Actors - Fat Joe

	Actors - Fat Joe

Fat Joe (born Joseph Cartagena on August 19 1970) is an American rapper. Of Puerto Rican and Cuban heritage and born and raised in the Bronx, Joe was popular in the underground hip hop scene during the early and mid-1990s. He was also a member of the D.I.T.C. Crew (the "Digging in the Crates Crew"), along with well-respected rappers Diamond D, Lord Finesse, O.C., Showbiz and A.G., Big L (deceased), and Big Pun (deceased). The name of the group refers to DJs who "dig in the crates" of used record stores to find rare or novel records that they could use for songs or in performances. Joe was also affiliated with fellow Bronx native KRS-One as they are both committed to the art of drawing graffiti.

History

After Joe's rap protege, the similarly large, Puerto Rican, Bronx-based rapper, Big Pun, broke into the mainstream with his duet with the O'Jays, "I'm Not a Player" and its more popular remix, "Still Not a Player", featuring R&B singer Joe, Fat Joe began to follow suit. His 1998 single, "Bet Ya Man Can't", which featured Big Pun as well as other members of their Terror Squad clique, such as Cuban Link and Triple Seis, was a small hit. Shortly before Big Pun's death, Pun and Joe had a hit with Jennifer Lopez on a track from her first album, On the 6, called "Feelin' So Good".

With 2001's release of J.O.S.E. (Jealous Ones Still Envy), Joe scored two back-to-back hits with "We Thuggin'", which featured R&B superstar R. Kelly singing the chorus and "What's Luv?", which featured up-and-coming R&B/pop star Ashanti on its chorus and went on to become one of 2002's biggest pop hits.

In late 2002, Joe released the album Loyalty and had a couple of minor hits with "Crush Tonite" (featuring Ginuwine) and "All I Need". The rapper also has appeared in several films, including the 2002 film Empire
with John Leguizamo and Peter Sarsgaard.

Fat Joe is also a member of Terror Squad, which released their debut self-titled album in September 1999. After several roster changes (including Big Pun's sudden death and Cuban Link's expulsion), the clique released a second album, True Story, in July 2004. The single "Lean Back", which featured only Joe and new member Remy Ma, was an enormous smash hit, reaching #1 on Billboard Singles Chart. The song was later remixed by Lil' Jon, with a new verse from Joe and featuring Eminem, Ma$e, and Lil Jon.

In September 2004, a former bodyguard for Fat Joe was arrested and charged with a 1994 murder which the rapper had allegedly witnessed. According to the New York Times, Jose Mulero, thirty-eight, was charged with murder, tampering with evidence, and weapons charges, after being accused of shooting Ernesto Rivera, sixteen, on April 15 1994. Joe was investigated for ties to the shooting.

In late 2004, Fat Joe scored another radio hit with his verse on Ja Rule's "New York", also featuring Jadakiss and a chorus taken from KRS-One's "100 Guns". In his verse, Ja Rule takes thinly-veiled potshots at 50 Cent, adding another chapter to their well-publicized fued. However, this led to further controversy as 50 Cent decided that by collaborating with Ja Rule, his enemy, Joe and Jada were now ailigning themselves against him.

Fat Joe's new solo album, All or Nothing, originally scheduled to be released in Spring 2005, was pushed back several times (supposedly due to sample clearances, though it is rumoured that Interscope executives did not want Joe's album to compete with 50 Cent's release). It was released in July 2005. The first single was "So Much More". The music video features an appearance by DJ Kay Slay, who has also called himself the "black Fat Joe". The second single, the Scott Storch-produced "Get It Poppin'", features Nelly. It was used as the theme song for WWE 2005 SummerSlam).

Conflict with 50 Cent

50 Cent attacked Fat Joe in his 2005 song "Piggy Bank", from The Massacre. Angered by Joe's collaboration with Ja Rule, 50 said "that fat nigga thought 'Lean Back' was "In Da Club"/My shit sold 11 mil, his shit was a dud". (Ironically, 50's mentor Eminem performed on a remix of "Lean Back".)

Fat Joe went on record as being confused by 50's anger towards him, but also stated that he would not stand by idly while being slandered. He also suggested that he and 50 Cent meet in New York and have a fistfight. Most interestingly, he attacked 50's street credibility, claiming that 50 had never literally appeared "in the club", while Fat Joe has built his reputation on live club performances. He offered one thousand dollars to anybody who would come forward with a picture of 50 Cent in a nightclub. No attempts have been publicly made towards taking the $1,000 prize. Within days of "Piggy Bank" leaking, an untitled response from Fat Joe had appeared online with the chorus being sung to the tune of The Flintstones's theme song. Mp3 versions were variously titled "Fake Gangsta", "Fuck 50", and simply "Fat Joe 50 Dis Track". It was finally officially released as "My Fofo" (referring to a .44 Magnum) as a bonus track on All or Nothing, along with the "Lean Back" remix featuring Eminem.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Fat Joe ]

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