Original subtitles

I've always had big dreams of being a superstar.

♪♪♪

Fat Joe always comes out swinging.

♪ Now lean back, lean back ♪

I'm like, was Bruce Willis just doing "Lean Back"? Like, wow.

-What? -Lean back!

-What? -Lean back!

Motherfucker, lean back!

[audience cheering]

Ha ha!

♪♪♪

♪ Yeah ♪

I come from nothing

where you gotta be tough to survive.

♪ Bust it, check it, watch how I wreck it ♪

By my side here, I got Fat Joe.

Latinos across the country and across the world

loved the authenticity of what Joe brought to hip hop.

♪ I'm underground like the gutter ♪

♪ You'll never catch me stutter ♪

The Latinos would be like, "He's not Rico Suave.

He's the guy with the half moon with the medallion on

with 50 guys behind him,

and I knew it was just gonna shake the hip hop world.

♪ You gotta flow, Joe, you gotta flow, Joe ♪

Joe's personality and confidence built this monster image.

♪ You gotta flow, Joe ♪

It was about that time that I discovered Big Pun.

♪ I'm still not a player, but you still a hater ♪

I brought him in the game,

and he took us to the next level.

♪ Penthouse suite, penthouse freaks ♪

We was doing arenas, making money,

getting nominated for Grammys.

♪ I'm not a player, I just crush a lot ♪

I was the Puerto Rican Puff Daddy,

and Pun was the Latino Biggie.

♪ Uptown, baby ♪

They were asking me to sign any Latino that rapped

because they thought it was like the time of all Latinos

selling millions of records.

It was a dream come true.

And then everything started to go bad.

Pun, my grandfather, and my sister all died

around the same time.

I went to a really, really dark place.

He was just fucked up.

JOE: And then I had to go to jail, man.

How the hell am I gonna come back?

And I've discovered that your darkest moments

bring you most clarity.

♪ Nothing can stop me, I'm all the way up ♪

♪ I'm all the way up, all the way up ♪

I always believed in myself, and my dreams came true.

♪ Crack Man, and I'm at it again ♪

♪ Silk shirts and a couple of chains ♪

It's really like a hip hop fairy tale.

♪ Take care, pinkie ring on the don, I told her ♪

♪ Kiss it, kiss it better, baby ♪

♪ Been waitin' on that sunshine, boy ♪

♪ I think I need that back ♪

Rising from nothing, man, to triumph.

♪ No one else gon' get it like that, so why... ♪

Let's go. "Behind the Music."

♪ My guiding light, my love fantasy ♪

♪♪♪

[horns blaring]

This was my true home.

This is where I was born.

♪♪♪

The Bronx.

The Bronx created hip hop. It's the ground zero.

It's the birthplace, and I was just brought up

in the Holy Land of hip hop music.

My brother Angel used to be a crate boy

for Grandmaster Flash, going to the block parties,

carrying Grandmaster Flash's records.

And so he would bring me all these real original records.

-Zulu Nation. -♪ Rock, rock, planet rock ♪

All these DJ battles.

["Planet Rock" playing]

That's how a light went off in my head, like,

so in love with hip hop.

-Woop-woop! -♪ The sound of the beast ♪

♪ Woop-woop, that's the sound of da police ♪

♪ The police, them have a little gun ♪

♪ So when I'm on the streets ♪

♪ Come around with a bigger one ♪

♪ Woop-woop! That's the sound of the beast ♪

Well, that's it. Drop the mic. That's the story of my life.

I aspired to be like these guys.

That's the original origins of hip hop,

and that's what got me so addicted to music.

Uh, there would not be no Fat Joe

if it wasn't for this.

I always wanted to be like my brother Angel.

He started rapping before me, so I started writing raps

to telling everybody my raps, and that's how it came about.

And so I'm proud most of all to be from the Bronx.

And you know, the projects--we never knew what we didn't have.

Hmm.

When I was a kid, my family worked very, very hard.

My mother already had three children--

two sons and a daughter-- with a prior husband.

And so she met my father.

♪♪♪

My father was a baker from Cuba.

My father's real tough, real hard.

I mean, not a bad person at all,

but we'd bump heads a lot, even now to this day.

My moms had three jobs. Never made an excuse.

We always had Christmas. We obviously ate a lot.

It was a big, loving family environment.

My projects growing up at the time,

90% Black, 10% Latino.

That's being generous, you know, and that's all I knew.

[whooping]

Let's talk about Joey Crack,

'cause they don't even know how you even got the name "Crack."

No, no, I always been slightly overweight.

And the school, you know what I mean?

Elementary and all that,

you know, whenever I used to get up to go to the board

for the teacher, crack in my butt be showin',

you know what I mean? So everybody was like,

"Joey Crack! Joey Crack!"

And it just stuck with me for years.

They were calling me "Fat Joey"

since I'm 2, 3, years old in my projects.

I've always been big. I've always owned up to it.

That's why my name is "Fat Joe."

But I got bullied in school.

I had to go to junior high school

in my grandmother's neighborhood,

which might as well be 99.9% Black.

They have never seen a Puerto Rican or Latino

like Fat Joe in that neighborhood in their life.

I was the Eminem, the alien over there.

Every single day I got beat up by 30 guys.

Never been a sucker. I never laid down.

Every day I look out the window at the school,

and I know 30 dudes are waiting for me.

I dropped my bag and punched the biggest dude

right in his face and just get beat up.

I don't lay down.

You go back and you look at pictures of me,

12 years old, 11 years old with an ice-cold killer face.

That's because if you showed somebody kindness,

they would definitely take it for weakness.

And the whole Bronx at that time was predator or prey.

I refused to be prey.

At the time I met Joe, he was this angry, you know,

frustrated, you know, young man.

We had something in common.

We loved trouble.

We loved the smoke

with everybody, anybody,

wherever, we just didn't care.

