Fat Joe has recently sat with LL Cool J for a discussion about his road to success on a new episode of his weekly interview series, “Fat Joe Talks,” on STARZ.
During the 30 minutes conversation, the two hip-hop icons briefly talked about the relationship with Eminem.
Fat Joe: [The fact that you want to be yourself and copy no one] We respect that and we love that. That’s the only way you’ll get somebody like Eminem, the biggest streamer in the universe, to shoot a video and do a song with you cause he respects you as an artist. Tell me about that relationship between you and Eminem cause I feel like I got the best relationship with you but I’m starting getting in my feelings. Cause this man right here, I’ve seen him big you up when he won Hall Of Fame. I seen him always big you up. LL Cool J: He’s amazing. We got a great rapport. We are friends. He does [look up to me]. We have that love for hip-hop in common.
Watch the interview below:
A clip from Fat Joe Talks show on Starz with LL Cool J as a guest where LL talks about his friendship with Eminem.
Fat Joe has revealed the three rappers he looks to for inspiration when embarking on a new album.
During an Instagram Live session with Michael Rainey Jr. on Wednesday (October 2, 2024), legendary rapper Fat Joe revealed the three rappers he looks to for inspiration when working on a new album. In addition, he reveals his upcoming project’s title and release month.
“Whenever I make an album, I always put up a poster of Nas, a poster of JAY-Z and one of Eminem. And I be like, ‘Yo, I gotta be as good as them or even better. In my own mind. I could be delusional, but I do that. I shoot for the stars.” said Fat Joe.
Back in July, a reporter for TMZ caught up with the Terror Squad boss in Los Angeles to talk about his peers such as Nas, DJ Premiere, LL Cool J, Common and Pete Rock all releasing new projects in 2024. “Breaking news: Fat Joe be dropping an album in August, too, so put me in that list of pioneers and legends and icons,” he shared. While that release date is now pushed back, it appears as if the new project is finally coming. Check out the clip below.
This Friday, after more than a decade break, the legendary LL Cool J dropped the new album, titled The FORCE, entirely produced by another hip-hop icon, Q-Tip. It features guest appearances from Snoop Dogg, Fat Joe, Rick Ross, Sona Jobarteh, Saweetie, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Eminem, Mad Squablz, J-S.A.N.D., and Don Pablito.
“Murdergram Deux”, featuring Eminem, was released as the fourth single of the album on August 30, 2024. With LL’s nostalgic bravado and Eminem’s signature speedy flow and subtle wordplay, the song sees the pair boasting about their raw “unapologetic” style and credibility in the rap game. The track is produced by Eminem and Q-Tip, LL’s fellow Queens rap legend and former member of A Tribe Called Quest, who has produced the entire album.
DJ Whoo Kid shared the snippet of the song on his Instagram with the caption: “@llcoolj x @eminem, this is my fav LL song! Your thoughts? @ilovewhoodini.” Whoo Kid probably meant that it’s his favorite LL song from the new album.
Under the comments, legendary Big Daddy Kane commented: “LOVE IT!!! This a Cerrone vibe.” Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe, Royce 5’9″ and Lazarus have all commented fire emojis. Though, fans have mixed feeling about the song and the entire album. Someone said: “The album is not that good. The lyrics are on point, typical LL, but the tracks…..leaves a lot to be desired.” One user commented: “Nah man, this ain’t it…” Another said: “They ripped that s–t!” Check out the screenshot of the reactions below:
Last week, Detroit legend Eminem announced on social media that jars of his “Mom’s Spaghetti” Pasta Sauce would launch through the Mom’s Spaghetti official website.
When the sauce popped up on the website last Thursday for orders, the sauce quickly sold out within hours. After DJ Khaled and Fat Joe, LL Cool J also revealed that Eminem sent him the sauce as a gift.
In the video posted on social media, LL says: “Mr. Marshall, thank you for the Mom’s Spaghetti sauce, man! Yo, once I hook this up, I’mma tear it up baby. I appreciate you. Now, I have to go left on my diet for a minute but its all good! Appreciate you man. Let’s get it! Yo, and I had a fun in the restaurant in Detroit baby, see you soon!” while “Lose Yourself” was playing in the background.
