It's one thing to trick out your vehicle after you make it. Make what? Mad cash, of course. With the almighty dollar in hand funding your car audio fantasy is just a matter of knowing what you want and finding the right talent to bring it to life. On the flip side, if you don't have the loot for luxury, you need to have a different kind of wealth, that of desire and determination. Put another way, you have to want it real bad. Back in the day, before Fat Joe was a famous rapper and label head, he was one of the first dons in the South Bronx to have a custom sound system in his vehicle. That says a lot about his priorities, and we have to respect that.
New York being a street culture, folks would hang out on a stoop and, as they like to do, would comment on what they saw around them. Call them street critics. And the discourse they would engage in wasn't so much like, "There goes Fat Joe the rapper in his hot car", it was more like, "Who the hell is in that boomin' ride?!" Before the hit records and the videos on MTV he was already down with car audio fans in his rolling boom-box. In between then and now Joe has worked with deliberation and resilience, to succeed in surrounding his life with music. Nowadays, the Bronx-born legend and Terror Squad leader has two reputations. One for his music and another for his mobile audio systems. See, Fat Joe's love of music is embodied not just in his own albums, or his label, Terror Squad Records, but also in the way his in-car gear sounds.
Lately, Joe has been working very hard on his musical career. He's in the spotlight with the release of his first album, "Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.)", since the passing of his close friend and Terror Squad collaborator Big Punisher (R.I.P Big Pun). Since then, amid swirling rumors and the requisite drama surrounding celebrities in any realm, Joe has maintained, staying prolific as the spiritual leader of his label. As the title of the album indicates, the story of Fat Joe is not without scandal and the darker elements that come with achieving superstardom in the Big Apple. Hip-hop is music, but it's also a business. That means competition. In that respect it's just as fierce and treacherous as any other.
Big Pun, like any rare talent, was a true original in the art of rap and the game called hip-hop. Pun's lyrical fire burned bright behind what others saw as a laid-back demeanor. After listening to Joe's album you can hear Pun's influence, imbuing Joe with that familiar spark (that influence is felt in many other Billboard artists). After Pun's tragic death Joe became determined to persevere and represent for the Latino hip-hop culture. Joe is still pushing for his Terror Squad camp to really earn that Hall of Fame slot, and he's putting the impact of his full weight behind the cause. Pun will always be in the Hall of Fame, and his songs will long be remembered, and so now Joe deals with the pressure of holding down the legacy.
First Joe needs to top himself; his much acclaimed 1995 release, "Jealous Ones Envy (J.O.E.)" was followed by "Don Cartegena" which was his first certified gold album. So he's had to really put together an all-star team of players to amp it up on the new record. This time around Joe was joined in the studio by today's foremost producers. The illustrious list includes Rockwilder (Busta Rhymes, Erick Sermon, Redman, just to name a few), Irv Gotti (DMX, Ja Rule), Psycho Les (Mos Def, The Arsonists), and Alchemist (Talib Kweli, Capone-N-Noreaga). Joe didn't stop there. To complement some of the best people behind the scenes he invited some of the top people in front of a mike, guests artists like Xzibit, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Noreaga, Petey Pablo, and Buju Banton, as well as Joe's Terror Squad cohorts, Remy Martin, Armageddon and Prospect.