Then as you got a little bit older,

knives came out, the guns came out.

I mean, I'm not gonna lie to you.

I would go outside every day for violence.

Unfortunately, I got into a life of crime before music.

♪♪♪

My father was very aggressive. He would hit you

and hit you like you a man.

And so one day I had an argument with my father.

We were at the dinner table.

My father went to hit me, and I stopped him.

And his eyes opened up because it's the first time

I didn't let him hit me.

And from that point,

you know, I knew, like, I couldn't be here no more.

And I remember telling him,

yo, you can't fuck with me no more.

But I went to the staircase and I just cried

for, like, a whole hour like a baby.

I got up. I left my mother's home.

And the next day, I was in the street.

[horns blaring, train track squealing]

I sold drugs for the first time when I was 14.

I started from the ground up.

I would go to Manhattan and buy 2 grams.

The grams were $20 a gram.

I come back, cut it up,

make $80 to $100.

I would take that trip to Manhattan

10, 20 times a day, just going back and forth,

back and forth, back and forth.

Hmm.

♪♪♪

It's a way nicer place now.

When I was there was when the Bronx

looked like a war zone.

I would live in this crackhead hotel

where you could pay $35 a day.

It was terrifying,

being a 14-year-old kid living in somethin' like that.

When I would open my door, there were literally

men and women shooting heroin during the AIDS epidemic.

♪♪♪

And so to not hear what's going on out there,

I would have this Walkman

and just listen to hip hop all night--

rappers like Slick Rick to give me courage

to make it through the night.

♪ Once upon a time not long ago ♪

♪ When people wore pajamas and lived life slow ♪

I met Diamond D through writing graffiti.

We used to go bombing together is what he called it.

♪ There lived a little boy who was misled ♪

♪ By another little boy, and this is what he said ♪

And one day he stops me at this light pole,

and he says, "Yo, listen, man, you gon' die.

You gon' die out here or go to jail forever."

♪ Sirens sounded, he seemed astounded ♪

♪ And before long the little boy got surrounded ♪

♪ He dropped his gun, so went the glory ♪

♪ And this is the way I have to end this story ♪

♪♪♪

Diamond D was a big part in Joe's removal

from the streets.

He started giving him beats, told Joe,

"Your feelings-- put them on paper."

He said, "Why don't you tell your life in music?"

Diamond D told me, "Let me pay for the studio."

And so we went in there, and we cut three songs.

I wanted to get on the radio.

♪ Ah, yeah ♪

At the time, there wasn't hip hop music all over.

There was one radio station playing it

for two hours every Friday, and it was DJ Red Alert.

♪ You gotta let 'em know, Joe, you gotta flow, Joe ♪

So he was the king almighty.

I was a DJ up in the Bronx,

at 98.7 Kiss FM in New York City.

Joe, along with Diamond D, brought me a promo song

called "Flow Joe," and his lyrics,

his flow, his presentation made me a believer.

♪ Bust it, check it, watch how I wreck it ♪

♪ Brothers, watch your back ♪

♪ 'Cause things are getting' hectic ♪

Red Alert used to play it every week on the radio.

To hear him on the radio, that was big.

Like, that was really, really big in the hood.

-What's up? -The whole hood was like,

"Yo, Fat Joe, Fat Joe, Fat Joe, Fat Joe!"

♪ Yeah, everybody know Fat Joe's in town ♪

♪ Nuff respect for the Boogie Down ♪

♪ I'm livin' in the Bronx on an... ♪

People used to record it

and then play it in cars, boombox.

-♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ -♪ You gotta flow, Joe ♪

We had something to claim. Forget just the Bronx.

We were kings of New York, you know?

That was big. We didn't know how big it was gonna get.

♪ The name is Fat Joe ♪

♪ I can flow, I can flow, I can flow ♪

Latinos across the country and across the world

loved the authenticity of what Joe brought to hip hop.

The Latinos would be like, "He's not Rico Suave.

He's the guy with the half moon with the medallion on

with 50 guys behind him,

and I knew it was just gonna shake the hip hop world.

♪ Flow Joe ♪

The promo caught the attention

of one of my compadres, Chris Lighty.

I was on the block hustling, and Chris Lighty just pulled up,

and he was like, "Yo, you know who I am?"

And I was like, "Yeah, I know who you are. You Baby Chris."

And he was like, "You Fat Joe, right?"

I was like, "Yeah." He said, "I think you could be a star.

I wanna sign you."

And my whole life changed from that moment.

I signed a contract in the middle of the street.

Chris, you know, when he wanted something, he always got it.

♪ I'm on point like a sniper, hyper than the hyper ♪

♪ On the DL, overlooked by C-Cypher ♪

"Flow Joe" turned out to be number one.

I really did leave the drug game alone.

The second I got a record deal....

♪ I can flow, I can flow, I can flow ♪

♪ You gotta flow, Joe ♪

By my side here, I got Fat Joe.

After "Flow Joe" came out, Joe blew up

because he painted a clear picture for you

about his block in the Bronx,

and he gave you that aggressiveness.

Fat Joe, yo, I know the album's almost done.

Word up. It's almost done. It'll be out in June.

Wow.

It's called Fat Joe da Gangsta, "Represent." Word up.

So I was doing, like, three shows a night.

♪♪♪

The fat gangsta!

-What, what? -[cheering]

I'd be in Staten Island, Jersey, Connecticut.

♪ You gotta flow, Joe, you gotta flow, Joe ♪

♪ You gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta let 'em know, Joe ♪

You know, uh, Virginia, Baltimore, Philly...

♪ Bring it on if you think you can hang ♪

♪ And if not, then let me do my thing ♪

...and eventually, Miami.

♪♪♪

We were coming down to Miami to do a promo show or something,

and a friend of mine was like,

"I got some girlfriends down there."

I'm like, "Yo, they pretty?"

He was like, "Oh, they're the baddest chicks."