In the caption, LL wrote: “@eminem Thank you B!!” Shade45’s official page commented: “GOAT BUSINESS #ctrlaltdstroy.”
Fat Joe has recently sat down with Hollywood legend Chazz Palminteri on his Chazz Palminteri Show where they talked about everything from growing up in the Bronx, his music career, his hip-hop influences, their mutual friends, life changing stories and their success coming up from the Bronx.
At one point of the interview, The Usual Suspects actor listed his all time greatest rappers before asking it to Fat Joe: “Who do you think are top, all time greatest rappers? I mean, I like Biggie, I thought Biggie was great. Obviously he didn’t do a lot of albums but when you listen to it…And I thought Tupac was very prolific and obviously Eminem.”
“I’ll add some names to that,” said Fat Joe. “Rakim, Jay-Z, Nas, Lil Wayne. My idols are Heavy D, LL Cool J. He’s a major influence in hip-hop. And KRS-One from the Bronx. I studied all of them. And who is your top 5 actors of all time?”
On that, Chazz replied: “Obviously Robert De Niro. Obviously Marlon Brando. I would absolutely put Al Pacino in there. I love Peter O’Toole, I would have to put him in there. And I would probably put James Dean. Three movies, three classics.”
On November 5, 2023, Rolling Stone magazine published a profile on DJ Khaled with comments and insight from his peers in the industry. Among them is Fat Joe, who revealed that Eminem’s verse on the “Lean Back” remix traces back to motivation given from the Grammy-winning producer.
“When we did ‘Lean Back,’ we did it in a studio in Khaled’s house. I remember when it came to be remix time, I would’ve never thought I had a chance in the world of getting Eminem. Khaled told me, ‘You could get Em.’ And I went all out and I got Eminem because he had pushed me to.” recalled Fat Joe.
Back in 2005, with the original version of “Lean Back” topping the Billboard Hot 100 and achieving gold status, Terror Squad’s Fat Joe and Remy Ma returned with the crunk remix produced by Lil Jon and featuring verses from Eminem and Mase.
Back in 2011, during the interview with Complex magazine, Fat Joe spoke about Eminem’s verse: “Me and Eminem were cool before he even had a record deal. I wouldn’t dare ask him for a favor. DJ Khaled was gassing me and this is when he was a little ni–a in the crew. He kept telling me, ‘Get the whiteboy!’ I was like, ‘Nah, I ain’t gonna bother him.’ And he was like, ‘I’m telling you, that’s your man. He’ll do it!’
He continued: “So I went and I asked him. And he hit me back like, ‘Yo Joe, you know you got one favor. Is this it?’ Eminem actually rapped at first on the original. And he was asking me, ‘Yo, why did you change the beat?!?’ And he’s another ni–a like Nas on ‘John Blaze’ who sent me mad verses. He did like 10 ‘Lean Back’ verses. He’s a perfectionist. It was incredible already. I didn’t understand why he would keep sending other ones.”
Fat Joe has recently sat down with Hollywood legend Chazz Palminteri on his Chazz Palminteri Show where they talked about everything from growing up in the Bronx, his music career, his hip-hop influences, their mutual friends, life changing stories and their success coming up from the Bronx. Joe also has an incredible life lesson that he shares and the advice that he should’ve taken from A Bronx Tale in order to avoid a life changing event.
At one point of the interview, Fat Joe revealed that Eminem has recently sent him ‘Mom’s Spaghetti’ sauce as a gift. Couple of weeks ago, Detroit legend Eminem announced on social media that jars of his “Mom’s Spaghetti” Pasta Sauce would launch through the Mom’s Spaghetti official website. When the sauce popped up on the website, the sauce quickly sold out within hours.
“You know my brother Eminem just pulled out a ne sauce and its called ‘Mom’s Spaghetti.’ He sent it to my house I swear a god. He has a sauce available called Mom’s Spaghetti!” said Fat Joe.
Then Joe went on praising Em: “He’s the best. He is phenomenal. He’s too great. You cant’ stop him. He’s too great. He’s like an alien. He’s amazing.”
