Latino rapper
Fat Joe (aka
Fat Joe da Gangsta,
Joey Crack, and his real name,
Joe Cartagena) was raised in the South Bronx area of New York. It was through an older brother that
Cartagena learned the ways of the street, as well as discovering rap music via the sounds of such groundbreaking artists as
Theodore,
Funky 4 + 1, and
the Furious Five. Eventually going by the name of
Fat Joe, the rapper secured a recording contract with the Relativity label in the early '90s, resulting in the release of his full-length debut,
Represent, in 1993 (which spawned the single "Flow Joe," peaking at the number one spot on Billboard's Hot Rap Singles chart). Two years later,
Fat Joe issued his sophomore effort,
Jealous One's Envy, which included a cameo appearance by
KRS-One as well as production contributions by the likes of
DJ Premier,
L.E.S., and
Domingo. Around the same time,
Fat Joe appeared on
LL Cool J's big hit "I Shot Ya" (along with
Foxy Brown and
Keith Murray) and collaborated with
Wu-Tang Clan's
Raekwon on a track from the "Envy" single, called "Firewater."
By the late '90s,
Fat Joe had switched record labels (signing on with Atlantic) and tried his hand at other non-musical career ventures such as opening a clothing store called Fat Joe's Halftime, a barber shop, and a fashion line, FJ560. In addition, he signed a production and distribution deal with Atlantic Records and Mystic Entertainment (which he ran with a partner named Big Greg).
Fat Joe's debut for Atlantic, 1998's
Don Cartagena, featured cameo appearances by the likes of
Puff Daddy,
Nas,
Raekwon,
Big Pun, and
Jadakiss (
the LOX), and was followed up in 2001 with
Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.), which included contributions from
Ludacris,
Petey Pablo,
M.O.P.,
R. Kelly, and
Remy.
Loyalty followed in 2002, and
All or Nothing arrived three years after that. The raw
Me, Myself and I from 2006 found the rapper on his own Terror Squad imprint, which was distributed by EMI. His second album for the label,
The Elephant in the Room, appeared in 2008. A year later,
Jealous Ones Still Envy arrived with a star-studded guest list. In 2010 the "(Ha Ha) Slow Down," single announced the coming of that year's
The Darkside. The album was the rapper's first release for the E1 label.
–
Greg Prato, Rovi