And I was like, "Yo, so I got to meet them."

He was like, "Bro, you're broke. You're fat." [laughs]

We met in Miami right outside Nikki's Beach.

We pulled up, and...

♪♪♪

...the light of the van, she was walking away,

shined on her ass.

And it was thebiggest ass I have ever seen,

and I was like, "What the fuck is dat?"

And then when she turned around, I was like, oh, my God.

[laughs]

My friend said to me, when he introduced us,

Joe said, "That's my wife," and my friend said, "No way.

She's ne-- She'll never be your wife."

Look.

I've been with Joe for 25 years.

He was that guy.

I thought he was really handsome,

and I thought he was a little bit of an asshole.

He was very street. He was rough around the edges.

And he said, "Come back to the hotel and hang out."

And I was like, "All right, I'll come, I'll come,"

but I never showed up.

JOE: And I just kept chasing her and chasing her.

And, uh, I had a show.

[indistinct rapping]

I invite her, and when she comes to the show,

I said, "Sit onstage."

So I do the show, but I'm trying to show her I'm the man.

And I remember leaving after the show,

and one of his friends came up to him,

and he said, "Hey, let's hang out with all these girls.

Wanna go back to the hotel and party"

and this and this and that.

Raul was like, "Yo, I got the chicks.

They wanna hang out with you."

But I'm with Lorena.

And I said, "You should go with them,

because I'm not going."

She's like, "You ain't gettin' none of this.

You might as well go with them." So I look at the six girls,

and I look at her, and I look at the six girls.

[imitates crying] "I...I wanna go with her."

[laughs]

He chose me, so, uh, you know, I was happy.

You know, that was definitely something that made me feel,

um, very special because if I was him,

I would've definitely went with the girls

that were having the party.

The rest is history. You meet someone,

and you just say, "Oh, this is gon' be my wife."

You know when you know you know.

Three months into the relationship,

he was like, "You should move in with me."

I said, "Okay." We lived in 1-bedroom apartment

with no curtains and T-shirts as towels.

We were broke, but we loved each other.

In this business, the hardest thing to do

is to have a successful relationship

all these years later.

My wife Lorena-- she supported me all the way.

Joe Cartagena.

Nah, that ain't Joey Cartagena.

-That's Joey Cottage Cheese. -[laughs]

♪ Yeah, this story takes place back in the South Bronx ♪

♪ Where at the age of 14 I was already knockin' off punks ♪

After some time, it was like pandemonium.

It was like I couldn't walk down the street no more.

You know, I was finally successful,

making all kind of money.

Even though I lived in Jersey on the water,

I would be in the projects every day.

♪ It's time to separate the real from the phony ♪

♪ The name is Fat Joe, punk, act like you know me ♪

And everybody knew Fat Joe would go to this bodega

and hang out in front of it.

♪ Aiyyo, it's real, down on the... ♪

♪ Down on the, down on the... aiyyo, the shit is real ♪

Wow. The shit. That's the bodega.

Walking down the side of a bodega,

and you bump into the phenom, Big Pun.

I didn't know at the time, but he would eventually be

one of the biggest rappers of all time.

That moment, that store, it didn't just change me.

It changed the world forever.

♪♪♪

Pun is out there rapping, and I was like,

what is the fatter Puerto Rican kid gonna do?

And he was like, "Duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh, duh-duh,"

and he just--he's going like a car, 100 miles per hour.

And he just blew my mind.

I was like, oh, my God.

I knew nobody was better than him.

You know, he was born to rap.

We made sure we was everywhere Fat Joe was.

You know, if he had to do a show, we was there.

Wherever he was, you know, if he happened to be in the club

or a barber, we was there, rhyming for him,

rhyming for him, rhyming for him.

♪♪♪

And so when I heard him, I was like, that is it.

This is gonna be the Latino Biggie.

Together, we formed the Terror Squad.

Right now, you know, this is Fat Joe,

DJ Surge, Big Sleep Dog,

Punisher, Armageddon, the Terror Squad clique.

The Terror Squad rap group

consisted of guys I brought in the crew

and guys Pun brought in the crew.

Joey Crack, one love, baby.

You know the deal. Terror Squad clique, boy.

'96...'finity.

He told me, "You're gonna be my big brother I never had.

I'm-a hold you down. You hold me down.

You be my big brother."

They were brothers, and you know,

they might have had different fathers,

but there was nothing else. They were brothers.

And we just gelled together and formed this dynamic duo.

We called each other twins.

So we hit it off real quick, you know?

Before you know it, we was like best friends.

I just knew that the world had to hear it.

♪ I don't wanna be a player no more ♪

♪ I'm not a player, I just crush a lot ♪

♪ But you know Big Pun and Joe still down by law ♪

♪ Who's down to crush tonight? ♪

♪ Hey, yo, I'm still not a player but you still a hater ♪

♪ Elevator to the top, ha, see you later, I'm gone ♪

So I was like, let me focus all my energy on this guy,

and he will take us to the Promised Land.

♪ I don't wanna be a player no more ♪

♪ I'm not a player, I just crush a lot ♪

So I took a backseat and just was pushing Pun.

You know, I was in the streets putting up posters myself.

I'm handing out flyers. Big Pun, Big Pun.

♪ Boricua, morena, Boricua, morena ♪

What he would do for Pun was

bigger than what he did for himself.

Joe believed in Pun.

I think he was totally okay putting Pun front and center.

-How are ya? -I'm good.

The first Latino platinum rap artist.

-Soloist. -Soloist.

-Right. -How's that feel?

-Feels good. I'm proud. -Yeah.

Definitely.

[exhales slowly]

I was the Puerto Rican Puff Daddy, you know?

Puff Daddy discovered Notorious B.I.G.

Fat Joe discovered Big Pun. He went double platinum.

We signed a deal for $10 million with Atlantic.

It was a dream come true to see him elevate

and get nominated for Grammys.

