine buying two Gucci jackets at $3500 a piece and then ripping them apart (laughing).
ERM: What does Fat Joe have in the pot for 2013?
FAT JOE: More music and more music. I'm focusing on the reinvention of TS plus my brothers and I are launching networks across the country via the internet and TV.
ERM: It was heard through the grapevine that you said the Knicks will beat the Heat? also what is your intake on the new Lakers line up?
FAT JOE: (Laughing) I got mad love for the Heat, but I'm NY all day all the way. When Melo show up the Knicks are unbeatable. (Laughing) Now as for the Lakers, you gotta respect the organization and you can never count Kobe out but they to old to be running with these young guns.
ERM: If you had a choice to do a full length album with an All Star Team of artist who would be in your star line up?
FAT JOE: Aw man that's already in the works. I got the joint with Chris, I got a couple collabos with Frencie, Wayne, ASAP and a few others. I ain't gon' give you everything (laughing). Just know we creating clas- sics.
ERM: Joe I want to thank you for taking the time out your day to share your thoughts with us. What should people look out for in the near future? Will there ever be a Darkside Vol.?
FAT JOE: No doubt my brother, Appreciate the opportunity. Just stay in tune with me and the music. Man we making some epic moves my brother. Just stay in tune.
(This Interview was done by: EMPIRE RADIO MAGAZINE. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
Quick Side Article Tour: RUKUS Magazine (January - February 2017)
Your Choice
Written by Silas Valentino
Although they've been appearing with each other on tracks for years, Fat Joe and Remy Ma solidify their hip- hop friendship with their collaborative LP Plata O Plomo. The album's title is Spanish for "silver or lead" which was infamously uttered by Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar as his offer to police: money or death.
For this 12-song, 47-minute album such an intense ultimatum does not exist; rather, it's the flashiness of silver mixed with the roughness of lead that can be used to describe these two who continue to wear their scars from the streets as they peddle rhymes over glossy beats.
"Warning" kicks things off with a sample that's been manipulated into a fluttering sound that sets up an eerie scene for Fat Joe to dispel. "So much coke you young boys won't believe it/Hopping off JETS I'm Revis," he spits in his album introduction, boasting about narcotic consumption while giving a shout-out to former New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis. (Later down the bars, he gives a nod to New York Knick Kristaps Porzingis and proves that Fat Joe supports his hometown teams even when they're playing like duds.)
New York City is well represented by Fat Joe during his verse but teeth marks come out when Remy Ma grabs the mic to let her advisories (Nicki Minaj?) know that: "How dare you allow people to compare you/Better be careful cause I don't care you/Tried to be my friend but I didn't care to." Minaj and Ma have feuded and bickered throughout the past-"Warning" sets Remy Ma up to reclaim her independence and enter back into the game following her 2014 release from prison.
Up next is the East Coast rap banger "Swear to God" that sports and horn-heavy hook that thrashes with an abrasive beat. It's the first track on the album to feature Kent Jones. The Tallahassee young gun makes multiple appearances throughout Plata O Plomo and begins by rapping over a megaphone-like filter that recalls the howling of 2010-era Kanye West. (The whole track in general sounds like a reference to Ye's "Cold"-which was produced by DJ Khlaed, a longtime collaborator of Fat Joe's.) Remy Ma steals the track with her verse that starts: "Now if I liked your man's face, I would have sat on it" before elaborating on why she deserves to the "queen of New York" moniker.
The torch has been passed to a new generation of Bronx MCs in the unexpected hit single "All the Way Up," which has Fat Joe reclaiming some credit amid the digital age and then hands the mic over to fellow neighborhood man French Montana. Over a silky horn whimper with a bass drop to attract a club audience, "All the Way Up" is a classic brag standard with Fat Joe and Remy Ma boasting about how big their abodes are now that they're established hip-hop veterans. "Just left the big house to a bigger house" Remy Ma says, referencing her 6-year stint in prison for assault charges. It may as well be 2001 because Fat Joe is back on top.
Fat Joe was asked last month on the a "Ask Me Anything" web board on Reddit if he was surprised of the success behind "All the Way Up." His response was humble and steady:
"Well I did expect, I knew it was a hit record but it was up to the fans to embrace it and the DJs to play it because you know at the end of the day every artist is at the mercy of the fans, so sometimes I've had other records I thought were smash hits but never blew up. So you run the risk of the fans not embracing it and getting it like you do."
Alongside his hometown colleague Remy Ma, Fat Joe presents his fans with Plata O Plomo and serves up a straightforward album full of big boasts over beats.
Artist: Fat Joe & Remy Ma
Album: Plata 0 Plomo
Website: facebook.com/RemyMaQueenOfNY
Label: Rap's New Generation, EMPIRE Release Date: February 17, 2017
(This Interview was done by: RUKUS MAGAZINE. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)
XXL Magazine Cover (March 2023) Hip-Hop’s Superhuman
Fat Joe is living proof that artists with decades in the music industry have the best memories to share. Over the past 30 years in hip-hop, the Bronx rapper has witnessed some of the most iconic moments in rap history. He's also got the catalog and success that puts him in legendary status. In celebration of hip-hop's 50-year anniversary this year, Fat Joe is the first OG to be featured on XXL's legends covers, a digital series celebrating some of the most impactful artists in hip-hop’s history.
In February, XXL sat down with the 52-year-old MC in New York City to discuss his impact in the game, hip-hop taking his career to unimaginable heights and the iconic memories he has with Big Pun, Jay-Z, Big Daddy Kane, Big L and Ice Cube, among many others. As an artist who has been able to reinvent himself more recently as a podcast host with his entertaining The Fat Joe Show on Instagram to gifting the culture with phrases like "Yesterday's price is not today's price," Joe is certainly a gift to the genre.
"I'm a legend in hip-hop more as a fan first, just being born in the Bronx, N.Y., birthplace of hip-hop," Joe tells XXL. "Having access. Could you imagine the whole world was just on my block, my community, and went from writing graffiti to breakdancing to rapping? MCing? Got my start at the Apollo. It's 30 years later, since I dropped my first album and we even more relevant today. Legends never die."
Watch Fat Joe share memorable hip-hop stories and read his XXL digital cover story below.
Read More: Fat Joe Shares Memorable Hip-Hop Stories for XXL's Legends Cover | https://www.xxlmag.com/fat-joe-xxl-magazine-cover/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
(This Interview was done by: XXL MAGAZINE. I’m not the owner of this property, this post is for educational purposes only enjoy)