FAT JOE: ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

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Fat Joe. The name is well known to any hip hop fan pretty much of any age. Take that statement in for a minute and really think about what it means. Joe has been cooking that musical crack for well over a decade now and it doesn’t look like he’s slowing down anytime soon. I’m 21, I know his music. My brothers 28, he knows his music. And my nephew, who is 5, knows his music. Not many rappers can say that their music has touched three generations and he’s still popular. The man puts out hits bottom line. Recently we got a little one on one time when Joe was taking a break from filming his new video to discuss how he stays fresh and what goes on in the world of Fat Joe. Listen up people, the Elephant is in the Room.

 

24: Joe I know you’ve been asked this a million times but I think the reason for that is that it’s such a damn good question. How after so many years in the game do you still keep your name out there and stay relevant?

Joe: I just love music. I feel young, I feel reinvented every time. I love it and I want people to say my music is hot, that’s all I care about. I just want be hot and I want people to say yo this nigga is killing it! The other day I was with Ross and he was like “Joe I been bumpin your album. I’m loving it. I don’t know how you could be in the game 15 years and you still be hitting these different flows and killing it. And I was just like “Ross yo I be hungry!” I wanna make great music. And I took that as such a great compliment because he’s somebody who’s killing the game right now. But that’s my point man, I want people to get this album and be like yo this nigga is killing it.

24: Being in the game so long, what is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

Joe: The biggest challenge is just trying to get everybody to understand what I bring to the game. After all these years, that’s why I named the album The Elephant In The Room. Niggas be trying to act like they don’t know that “I Wont tell” is #5 in the country right now. I don’t understand when the public is really going to open their eyes and be like “Yo this nigga just be making too many hits, let’s support him.”

24: What’s the most common mistake you see other artists make?

Joe: Feel themselves and get arrogant early. The number one rule in my book is to remain humble. No matter how big you get or how much success you have stay the same person. Stay humble.

24: Why do you think the game is so fucked up right now as far as the sales and all that?

Joe: Just the economy is fucked up, not just music. It got something to do with the gas being four dollars a gallon…see you need to drink, you need to eat and you need to breathe to live. Music is a luxury. So you’re really spending ten dollars out the survival mode to enjoy this CD. So it’s a luxury. You don’t have to have it. And it’s a recession, you got the war, niggas is losing their houses. Gas is so expensive, food is expensive. A lot of niggas ain’t got jobs man. So that’s what it is.

24: If you were president what would you do to fix the economy?

Joe: [Laughs] Just do a lot. You have to give a lot of job opportunities to people and a lot of education. Let people who want an education but ain’t got the money. Really get them in schools so they can educate themselves and go further. That would be my main thing, jobs and education.

24: Rap lately has had a very strong influence from the south. How long do you see the south on top as far as the radio and chart dominance?

Joe: Well first of all I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that the south is on top cause’ I’m from New York. So I’m gonna say hip hop is great! You know I love the south, I love the west coast, I love New York, I love Philly.  I love everyone who’s making hip hop music. When I’m up in  New York and they ask me a stupid question like that, not to say it was stupid, but when they ask me shit like that I tell em’ we all black people making black music and that’s it. Don’t say it’s from the south don’t say it’s from the west, it’s hip hop music.

24: With the way shit is now if your kid came up to you and said he wants to be a rapper what would you say?

Joe: Well he was here earlier and he was rapping [laughs]. I want him not in this game, this game is horrible. I want him to be a lawyer or a physician. Somebody who can manage whatever I give him. You know by the time he takes over he’s gonna have several businesses to run. This rap shit, nigga I done almost lost my life a million times trying to get a dollar in this rap shit.

24: What do you mean by that?

Joe: Well I go to a show, the promoter ain’t got my money, I pound him out, they shoot at me. I mean hey there’s a million ways. You go to a spot in say I don’t know, say Texas. Ya know you ain’t gonna perform cause they ain’t got ya money. But there’s a thousand people there to see you so now you gotta fight those thousand niggas to get the fuck home. It’s real shit.

24: What makes you have a bad day?

Joe: Picking up the phone and niggas telling me new gossip, new bullshit, this, this, and that. If it was up to me I’d have a great day everyday. But what makes me have a bad day is my surroundings, my friends getting in trouble. Today my friend got locked up, driving somewhere. Ya know that makes me have a bad day, ya know what I’m saying. Like me myself I be on easy street every day [points around to the video set and accompanying models].

24: Right I dig it. What’s the worst memory that you have from the streets?

Joe: The worst memory is all my friends dying. I got a picture with me and 20 niggas and they’re all dead but me. True story. Ya know a lot of my friends died, a lot of my friends went to jail. Like I’m hurt, I’m scorned. Ya know what I’m saying, I’m scorned! Like, inside my heart, the inside of my heart is stabbed a bunch of times. Like when I got my brother who I love to death, doing 45 years in jail. That hurts. That’s even worse than niggas dying. Cause a nigga that you love in jail for 50 years. You know that you ain’t never seeing him in the street again. You ain’t never gonna enjoy it with him again. You can’t party with him in the club. You can’t do nothing. That’s the worst shit.