♪♪♪

Side by side, please!

♪♪♪

Yeah, I brought him in the game,

but I had never been nominated for a Grammy.

I had never been around these type of people.

Pun looked so beautiful. He threw curls on his head,

an L.A. finger wave joint. Oh, we was frontin'.

I had the sky-blue suit on with the yellow pinstripe.

There was nothing like that time, bro.

To come from the Bronx, come from nothing,

and be at the Grammys, it was like a Cinderella story.

I mean, this was really a different level of success.

They were asking me to sign any one of my cousins,

any Latino that rapped because they thought it was like

the time of all Latinos selling millions of records.

And you know, I was at the forefront of that.

But at the same time, I was Fat Joe the rapper, too.

So, uh, I went to work.

♪ Under the sun where it's warm ♪

♪ Runnin' with Pun till I'm gone ♪

♪ That's word is bond on my moms ♪

♪ That's the squad motto, got beef, we call Rallo ♪

♪ Dame un trago, he go to war with a bottle ♪

Ah, "Don Cartagena." You know, that video's my favorite video

I ever shot in my life.

♪ Up in the Range or in the Lex Coupe ♪

♪ Rockin' a fresh suit with dress shoes ♪

♪ On my way to Les Boo's ♪

♪ Let's choose the life we rather live ♪

♪ On the streets stabbin' kids ♪

♪ Or livin' mad sweet in lavish cribs ♪

Of course, you're seeing Pun all in there.

And then we had Puff do the hook.

♪ 10 deep, convoy in in the Benz Jeep ♪

♪ Rollin' deep with the Don-Tana ♪

♪ I put the chrome in your cara, adiosto mañana ♪

Happiest time in my life.

♪♪♪

You guys are really the stars of the show this year.

How does it feel?

I mean, it feels great.

I'm just happy. We're real happy today.

Today's a great day.

Everybody has some sort of addiction.

I was really overweight.

The first celebrity-named sandwich of the millennium--

we named it Fat Joe.

I'm extremely hungry right now.

I wish we were, uh, educated as we are now

in food and nutrition,

and we just ain't know no better.

-Yeah! -Yeah!

-[applause] -Sounds good to me, baby.

-Yeah! -Good, Joe.

-It looks great. -[applause]

Me and Pun is performing with Jennifer Lopez

on "Saturday Night Live" this Saturday.

We honored. It's very big.

You know, not too many rappers get to do that type of thing.

♪♪♪

J Lo put out this 10-time platinum album.

We got a huge hit with her-- a song called "Feelin' So Good."

It'd just opened so many doors for us

to be on that "SNL" stage, so many eyes on us,

so many people talking about us.

REPORTER: Big Pun's scheduled high-profile appearance

on "Saturday Night Live" had to be canceled.

He didn't wanna show up. I guess he didn't feel good.

I was trying to push him to go perform.

I kept bothering him the whole week, every day,

you know, "Come on, come on, come on, come on."

And I know it bothered him that he didn't come.

So I did it. You know, the show must still go on.

He was telling me his legs was hurting him,

said he couldn't do it.

We were all worried about Pun's health.

I don't think anybody who could've really been

in Pun's presence didn't at some point feel some concern.

I mean, the struggles with breathing,

and we all knew it wasn't healthy.

He said--He said, "Nah, you go do it by yourself."

And I know that must have hurt him,

because he knew how important it was as well.

I guess these were the warning signs

of what was to come.

The next day, Pun had a heart attack.

♪♪♪

We got the phone call, and I remember just

seeing Joe's face, like his whole vibe,

his whole energy had just, like, come down.

He was really hurt and destroyed,

and he just, you know, it was-- it was a bad day.

It was a bad day.

♪♪♪

He's gone.

I remember breaking down, and, um,

and we flew to New York.

I remember just going straight to Joe's house in the morning

the second we landed.

And then we had to do a bunch of press,

which was the worst thing.

But they've shown a lot of love,

and you know, that was important to him,

'cause a lot of times we worked hard, and we thought,

lot of efforts he was doing was going unnoticed.

But you know, now I guess he knows,

and I definitely know that he will be missed. He's loved.

And you know, he's acknowledged for everything he did in life.

Big Pun's like one of the best, you know what I'm saying?

Especially from a Puerto Rican from the Bronx,

the first one to go platinum,

that's much love forever for real.

And then you--you have a sense of guilt like,

was there anything we could have did

to make sure he didn't pass away?

So it was just--it was just a terrible time, man.

Big Pun leaves behind a wife and three children,

all under the age of 10.

♪♪♪

[exhales slowly]

[exhales deeply]

♪♪♪

Powerful.

♪♪♪

He didn't deserve to die.

28 years old and leave his family, leave his kids.

He meant so much to everybody, the whole community.

At the time, it was just like, unbelievable.

When--When he died, it was just--it felt like, wow.

It was like the world ended.

It was a--It was a hard time.

Even the big, bad Fat Joe couldn't deal with it.

He made me very proud, you know?

And--And what he's done for me,

I could never, you know, replace that.

I mean, there's no question.

Pun was too young to go like that.

Everything is just so overwhelming.

After Pun passed, it was really hard on him.

He lost, like, somebody that he loved

and somebody that he really wanted so much for.

Everything started to go bad.

My grandfather and my sister all died around the same time,

and it was just really, really painful.

I was really, really tight with my sister

growing up since we was kids.

And so that's when depression and all that started to sink in

because it was just so much pressure on me.

♪♪♪

He wasn't able to deal with all of that.

He wasn't ready for it. I mean, nobody is.

He--He was crushed. He was just fucked up.

I gained a lot of weight, started drinking liquor,

medicating myself.

Started losing grip of my friends, my artists.

♪♪♪

I remembered whispers saying, like, there's no Pun,

there's no Terror Squad.

You know, people just thought, you know,

the whole Terror Squad identity would crumble.