On that Chazz Palminteri replied: “I do not know him well but I met Dr. Dre and I got to know him a little bit through Jimmy Iovine and I met him bunch of times. And he would tell me, when he first heard Eminem rap, it was like ‘WHAT THE F–K?!’ Yeah, he is like an alien.”
Fat Joe has recently sat down on the latest episode of Rap Radar where the legendary hip-hop artist explained why he believes Eminem is a rap god.
“Eminem is a God! I don’t give a f–k what you think. He’s a god. You know what I’m saying? He’s somebody who shifted the whole algorithms when he came out.” said Fat Joe.
Then he continued: “I remember me and Big Pun… Big Pun was the first Latino to sell 2 million records solo, we nominated for Grammy and the night before we go to the Grammys, we are waiting on line in LA in Tower Records for the f–king Eminem album. Nominated for the Grammy, me and Big Pun on line to get that motherf–king Eminem album. You tell me he ain’t a Rap God. You understand what I’m saying?”
“So it’s like, you know, I respect everybody who put their contributions to this game.” Fat Joe added.
In his latest The Biggest podcast, Fat Joe discussed Eminem vs Melle Mel and Nas vs MC Shan situations.
“Sometimes the old school, they stand in the way of themselves. You understand what I’m saying? Now I see Melle Mel wants to battle Eminem. Oh my God, this is out of control. Yo, Melle Mel, he’s my OG. He’s the guy I look up to but Mel…Okay, they gonna do whatever they want to do…” said Fat Joe.
Then he continued: “Sometimes, unfortunately, our pioneers stand in the way of their own bag. I do not know why. I have spoken to them over and over again. I would not be here if it was not for our pioneers. So, sometimes, when I can’t talk to them I sit down and be like ‘yo, you can’t get the bag doing this and this and that’.”
“I’ve seen horrible situations…We don’t love you! We over-love you! We worship you! So listen, my pioneers, my legends, don’t block your blessings man! Get to the bag. I want all of you to get to the bag. Hip-hop is one thing, we don’t have the union. We don’t have a situation where we take care of our pioneers. And they deserve it. Because we wouldn’t have it if it was not for them. ” Fat Joe added.
In a recent interview with The Art Of Dialogue, legendary rapper Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five criticized Billboard and Vibe magazines for placing Kendrick Lamar and Eminem in top 5 greatest rappers of all time list and Fat Joe is the latest rapper to disagree with The Bronx, New York-born hip-hop pioneer.
“Obviously, Eminem is a capable rapper. He got a rhyme style,” says Melle Mel, “But he is white! He is white! If Eminem was just another ni–a like the rest of us, would he be top 5 on that list when there are at least 35 ni–as that can rhymes just as good as him?! If he was a black rapper he would not even make a list.”
50 Cent responded in now-deleted Instagram post: “There was more money selling dope than being in Hip Hop when Melly Mel was popping, the culture has grown so much. I am not sure if it would be what it is today with out artist like Eminem. S–t I am not sure I would be who I am with out him but you know it is competitive so ni–as gonna hate. LOL f–k outta here ! We sucker free.”
Kxng Crooked also came out in defense of Eminem in the 5 minutes clip shared on Instagram: “That was the funniest clip I’ve seen all day. I could not stop laughing for 5 minutes…If somebody decided to create a round table and only the most brilliant lyricists in the history of hip-hop could sit I’d be sitting at that table like ‘what’s happening Marshall?’ Eminem will be sitting at that table! So, as one of the most brilliant hip-hop writers in the history of the culture what do you think Eminem deserves? Every f–king thing he has cause he is brilliant.”
Detroit actor and rapper Page Kennedy also backed Eminem and threw some shade at Melle Mel on Twitter: “Melle Mel sound like a hater saying Eminem only top 5 cause he white. Ni–a you know how many white rappers there have been. Have any of them ever been in top anything? No stfu. If Melle was white do he think he would be in the top? Top-less is about it.”