24: Was that your main motivation to get in the music, to get away from all that?

Joe: Absolutely. To make music and enjoy myself and to get off the streets. And everybody I left behind, everybody I told I was gonna rap, they all laughed at me. And sorry to say, ya know God bless them and all but most of them are doing 25 to life, 45 years. Niggas laughed at me! I was actually besides J Prince, but J Prince don’t rap. So besides J Prince, I  was the first hustler to come in the rap game and leave the block and say I’m going to get my money and be a boss in hip hop. When I did it, niggas laughed at me. Laughed at me! Hood niggas was like “Oh god, this niggas trying to rap?! This niggas hilarious!” They would tell me “Are you crazy Joe? There’s money out here!” All the niggas I told I was gonna rap, their all in jail. Ya know what I’m saying. So after that, now every tough guy got a record label. It’s crazy.

24: What was your first big purchase when you started getting some money from this music?

Joe: A watch. But I’ve been getting money since I was 15/16 years old I been getting money. So money wasn’t really the um, money was never really, really a pressure. I’ve been getting it. I left my moms house when I was 14 and no lie by the time I was 15/16 I was whipping Beamers and Benzes. $3,000 dollar suits on. Gucci, Dapper Dan shit nigga, going to high school in Rolls Royces and shit! [laughs with friends]. Ya’ll better really look up Joe Crack niggas.

24: Now we always hear about rappers dipping their hands into other things to get money to supplement the sagging record sales. How do you grow your money?

Joe: I don’t know, you’re asking the wrong guy [laughs]. Everybody told me real estate. I bought like four fucking buildings and houses and now real estates bad. So I couldn’t tell ya. Hold on to your dough. And do what you want but do sensible shit. I mean we all stupid, we all spend money on jewels and cars, that’s the dumbest shit you can do. But, you gotta do it, so ya know.

24: Yeah I see your shining very heavy today. What’s the most you’ve ever spent on a piece?

Joe: A quarter million on the new TS piece, the yellow joint. I spent 200 on the original big TS joint.

24: I know in all your time, you’ve seen some travel. What’s your favorite country that you’ve visited?

Joe: Barbados. Because they had some great banana nut cake right there on that beach. That lady was making it right there, baking that shit. And that water was so blue…it was amazing. And St. Thomas too.

24: I know your constantly on the grind working your music. How does your family deal with you being gone so much?

Joe: It’s hard, it’s hard. It’s not easy man. It’s hard for me. I have a little daughter that I love to death, she’s only 20 months old, I love her to death. So every time I leave the house that shit hurts. Then I come back a month later and she grew, she’s a whole different person, and she’s learned new things. Man I feel like I got robbed for that month of not seeing her grow. It’s serious. And this is for everybody.

24: Now we all know you and DJ Khaled are tight. What did you see in Khaled that made you want to fuck with him at first?

Joe: I just love him man, I love him. Since I met him, his passion and his energy for hip hop [is crazy]. He’s just like me. He’s like my little brother. People don’t understand Khaled just learned every step of the game Fat Joe knows. I taught him everything. He was there the whole way so he knows every step of Fat Joe. He just pushes that envelope to the hundredth level. And I know he wants to win. He’s always wanted to win since I met him, he wants to win. And he’s loyal, the most loyal nigga.

24: I’m sure a lot of kids run up to you with their CD’s and all that. What advice do you give to kids that are trying to get in the game and rap. What do you tell them?

Joe: First of all you’ve gotta make a demo. Your demo means you’ve gotta make a record that sounds like it’s going on the radio. We don’t wanna hear 16 bars, we don’t wanna hear niggas freestyle, none of that. You need hooks, you need structure and you need it to sound just like it could go on the radio right now. Cause right now A&R’s is dumb. They want a hit. They don’t even wanna work, they don’t wanna sweat, they don’t wanna move they ass. They wanna sit at the desk and find the next new sensation. That’s what it is you know. So you got to make the demo sound like a hit. And once you got that, harass every Fat Joe, Rick Ross, Khaled, Jermaine Dupri, all them niggas, harass them. Till you know somebody is gonna stop and listen. And if you got it, you on.

24: Okay like how you said harass them and like that Ross lyric “We connected with Khaled, we backdoored that”, do you guys actually take to and respect  that approach to get at you or do you just brush them off?

Joe: I brush them off but on the tenth time of seeing this nigga keep coming back, I say hold up. Ace, you know the kid Ace Hood. Ace came to see Khaled a billion times. Cause I asked Khaled what was it that made you fuck with him. And the last time he gave Khaled the CD, Khaled just turned around and said [nods head] ya know like ok. Your numbers on here? Went and listened to it, was like this niggas crazy and he signed him. Cause’ he harassed him. Too much, it’s just too much. Niggas eventually stop and say yo why this nigga keep harassing me, and he was hot so he signed him.

24: So is that the best way to get your music to the DJ’s? Just walk up to the radio and say here’s my shit or…?

Joe: Hmmm, nah not really but you should try, yep. Harass.