I think the combination of Joe and Pun

was holding the Terror Squad together.

And then they slowly started to fall apart.

Cuban Link and Triple Seis

have traded in their Terror Squad memberships.

It's a down period, and Pun died,

and everything is looking slow. Everybody jumped ship on me.

I knew I needed help. I had never felt like this before.

♪♪♪

It was just too much. Unbearable.

The only thing that helped me is that I was going to therapy,

and I would go every Tuesday.

My wife Lorena took me to every single appointment,

and no one else in the world knew I was getting therapy.

So she was supporting me and taking me,

and you know, I put her through a lot.

You know, I always say let your darkest moments

bring you most clarity.

The legendary Big Pun--

the most prolific rapper ever to do it.

You know, I knew I had to fight this depression for my family,

my wife, and my two sons.

Joe's a great father. For him to be this amazing dad,

he had to experience what he went through.

We take care of each other in this family.

It's just simple as that.

The depression went on for two years.

I just said to myself, "Yo, you gotta wake up.

Stop feeling guilty."

And at that moment, I snapped out of the depression.

He was loving life and loving his music

and loving, you know, to do what he does.

And he was working in the studio again,

focused on a new hit.

He was back.

[waves crashing]

♪ Brothers, watch your back ♪

♪ 'Cause things are getting' hectic ♪

Before Pun died,

all I wanted to be was the street, underground.

♪ I'm underground like the gutter ♪

Now when he passed away,

I realized I had to take it from there

and go to the next level.

I met Irv Gotti and told him I wanted to make music

for everybody-- women, commercial, hit records.

And he just woke me up one night.

I'm laying next to my wife and got the house phone.

"Joe, what's up? This Irv."

I was like, "Yo, what's up?" "Come down to Hit Factory."

We went down there. It was 3, 4 in the morning.

And Irv said, "Yo, I made this for you."

And he pressed play, and I was like, "Holy wow."

They gave me a hit. They made me a hit.

♪♪♪

Fat Joe has gone from being

hip hop's most infamous Puerto Rican

to music's most popular big man,

and all it took was a song

called "What's Luv?" featuring Ashanti.

-We got Fat Joe in the house! -A'ight?

-You tore up the stage. -BX representing.

-Yeah. -[cheering]

I've been in this business nine years.

It's finally my time to shine. You know what I mean?

-Right. -What's up?

So what's the difference with this album

from your prior albums?

Just I was just way more focused, man. I had no choice.

I felt like this album was, like, all or nothing.

After Pun's death, you know, cats was rumoring,

and it was people were sleeping on me,

and it was like, "You think Joe could hold it down?"

So I had to lock myself in the grimy studio

and just get all this frustration out

on this music, but just make it happen, you know what I mean?

But we're gonna have more with Fat Joe in one minute.

[cheering]

There was a lot of moments where I knew

he is blowing up like we were on the tour bus,

and they said, "You know,

we want you to perform at MTV Spring Break."

And I was like, "Wow, Joe, this is big."

I was like, "This is really big."

And I was like, "Ma, we gotta do something to make people talk.

We gotta do somethin'," and she was like, "Yo, man,

you should go there topless. Take the shirt off."

And he did. He fucking did. [laughs]

♪ I got the hits, y'all, everybody, come on ♪

She got him this--I think it was like a Fendi red towel.

♪ Crack Man and I'm at it again ♪

I was like, "That's the outfit?" She was like, "That's it."

♪ When we step in the club ♪

Oh, yeah, she was right. She's usually right.

It explodes.

♪ We thuggin', rollin' on dubs ♪

♪ And all up in the club and wilin' like what ♪

It was a mainstream thing.

Everybody was talking about Fat Joe and Joey Crack,

the crack of his ass showin'.

They just fell in love with this big guy.

♪ Everybody wanna know where the crib's at ♪

It's great to be that confident and be a big man

and be sexy and be fly

and carry yourself the way he carried himself.

He was always the flyest fat guy ever. [laughs]

♪ ...a trick if she act too grown ♪

♪ I don't need that stress, I got my wife at home ♪

After that one performance,

our sales went from 15,000 a week

to 20,000 a week to 25,000 a week.

I'll never forget my phone rang, and it was Irv Gotti.

And he said, "Joe! Platinum."

And I'm like, "Stop." And he go, "Platinum."

♪♪♪

It feels good. It feels like,

you know, we having this little victory parade,

and I don't know how radio's embracing me

outta nowhere like that.

But I mean, I guess, you know, that was my destiny.

So now I'm-a just continue to bring you hits.

♪ I got that plat, no-limit American Express card ♪

♪ Mami, you can get whatever you like ♪

This is what I'm in it for, man.

♪ All-black Phantom, it's tinted on four sides ♪

♪ Go 'head, kiss it, they can't see us inside ♪

♪ Mami, tell me do you like it? ♪

And I'm not in it to be an underground rapper.

I'm in it to be a superstar, sell millions of records.

♪ Get it poppin', go 'head and drop it ♪

♪ It's written all over your face, don't stop it ♪

It was a different audience. Time had went by,

and you know, it wasn't "Flow Joe" crowd.

It was a whole new crowd. How was he gonna keep it going?

It was millions of people trying to make music.

A hit record is a miracle.

But to keep doing it over and over again,

that lets you know these guys ain't going nowhere.

-You got anything? -We're ready to drop out.

Then boom, here goes "Lean Back."

["Lean Back" intro playing]

"Lean Back" is actually the only beat

that I was afraid to rap on

'cause I had so much success off of "What's Luv?"

You know, as an artist,

you start thinking that's your lane.

You gotta make songs for girls.

And so I lived with it for, like, a month,

and I remember I was driving on the West Side Highway.

I pulled over. I played the beat and started going.

♪ I don't give a... about your faults or mishaps ♪

♪ We from the Bronx, New York, things happen ♪

I was new to Terror Squad, and I was in the studio.

