Fat Joe

Fat Joe was born on August 19, 1970 by the name Joseph Cartagena. He was raised in the South Bronx area of New York and heavily influenced by the Zulu Nation culture as a youth. His brother, Angel, would bring home tapes of the music played at those events, and the original sounds piqued the interest of young Joe. From discovering rap, he also learned the ways of living on the street through his brother.

As he got older, he became involved in hip-hop culture, taking a liking to not only rap, but graffiti art and breakdancing as well. Along with that, he was heavily involved in the drug trade and from there, he got his nickname, Joey Crack. Before delving deeper into the drug trading world, he returned to his younger roots and discovered in time that his true love was music.