Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper of Cuban-Puerto Rican descent. He is also the CEO of Terror Squad Entertainment, and member of musical groups D.I.T.C. and Terror Squad.

Fat Joe was born on August 19, 1970 in the South Bronx area of New York City, where he was raised by parents of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent. He lived in public housing and began stealing at a young age to support his family. He also admits that he was a bully in his childhood. His brother introduced him to rap music. As a teenager, he was highly influenced by fellow Latino rapper Big Pun.

Fat Joe explained the rapper’s influence on him by saying “Latinos before us who had the opportunity to do it just didn’t know how to do it. They came in trying to do this black music, waving flags. [But] we’re trying to kick in the doors for other Latinos and represent our people, and it shows.”

Music career.

Under stage name Fat Joe da Gangsta and part of the Diggin’ in the Crates (D.I.T.C.) rap group, Cartagena was signed to Relativity Records in the early 1990s, recording material and working with many artists who he would later sign to his own label. In 1993, his debut album, Represent, was released, featuring production from The Beatnuts, Diamond D, Lord Finesse, and others. Its lead single, “Flow Joe” peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart; other minor singles from the album included “Watch the Sound” and “This Shit is Real”.

Fat Joe released his fourth album Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) in 2001, featuring production from the then-popular Irv Gotti. The album featured a star-studded line up from the likes of Ashanti, Ja Rule, N.O.R.E., Busta Rhymes, Petey Pablo, M.O.P., Ludacris, R. Kelly, Buju Banton, and artists from his Terror Squad label. The lead single “We Thuggin'” featuring R. Kelly was a big hit in late 2001, but would not reach the level of the Irv Gotti-produced “What’s Luv?” which was a massive hit in early 2002 and featured The Inc. superstars Ja Rule and Ashanti. The album was Fat Joe’s biggest hit as it was successful from its January release all the way into May, being certified platinum. However, Fat Joe’s fifth album Loyalty, released later in 2002 and featuring production from Irv Gotti, was not as successful.

In 2003, Fat Joe was featured in the pop single “I Want You” by Mexican singer Thalía. The same year, he and Tony Sunshine performed the single “Crush Tonight” from Loyalty on the Comedy Central program Chappelle’s Show, hosted by comedian Dave Chappelle.

Fat Joe scored a number-one hit in 2004 with his group Terror Squad, collaborating with Remy Ma on the Scott Storch production “Lean Back” from the album True Story. The song was criticized twice by conservative columnist L. Brent Bozell III for its extensive use of obscenity. However, Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic called the song “a perfect club-ready duet between Joe and Remy Ma that boasts a trademark Scott Storch beat and a memorable singalong hook and dance-along step”. He then began recording material for Ivy Queen’s debut English-language album Real in support of her goal to compete in the world of English-language hip hop music.

A year later, in 2005, Fat Joe released his sixth album All or Nothing, noted for featuring the popular diss track “My Fofo”, aimed at fellow New York rapper 50 Cent, who had dissed Joe for recording with Ja Rule. All or Nothing spawned the singles “So Much More” and “Get It Poppin” featuring Nelly, also with guest appearances from Eminem, Mase, Remy Ma, Mashonda, and R. Kelly. Responding to “My Fofo”, 50 Cent attacked Fat Joe in his song “Piggy Bank” from his best-selling 2005 album The Massacre. Fat Joe subsequently attacked 50s street credibility and called him a “coward” on a phone interview with Kay Slay of New York City hip-hop radio station WQHT.

Me, Myself & I, released in 2006, is Fat Joe’s seventh album. It was his first album released on his new deal with Virgin Records. It featured the hit single “Make It Rain” with southern rapper Lil Wayne, followed by “No Drama (Clap and Revolve)”. Fat Joe did a freestyle cipher segment for VH1’s “Freestyle 59” competition in October 2006 prior to the VH1 Hip Hop Honors featuring New Jersey emcee Neuse.

