It must be because jealous people still envy that Fat Joe doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. So Fat Joe came back in 2001 with J.O.S.E. -Jealous Ones Still Envy which earned Fat Joe another top ten album and his first RIAA platinum award. With the smash hits, “What’s Luv?” introducing Ashanti, and “We Thuggin’” featuring R.Kelly, doubters and haters insisted that his success came from the R&B princess Ashanti or it was all about R. Kelly, and that Fat Joe really didn’t do anything at all.

Loyalty was his follow up album but it wasn’t anything compared to J.O.S.E. The haters, doubters and jealous ones rejoiced saying: See!?! We told you he ain’t nothing at all! Fat Joe then claimed he was going to retire: “It’s time to move to Miami and chill with my kids,” he told The Associated Press in 2003.

But he did no such thing. The summer of 2004 belonged to Fat Joe and his Terror Squad. With the intoxicating hit of the summer 2004, Fat Joe had everyone from the streets to the suburbs Leaning Back! This most definitely put everyone’s doubts at bay except for one. Rapper 50 Cent dissed Fat Joe with "Piggy Bank," saying: "That fat *** thought 'Lean Back' was 'In the Club'/my sh*t sold 11 mil, his sh*t was a dud".

Fat Joe insisted that he didn’t want to address the issue and that he would rather deal with it man-to man instead of record-to-record because according to MSNBC, “I want to make music that’s timeless ... They’re not going to be playing battle raps 30 years from now. It’s not what I want to be remembered by.” Either way according to Fat Joe, the fans wanted him to do it and even his family, so Fat Joe dissed 50 Cent on his latest CD: All or Nothing.


Fact is, Fat Joe deserves it ALL. All props go to Fat Joe.

  • For being one of the first to put a Latino face on Hip Hop.

  • For bringing us the first Latino multi-platinum Hip Hop artist, Big Pun.

  • For staying in the game for this long- over 10 years.

  • For being multi-faceted: rapper, entrepreneur, producer

  • For creativity, versatility and longevity- just LEAN BACK!

Fat Joe’s been in the Hip Hop game since 1992 with his first hit Flow Joe from the album Represent. With his new hit Get It Poppin’ and last summer’s smash Lean Back, it is over 10 years in the Hip Hop industry. Isn’t that enough to launch Fat Joe to legendary status in the chronicles of Hip Hop history? There’s always a reason to displace him from legendary status.



Fat Joe grew up in the Bronx and wanted to follow in his older brother’s footsteps. That included Hip Hop. Fat Joe began his Hip Hop career with a #1 hit: Flow Joe. He instantly filled the void and became the Puerto Rican rapper the Latino community was yearning for.



Two years later Fat Joe came out with J.O.E. -Jealous Ones Envy with the hits: “Success” and “Envy”. Not to mention underground classics like "The Sh*t is Real," "Dedication" and "Bronx Tales".



Fat Joe went on to show his entrepreneurial talents with several businesses right in his hometown of the Bronx. He gave right back to the community that adored him so. His businesses included a barber shop, clothing store- Fat Joe’s Half Time, and a clothing line- FJ560.



A socially conscious side of him was revealed with his next album, Don Cartagena which sold over 500,000 copies, earning Fat Joe his first RIAA Gold plaque.



As if that wasn’t enough, Fat Joe then used his business savvy and his experience with the music industry to catapult his friend Big Pun into the first multi-platinum Latino rapper. As the executive producer of Big Pun's debut album, Capital Punishment, he showed that he had talents behind the scenes as well. But, to some, his background involvement remains in the background. Critics say that all the credit goes to Big Pun and that Fat Joe really had nothing to do with it at all. Unfortunately Big Pun died suddenly from a heart attack. Fat Joe lost his friend and the Hip Hop world lost a promising prodigy.