Bronx rapper Fat Joe recently spoke about his weight loss, after the 6’2 rap star shed 88 pounds.

According to Fat Joe, his motivation for losing the weight was simple: he lost seven friends in their 30s, to heart attacks over the past year.

Fat Joe’s most important discovery, rapper Big Pun, also died from a heart attack in 2002, due to his massive weight.

During an interview with the New York Daily News, Fat Joe spoke about his weight loss.

“Everybody needs to educate themselves. If you’re from the inner city, the hood, Bronx, Harlem, Brooklyn, whatever and you go to your store and there aint  no diet Snapple’s in there, ain’t no sugar free candies, you need to tell them ‘yo I need that,'” Fat Joe told the New York Daily News. “Everybody needs a fix so it’s a constant battle man. For me, I’ve seen too many of my friends die.”

Fat Joe stuck to a diet of six small meals per day, consisting of fruit, whole grain foods, lean meats and whole grain foods.

Now that the rapper has slimmed down from 425 pounds to 265 pounds, he’s even pondering a new name.

“They’re all trying to alter my name, but I can’t see myself as anything else,” Fat Joe said. “I think I gotta ask Diddy what my new name is.”