In June 2007, the Reverend Michael Pfleger targeted Fat Joe as among several rappers he believed promoted misogyny in his billboard campaign “Stop Listening to Trash”, which was launched June 18, 2007 throughout Chicago, Illinois, where Pfleger preaches.

Fat Joe’s ninth solo studio album, J.O.S.E. 2, was released towards the end of June 2009.[34] The project reprises the title of Joe’s 2002 RIAA-Certified Platinum release, Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.), and marked Joe’s third release since bringing his Terror Squad imprint to the EMI family in 2006. For this album, Joe has reached out to many artists, landing assists from Ron Browz, Fabolous, Lil’ Kim, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, and Akon. Producers include Jim Jonsin, The Inkredibles, and frequent collaborator StreetRunner. “One”, featuring Akon, was the first single. The album was released on October 6, 2009 and sold 11,000 copies in its first week.

On October 19, 2011 Another Round the first single off Joe’s yet to be named eleventh studio album was released on iTunes. The second single released from the album is “Yellow Tape” which features Lil Wayne, ASAP Rocky and French Montana. In September 2012, Joe featured in Grammy awards winner Alejandro Sanz’s new album, La Música No Se Toca in a music named Down. Joe would then release another single, “Ballin'” on March 18, 2013. The song features Wiz Khalifa and Teyana Taylor.

Awards and Nominations.

ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards
2005 What’s Luv? Top Soundtrack Song of the Year Won
Billboard Latin Music Awards
2006 I Don’t Care/Que Mas Da (Dance Remixes) Latin Dance Club Play Track of the Year Won

Grammy Awards

Year Nominated work Award Result
2003 What’s Luv? Best Rap/Sung Collaboration Nominated
2008 Make It Rain Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group Nominated

BET Awards

Year Nominated work Award Result
2005 Lean Back Viewer’s Choice Nominated

MTV Video Music Awards

Year Nominated work Award Result
2002 What’s Luv? Best Hip-Hop Video Nominated

Community Work.

Fat Joe has been back to his old school in the Bronx, New York to donate computers for the students.
In 2008 He attended the grand opening of the Hip Hop Soda Shop in Miami which was community outreach project set up by Ben Chavis for the youth to hang out and do things such as record music, use the computers and play on Xbox 360s.
On January 23, 2011 Fat Joe appeared with Newark mayor Cory Booker and fitness expert Jeff Halevy at an event to promote the Newark branch of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative against childhood obesity.

LGBT beliefs and support.

During an interview with Vlad TV, Joe stated that while not gay himself, gay people should not hide their sexuality and stand by what they are. He mentioned that it’s possible that he has done songs with gay rappers and that there are likely several gay people besides just rappers in the hip hop industry who are in the closet, describing it as a “Gay Mafia”. His comments came after being asked to comment on Mister Cee being arrested for public lewdness with a transgender.

Discography.

Represent (1993)
Jealous One’s Envy (1995)
Don Cartagena (1998)
Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) (2001)
Loyalty (2002)
All or Nothing (2005)
Me, Myself & I (2006)
The Elephant in the Room (2008)
Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 (J.O.S.E. 2) (2009)
The Darkside Vol. 1 (2010)[39]

Filmography

Thicker Than Water (1999) – Lonzo Medina
Prison Song (2001)
Empire (2002)
Scary Movie 3 (2003) – As Himself
Happy Feet (2006) – voice of Seymour

Personal life.

In 1996, he weighed 300 pounds (140 kg). In 2005, Stuff magazine[48] and ContactMusic.com profiled Fat Joe’s weight loss efforts. In 2011, Fat Joe unveiled his latest weight loss efforts in the video for his song “Drop a Body” after shedding 88 pounds off his previous weight of 350 pounds. Furthermore he follows a low-carb approach, eating some sweet potatoes but not eating bread, rice and pasta.

Fat Joe currently lives in Miami and is married with three children.

Agencies/Various/Wiki/InternetPhotos/youtube/thecubanhistory.com
The Cuban History, Hollywood.
Arnoldo Varona, Editor.

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