Fat Joe gets his 50 Cent's worth
Saying 'battle rapping' is not for him, Bronx hip-hop artist limits his rejoinder to one song on new CD

BY GLENN GAMBOA
STAFF WRITER

June 14, 2005


If all he wanted to do was sell records, Fat Joe would stir up some controversy to generate more attention for his new album, "All or Nothing" (Atlantic).

He would play up the sentiments of the beef track "My Fo Fo," his gun-wielding response to 50 Cent's "Piggy Bank" attacks on him from earlier this year. He would start trash-talking about other rappers. He would conjure up the memory of his deceased pal rapper Big Pun.

That's not his style, though. The Bronx rapper (whose full name is Joseph Cartageña) prefers to lean back and let the music speak for itself. With "Get It Poppin'," a collaboration with Nelly, already climbing the charts as the album's second hit, his music is making a pretty good argument to back his self-proclaimed reign as hip-hop's "King of New York."

"I just want to put out hot songs," Joe said, calling from a break on his recent tour with Nelly. "I'm not into battle rapping. I never had any misunderstandings ever."

After 50 Cent verbally attacked him for his involvement on Ja Rule's hit "New York," Fat Joe said he was set to just leave the beef alone. "It was a publicity stunt, and I was used and abused like he thought I was some cheap whore," Joe said. "But I had no problems with this gentleman, and I tried to ignore it. The support I got from fans was overwhelming."

Then, his son Ryan heard "Piggy Bank" and asked his dad to fight back. "Nobody wants to hear anyone talking crazy about their father," Joe said. "So I did the song, and I still wasn't sure if I was going to put the record out. When I played it for him, he was so happy, so I decided to release it."

Rapping to "Flintstones"

"My Fo Fo" is a blistering reply to 50 Cent, claiming the top-selling rapper's songs all sound the same, that he's a police informant, and that he's jealous of others' success. "He's the fakest thug you ever seen," Joe raps to the rhythm of the theme from "The Flintstones."

Joe said that regardless of how 50 responds, "My Fo Fo" is the only song he will dedicate to the beef. "I'm answering him once and that's it," he said. "He's a rap bully, and he's gonna keep it coming, but I've answered him, and I've had enough. I'm gonna keep it moving."

"All or Nothing" shows how Fat Joe is moving forward, cobbling together a variety of styles and a bunch of hits into a cohesive album. "It's taken a lot of work, but I think it turned out really, really well," Joe said. "I'm happy with it. It has everything that I felt for the current climate. It has songs that are for the core audience. It has songs that will cross over to the clubs. It has songs that could be one of the summer's smashes."

"So Much More," another smooth Fat Joe performance produced by Cool & Dre, has already become a radio hit. "Everybody Get Up," which smashes together phrasing from Public Enemy's "911 Is a Joke" and Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" over a typically cool Timbaland beat, will likely follow it. On "Listen Baby," producer Swizz Beatz lets Joe go to town over a sample from Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" to create a poppier sound that fits well with Joe's recent duet with Jennifer Lopez, "Hold U Down," which also appears on "All or Nothing."

The album also has its harder moments, though. "Temptation" is a bruising tale of murder and treachery told in two parts, while "Safe 2 Say," produced by Just Blaze, takes the lead sample from Public Enemy's "Don't Believe the Hype" and welds it to a woozy guitar solo to give Joe a tougher backdrop for his rhymes.

Summer anthem of '05?

Given the right circumstances, any of those songs could be this year's summer anthem, the way Fat Joe and Terror Squad's "Lean Back" dominated the radio and the clubs last year. "You never expect it to be huge or big when you're creating a song," Joe said. "I never thought I'd be seeing grandmas and little kids leaning back. Now, you see people at weddings and sweet 16 parties all leaning back. It was 'Lean Back' mania for a while there."

Fat Joe said he hopes to recreate that kind of reaction through hard work and touring. Having recently wrapped up the Nelly tour and gone out on his own promotional tour, he is one of the rappers chosen by Parliament-Funkadelic's Bootsy Collins to mix it up with rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers, Garbage and 311 at the inaugural AmsterJam, billed as the biggest mash-up concert ever, at Randalls Island on Aug. 20.

"With that stuff, I never forget that I'm one lucky dude," he said.

source

lol! totally agree with you about nelly now, i haven't bought his new album(s) and most probably will not be, i think he needs to go back to his old st louis sound rather than trying to please the masses of teenyboppers with these soppy pop songs.
I loved your top 5. I've not really heard a lot of easy's stuff as it was before i gotinto rap, but io heard some on gta:san andreas and was very impressed, twista's great too, and i probably would've put him into my top 5 if i hadn't forgot him  , i'm not to keen on wu-tang, i bought iron-flag and felt really let down by it, but i love method man, he's another guy with a really unique voice, and his stuff with redman is great!
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Thanks for the reply dazdillinjah we need more hip-hop heads around here this thread can get hot and cold instantaneously,

arben good article, rappers can be some stupid people sometimes, why would somebody who is making money go out gangbanging, I ain't saying i was feeling cassidy in the first place but come on, this is the type of thing that turns people off from rap music, also on unfortunately for those wannabe gangsters.
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Who thinks Eminem is going to be shot by Ja Rule?
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Exactly. It gives the listeners of other genres the notion that hip-hop and rap is all about killing and drug dealing. Although that is played out in some rap artist, not all of them portray that type of lifestyle.



I believe the beef is over with them two, so I highly doubt anything physical is going to occur between Eminem and Ja Rule..
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I just copped Fat Joe's 'All or Nothing', and I can say that I think I would have prefered this over 50's album. There are some club bangers, and the two 'Temptation' songs where he has temptations to kill. Its real in a sense, but then its fake in another sense. I think I still got it because of the average beats and lyrics, where 50's only had the beats I liked and the underground hip-hop where I really like the lyrics.
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O yeah, my cousins really got me introduced into Underground so much more, they're gonna make me a copy of songs from 'Heiroglyphics' . They really like that group, I liked them too.
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haha, man 50 should keep on baggin on Nas and Kelis, he'll have to come out with something then. I didnt really ever check at fat joe's cd but maybe i'll give it a listen later on when im at the record store.
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Ahhh Hailo, that's an excellent group! I especially like tracks like miles to the sun and you never knew. Well, enjoy the taste of it, once you get started, it'll get addicting and you'll found yourself loving underground more and more. hmm for starters for you...check out the blackstar cd by mos def and talib kweli or some of Tribe's cd. Hmm maybe check out roots and de la soul.  Pharcyde and Jurrassic five too. I think those cds are easy to listen to if you're going to start listening to underground, they kinda have somewhat of a mainstream feel to it. Hope that helps.
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Anyone know any slowjams or really good R&B songs that they can tell me? I'll greatly appreciate it, thank you in advance.
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what if u dont appreciate rap?

can u still post?

technically there is appreciation there, just not a lot?

lol
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I don't know if you heard the diss that Game did to g-unit and Memphis Bleek yet Hailo, but you should go to Allhiphop.com and check it out while it's stilll there. It's called 300bars and running. Plus Game's Dj Nu Jerzey Devil mixed all kinds of beats together it's cool ou should check it out.
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