In the latest episode of his The Biggest podcast, Fat Joe also defended Eminem and said that this is the first time he ever disagreed Melle: “I worship Melle Mel and I tried not to talk about this way because I never in my life disagreed Melle Mel but this time I have to disagree with him. Right now, I’m guilty of it. Melle Mel says something that I disagree with. But I’m still hesitant because of the respect for the culture I have that I salute him so much that to disagree with him publically…We have this s–t in black community, even if we disagree we just shut up and with that being said if Eminem was not beyond phenomenal, hip-hop would never gave it up the way we gave it up to him.”
The Game has recently chatted with Fat Joe at The Big Big Show where the two hip-hop artists talked about Eminem, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine and more. You can read the conversation about Eminem and watch the video after the jump below:
The Game: When I went through the beef with 50 Cent, Eminem and Dr. Dre had to side with 50. Eminem because Fifty and Shady and Eminem and G-Unit. And I thought Dr. Dre was going to ride with me because its N.W.A, it’s Compton but it’s a business and at 24 years old, I did not know that.
Fat Joe: You know, Eminem is super loyal. I was mad cool with Eminem and when I beefed with 50, he never said nothing about me but he never talked to me and once I squashed the beef with 50, Eminem became my boy again. He’s a loyal mather**ker.
The Game: You were about to go bar for bar with Eminem?
Fat Joe: Nah, come on, that’s Eminem…
The Game: Wait, hold on, you, Fat Joe, can’t go bar for bar with Em?
Fat Joe: Yo, Eminem is dead nice… I would go against anybody but what I’m saying is Eminem was my man. And then when I had beef with 50 Cent, me and Eminem had a track “Lean Back” remix and all that, he just faded back. He didn’t diss 50 or he didn’t diss Fat Joe, he just stayed in the cut once everything got cool he passed it up and showed love again.
Then the two continue talking about The Game saying Kanye West did more for him in two weeks than Dr. Dre in his entire career. You can watch it below:
Fat Joe has recently set down with Big Boy where he talked about his biggest regret in music industry: NOT SIGNING EMINEM. Read the interview and watch it after the jump below:
“At that time, I was just immature, I was crazy. So what happened was I was just at these places and people were giving me their demos and [I could not listen to all of them]. If you go in my DMs now, there are like thousand fat Spanish guys who rap like ‘Yo Joe, Papi, what’s up?’ I don’t get none of that. I let my wife look at my DMs and she sees all that fat Spanish guys talking about being next Big Pun and Fat Joe.”
“So when I go to Revolt, some of them were giving me their demos. I was at these places and I was trying get myself in the game and Eminem apparently was giving me his demos. So years later, me, him and B-Real of Cypress Hills were at the dinner and Em was like ‘Joe, I’mma tell you something. I gave you my demo like six times’ and I was like ‘NOOOOO?! CHESUS CHRIST.”
“I remembered Eminem from performing with this group called Outsidaz. There were very dope. There was Lyricist Longue in New York, this is when I met Biggie too. Biggie was battling twenty guys, beating everybody, white, black, Chinese, he was killing everybody on stage. So now, Eminem, skinny white boy…Me and Pun headlined Lyricist Longue and he performed with Outsidaz. They were all black kids with dreadlocks, and skinny white boy, he was so skinny and going so crazy, they were holding him by his pants cause he was gonna fall off the stage. We all knew he was crazy. We knew this white boy…It was too late. It was not demo time. He was on. He was just about to go with Dr. Dre and all that. Me and Big Pun were like this white boy is CR-AZY.”
“And I always tell a story, when his first album came out it was Grammy week. Me and Big Pun stood the night before the album came out in the long line of Tower Records to get Eminem’s album. The first album. We bumped that all night and went to the Grammys next day. And we had no idea this was the same guy I passed on signing six times. I learned it that night when we had dinner.”
“We make great music. Of course I don’t think it would be the same Eminem if he signed him. That was legendary Dr. Dre who gave him that whole different things. Dre’s beats was crazy but he would have been hot with us too. We made Big Pun. We made Remy Ma. We made DJ Khalid. We could have made him a big star. It probably would have been a different kind of star. Fat Joe liked flash, show off and this kind of stuff and Eminem was not doing that, he was on some other s**t.”