And I'm like, "Play for me what they were doing yesterday."

Like... ♪ Dum, dum, dum ♪

I'm like, what is this?

♪ As a young'n, was too much to cope with ♪

♪ Why you think...huh, the BX nicknamed me Cook... ♪

It is Joe with all three verses. I'm like, is he serious?

-Take that second verse out. -[record needle scratches]

Turn on the mic, and I'm going in there and I'm recording.

♪ Check, check, R to the Ezzy, M to the Yzzy ♪

♪ My arms stay breezy, the Don stay flizzy ♪

Next day, when everyone comes in, that song comes on.

And he's like, hype.

♪ Uh-huh ♪

We like this, 10 deep.

And then the second verse comes on. He looks at me.

♪ With a matchin' jacket, 'bout to cop me a mansion ♪

And I'm like, "Hi!"

I'm like, what the f--

They totally erased my second verse,

and Remy forced them to record her.

But when I heard it, I was like, wow!

She killed that.

♪ Walk around the metal detectors ♪

♪ And there really ain't a need for a VIP section ♪

♪ In the middle of the dance floor ♪

♪ Reckless, check it, said it ♪

It was just a huge record.

Like, not just here. Around the world.

Every DJ was playing "Lean Back."

It just was over. [laughs] It was over.

♪ In front of the building, Trinity Ave ♪

♪ 10 years been legit, they still figure me bad ♪

He always comes out swinging.

♪ Lean back, come on, lean back ♪

At the MTV Awards, it was like Bruce Willis and Latifah

and all these people was like, "Lean back."

♪ What, lean back, what? ♪

I'm like, was Bruce Willis just doing "Lean Back"?

Like Mr. "Die Hard" himself?

♪ Don't dance, we just pull up our pants ♪

♪ And do the rockaway ♪

♪ So lean back, come on ♪

"Lean Back" was the return of Joe.

It was an anthem, and when you heard it,

you were like, "Joe's back."

AUDIENCE: ♪ Move out the way ♪

-♪ Now everybody ♪ -♪ Lean back ♪

-♪ What? ♪ -♪ Lean back ♪

-♪ What? ♪ -♪ Lean back ♪

Motherfucker, lean back!

[cheering]

Ha ha! [inhales sharply]

You know, we call that one-- that's for the asses.

That was a home run, man. We ran the game with this.

Go to a nightclub, and they would play just "Lean Back"

for an hour straight, 50 times in a row.

They just wouldn't get tired of it. It was a phenomenon.

I will always be known as the guy who made "Lean Back."

Peace, y'all.

♪♪♪

Remy became a superstar with that song.

It's Remy Ma, the hottest chick in the market right now.

It was so unexpected,

but I was ready to be in the big leagues now.

After "Lean Back," Remy wanted to do a solo album,

and I wanted to do a solo album with her.

We get the deal done.

My girl Remy Ma is in the building.

-Yes. -And she made an amazing album,

but it didn't do what it should have done.

I was dealing with the record label,

and they kept telling me

that they were gonna blow up her album, but they didn't.

I was mad about how many units of my album was shipped out.

No one anywhere who wanted to buy my album--

they couldn't find it because they didn't have it.

Unfortunately, she thought it was because of me.

And I'm like, "You should have been here with me.

If you was here, this wouldn't have happened.

No one's listening to me."

And so she went at me.

And she was talking crazy.

Truthfully, there is no Terror Squad Records.

Like, you can't call the office and be like,

"Can I get the number to Terror Squad Records?"

She was talking about,

"I don't mind signing to 50 Cent's G-Unit."

50 know I'm that chick. Holla at me.

-If you--If you agree to pay... -If that's... [laughs]

If you agree to pay when he sues, 'cause he's gonna sue,

we could make the song happen. You know it's gonna be poppin'.

You know, Remy's family, man,

and I know her since she's a kid.

And so that was the most painful form of betrayal

I had ever felt.

It was like an invisible lightning rod

just piercing through my heart.

You know, she's a very emotional person,

and Joe really tried to do right by her.

What is it that exactly went wrong?

What was the, like, the final breaking point

where you had decided to go separate ways?

First of all, Remy-- Remy was always her own boss.

When she started disrespecting me to the public,

and a lot of stuff is karma, man, you know?

When you wile out and all that, that shit be coming right back,

you know, so I wish her well.

Three years later, she got arrested, and you know,

I've been dealing with crime my whole life,

so I knew what she had to do to get less time,

and--and nobody was advising her the right way.

I was in prison. We didn't speak for years,

and during that time, like, I used to be so devastated

because I missed my brother.

I was sad even though I was trying to act like...

you know, it is what it is,

but it was like really, really sad for her.

But I've always been on go time no matter what,

and fighting for what we-- we are, what we represent,

and so I keep going and I keep pushing forward.

♪♪♪

♪ Ow ♪

At the time, we build a new house.

It's beautiful. We in Miami with the whole family--

my mother, my wife, my daughter, my two sons.

We were all together.

It was an amazing time, and I had a hit.

♪ Mami's body's bangin', she got it, man ♪

♪ She does it all, she gets it poppin' ♪

♪ With no hands, I'll make it pour ♪

♪ I'll make it rain on 'em, I'm layin' game to 'em ♪

♪ I'm gassin' misses to tattoo my name on 'em ♪

And then one day I went to a buy a car,

and they were like, "You haven't paid for your mortgages.

You haven't paid your cars." I'm like, "What?"

I had an accountant. I hired him.

I'm sending him wire transfers to pay my taxes.

The man ain't paying my taxes. I didn't know.

We stepped to the government, and we tell them,

"Look, this guy was taking advantage of me."

I actually went to court and paid the money back,

thinking that maybe 'cause I don't have

no previous criminal history,

I'll get house arrest or get probation,

which they give to people every day,

and so they said, "Sorry. You have to go to jail."

