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Fat Joe
- StudentCity.com Appearances:
- (Cancun '07 & '05) MTV performance at The City, Maxim Break at the Oasis Cancun, Dady'O; (Acapulco '07) Disco Beach
Joseph Cartagena, also known as Fat Joe, got a sluggish start to his career as the only Latino rap artist on the east coast. Born and raised in the Bronx, he worked tirelessly to become the huge success he is today. When his first album didn't sell as many records as he had hoped, Joe teamed up with Big Pun for his second album, and found success. Joe produced Big Pun's first album, which was the first ever by a Latino artist to go multi-platinum! After Big Pun’s tragic death, Joe formed the Terror Squad, and together they produced their first number one single ‘Lean Back.’ The rest is history, and he continues to make his mark on music, film, clothing and urban culture today. In 2007Fat JoeH was one of many celebrity Spring Break stars that performed during the Ultimate Spring Break Experience in Cancun .
Albums
Fat Joe has been on a number of different labels recording about 8 albums for the past 14 years. He has had both underground and major label success as a respected recording artist for labels such as: Imperial, Virgin, Capital, Atlantic, and his own company, Terror Squad.
In 1998, Fat Joe released his first album with Atlantic records (his third studio album) entitled Don Cartagena featuring the hit singles “Bet Ya Man Can’t” and the albums title track, “Don Cartagena.” The album hit number seven on the Billboard Top 200 and number two on the hip-hop charts making it Fat Joe’s first Gold release certified by the RIAA.
Following the success of Don Cartagena, Fat Joe released his second album on Atlantic called The Jealous One’s Still Envy (J.O.S.E) in 2001, including the song “We Thuggin” featuring R. Kelly. The album didn’t reach the success of Don Cartagena, but managed to continue to gain popularity for the artist.
Fat Joe continued his career teaming up with many artists and changing labels a couple times releasing, All of Nothing, My Myself and I and eventually The Elephant in the Room on Imperial Records.
Terror Squad
The Terror Squad is Fat Joe’s group, record label and production company for hip hop artists like Big Pun, Cuban Link, Triple Seis, Remy Martin and many more whom are featured on various Terror Squad recordings. Fat Joe, the CEO and main artist in the company established the Terror Squad in 1998 with his solo album Don Cartagena. A year later Terror Squad released their first major label hit “Whatcha Gon’Do” featuring Big Pun who later died from a tragic heart attack.
Despite their success, the group took a several year hiatus following Big Pun’s death. Fat Joe was the only artist within the group that continued to record and release albums during that period. They later reformed in 2004 for release there second collaborative album, True Story, bringing them back into the mainstream and public eye with the hit “Lean Back,” produced by Scott Storch. “Lean Back” went on to be the groups biggest single to date hitting the Billboard Hot 100 at number one. To further the success of the single, the Terror Squad released a remix of “Lean Back” featuring vocals from Ma$e, Lil Jon, and Eminem released on Fat Joe’s solo album All or Nothing.
The Terror Squad intends on releasing their third studio collaborative in 2008 entitled A New Story.
Film
Fat Joe has also explored his talents in other areas of show biz by acting in several movies as well as directing and writing for the film Still Not a Prayer in 2002. The artists several films include: I Like It Like That (1994), Thicker than Water (1999), Urban Medicine (1999), White Boyz (1999). He also stared in Blazin, Prison Song, Empire, Max Havoc: The Curse of the Dragon all in 2004. Fat Joe showed his family-oriented side as the voice of Seymour in the Oscar winning animation film Happy Feet. He has also been featured on countless MTV shows, and TV comedies and dramas.
In The Media
Fat Joe had been known to stay out of trouble within the East Coast, West Coast hip hop rivalry, however, at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, controversy struck between Joe and 50 cent (a fellow East Coast hip hop artist) when Fat Joe made a comment on 50 Cent’s street credibility during an interview. During the award show Fat Joe also made a live on air comment saying, "I feel safe with all the police protection, courtesy of G-Unit." Moments later 50 Cent jumped on the stage after Fat Joe was exiting.