That was a horrible day. I got up.

My mother-in-law made me breakfast,

and she was crying the whole time.

Lorena was in the-- in the living room,

just crying like crazy.

And you know, I kissed her on the forehead.

I said, "Ma, stop. You can't be doing this.

The actual day of, me, Joe's son,

took the drive with him to drop him off.

You could hear a pin drop.

I've done many crimes. I've done many things in my life.

I was not guilty of this! Like, you know, so I got my, uh,

I guess I got what was coming to me.

We get to in front of the prison.

We all get out. You know, we hug him.

The boss going to jail. Like, this shit crazy.

When I was walking into the jail,

I looked back at the truck, and, uh,

maybe I shouldn't have brung my son there.

You know, he looked so devastated

watching his father walk in there.

You know, uh, and that hurt. That really, really hurt.

Jail gave me a lot of time to strategize,

go over my priorities,

and get really, really serious about life.

You know what's sad for me, man?

I was making money since I was 22.

I had been rich for the last 15, 16 years.

Private planes, mansions,

diamonds, whatever you name it, cars.

Whatever we wanted, we had.

When I got out of jail, I had to start completely over.

Hi, Azzy.

[indistinct conversation]

-Hi, Azzy. -Aah!

[laughter]

What's up?

They didn't tell me you were coming.

Same Azzy. Love of my life.

It was a special day for me

because the day I walked out of jail,

we had told her I was on tour.

We never really told her the truth.

The hardest thing was that

it basically had absorbed 90% of my money--

millions and millions of dollars.

And so I would get up,

and I would look at my daughter sleep at night,

and that hurt me the most 'cause I would be like,

she doesn't deserve to live a broke life.

She deserves a better life.

♪♪♪

Now we have to figure out a way to make your money back.

To make a hit record one time is a miracle.

To do it over and over and over again is even harder,

and I was-- I was a 40-year-old rapper.

Nobody had ever done that.

I pulled up to his crib. It was a huge crib he had.

You know, I knocked on the door. His wife Lore opens the door.

She's like, "Get in here and talk to this man.

He's trippin'."

And I can remember sitting down with him,

and he was just like, "It's over for me, man.

Rap--it's a young man's game, you know what I'm saying?

It's over."

And I never seen Joe like that. You know what I'm saying?

You know, I had just turned 40 years old.

They took away all my money.

How the hell am I gonna come back?

And I can remember just looking at him and telling him,

"Nah. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

Tina Turner made a hit record at 50 years old."

So, uh, went to work, back in the studio,

ready--ready to do what I had to do.

♪♪♪

Joe felt like, "I need something to get back, uh, on fire."

At the same time, you know,

Remy--she was trying to get her thing going.

I'm in prison, and I'd been there for about four years,

going on five,

and I'm just like, yo, I need to speak to him.

And I had to go through so much.

I had to put the number on my phone list, all this stuff,

so I'm like, all right, I'm just gonna call him.

It was at that point where I didn't even care

who was right or who was wrong.

I was like, I'm saying sorry. I'm gonna apologize.

She called me out of nowhere.

She's just like, "Yo." And I'm like, "Yo."

And then there's an awkward silence for like a minute.

Um...

And then she was like, "Well, talk."

I was like, "Well, Remy, you called me.

Like, what do you want?" Like... [chuckles]

He's like, "Rem, what do you wanna say?"

And I'm just like, "All right.

I'm sorry! I love you, and I miss you..."

"Miss you..." And it was just a love fest.

It took one second.

♪♪♪

So when Remy got out of jail, we met in Miami,

and I had a big plan.

This was like the first time that I had saw Fat Joe.

Seven years?

He's like, "You ready to get back in the big leagues now?

Like, you know, I have this idea."

And I'm like, "Oh, okay. What's your idea?"

He's like, "Just me and you." "What?"

I said, "Yo, Remy, there's a chance

that if we work together and we make a song,

it's like a thread going through a needle."

He says, "People like Fat Joe, and people like Remy Ma.

But people loveFat Joe andRemy Ma together."

If we hit it on there,

it might explode and be the biggest record in the world.

After the reconciliation,

Fat Joe and Remy Ma, and they were all the way up.

♪ I'm all the way up, all the way up ♪

♪ I'm all the way up ♪

♪ Nothing can stop me, I'm all the way up ♪

♪ Just left the big house to a bigger house ♪

♪ Ain't have a girlfriend but the... is out ♪

♪ Chanel Croc bag, ...ain't even out ♪

♪ With the gold chains, Himalayan Birk' and ...caine ♪

I remember going shopping with Remy for this video.

Joe wanted my wardrobe to be crazy,

but we didn't have a budget.

She might have spent $15,000.

She's like, "Yo, Joe, I don't spend money like this no more."

I was like, "Fuck that. We need Chanel.

We need Louis Vuitton. We need the Birk."

♪ Champion sound, yeah, I got a few rings ♪

♪ And I'm all the way up, all the way up ♪

♪ And you can stay up, you can stay up ♪

He's like, "Rem, I promise you.

You're gonna get it back times a hundred, trust me."

I said, "You know what, Rem?

If we don't make money back with this song,

I'll give you the money back for the clothes,

but buy the clothes."

♪ P.O.s say I can't get high ♪

♪ Hopped in the helicopter Uber and said ♪

Motherfucker.

-♪ I'm all the way up ♪ -♪ Oh, oh ♪

♪ Go all the way up ♪

Not only was "All the Way Up" big for Joe and the Squad,

but it was big for hip hop and for the culture.

-♪ I'm all the way up ♪ -Coming to the stage to perform

one of the hottest tracks of the summer,

Fat Joe and Remy Ma!

-♪ Go all the way up ♪ -♪ Ha ♪

-♪ I'm all the way up ♪ -♪ Ha ♪

♪ I'm all the way up, nothing can stop me ♪

♪ I'm all the way up ♪

-BET! -I'm all the way up!

-[cheering] -Ha!

The comeback was real for Fat Joe.

We just kept winning awards.

The BET Hip Hop Award goes to "All the Way Up,"

for Fat Joe, Remy Ma. -[cheers and applause]

We gettin' that money. We gettin' that money.

I could've thought of a lot of better things to say

than "We gettin' that money."

But I guess it was built in that they had took all my money that

that was the first thing I thought of saying up there was,

"We gettin' that money, boy."

Like, if y'all thought I was gonna be broke,

you are very confused, right?

We all the way up. Ain't nothin' stopping us.

[cheers and applause]

-Nothing can stop me... -ALL: I'm all the way up!

All the way up!

There's nothing like having something

and have it taken away from you

and for you to come back.

[cheers and applause]

♪♪♪

It was just like on top of the world again.

He always says, "I'm gonna get a number one,"

and he does. He fuckin' works hard,

and he fuckin' makes it happen.

To this day, I fight for my family's future.

I wanna leave and leave my kids, you know, all set up.

I need it--the music to blow up on another level

so I can do the business.

The only way to succeed in life is through empowering yourself.

It's all about being an entrepreneur.

I want my Wikipedia to start off by saying,

"Joseph Antonio Cartagena, American businessman."

You know, there's so much more than being a gangster rapper.

We have a great brand that we're all proud of.

UP New York City.

Grand opening, "All the Way Up." Lit.

Fat Joe started opening up sneaker stores in the city,

and he created what we call the UP NYC Sneaker Initiative

to reward kids with sneakers from impoverished neighborhoods

that do good in school.

When I opened the store, it was to give back to the people.

Philanthropy is--is big. It's in my heart.

I've always given back.

And that's what I'm gonna keep doing.

[birds chirping]

Who would've thought back in the days, Ma,

we would live good like this, huh?

Started with nothing, huh?

Damn, man, I'm so blessed, man.

-We're blessed. -We so blessed. Joey!

[chuckles]

Let's do a toast.

Thank God that we're here, and we're eatin'.

And pray for everybody.

-Cheers. -Cheers.

[indistinct conversations]

Wow.

You know, I'm very lucky to have them--

my wife, Rich, my daughter, little Joey.

He's the don. He always sits at the top of the table.

He's autistic, but he realizes that he plays a powerful role

in this family.

I'm proud of him. I love him.

I feel like all my blessings come from him.

I think having a child with special needs

is something that he always tried to protect.

♪♪♪

But now he's definitely, um, comfortable.

My kids--they are living

a tremendously different childhood than me.

And thank God, man. That's what we all want for our kids.

I love everybody here,

and everybody at this table is very, very important to me

in my life, and I'm just happy

that I still have my mother and father here with me.

When my mother went through cancer,

my father never left her.

He stood by her side. A lot of people--they run away.

And so I've been blessed to have my parents.

So I try every second I can with them.

He's in a happy place right now

where he's able to express, and he doesn't give a fuck.

He just knows that he loves and he wants to show love back.

You know, he's a positive guy,

and he's giving out that positive energy,

and he--he's--he's a sunshine.

Yo, Joe, the life you live is unbelievable.

They need to make a movie about your life. It's so inspiring!

Yo, yo, hold on! Remember that time you threw a Pablo Escobar?

-Now you can do it. -No, no, no, no, Joe, toast!

[all shouting at once, cheering]

[laughs]

Oh! Wow. I got--I have some very good friends.

♪ The flyest, let's get it ♪

♪ Been waitin' on that sunshine, boy, I think I need that back ♪

This was like the first song I ever made in my life

based on positivity and uplifting the people.

I'm gonna cheer 'em up. We're gonna have fun.

♪♪♪

♪ She want that old thing back ♪

♪ Pretty young thing want that OG Crack ♪

♪ Straight savage when I got my Fenty on ♪

♪ Do the D'USSEÉ with a touch of DeLeón ♪

"Sunshine"-- it's just the growth of Joe.

It's like he's lighter.

We gon' bring the light in, you know?

DJ Khaled, I see you.

♪♪♪

Cool and Dre, I see you.

My brother Joe Crack still knockin' 'em out the park

at 50 years old.

♪ Stash pesos in Turks and Caicos ♪

Joe has found a sense of balance.

I think he found a sense of peace.

A lot of people would call Joe the elder statesman of hip hop

because you think about it, when he came out,

what, in early '90s, and now we're in 2021,

he have a vision.

After putting in so much pain,

after coming from where we come from,

beating the odds a gazillion times,

he deserves to be happy.

♪ Crack Man, and I'm it again ♪

♪ Silk shirts and a couple of chains ♪

♪ I go deeper and deeper ♪

I think what Joe did and what he gave to the music business

to people, marginalized people from tough neighborhoods, hope.

You understood that he came from nothing

and turned it into something,

and that's what Joe gave to people.

♪ Throw your Rollies in the sky, my guys'll take those ♪

♪ Lower East Side, I'm up in N.Y. ♪

♪ See me on the floor with Obi courtside ♪

Really nice to see the evolution of where he started

to where he is now.

It's really like a hip hop fairy tale.

The moral to the story is... courage.

♪♪♪

I have been through everything you could think of.

I was in the streets, jail, and you know,

we lost family, friends,

and been tested to where I had to step up.

I always say let your darkest moments bring you most clarity.

♪ You are my shining star, my guiding light ♪

♪ My love fantasy ♪

♪ Yeah, come on ♪

♪ Don't dance, we just pull up our pants ♪

♪ And do the rockaway ♪

-♪ Now lean back, lean back ♪ -♪ That's right ♪

-♪ Lean back ♪ -♪ Uh-huh ♪

♪ Lean back, come on ♪

♪♪♪

♪ Huh, yeah ♪

♪ Can you hear me? ♪

♪ Huh, Big Pun forever ♪