Before he became the Puerto Rican hip-hop powerhouse known as Fat Joe, he was Joe Cartagena (also known as Fat Joe da Gangsta and Joey Crack) from the South Bronx neighborhood of New York. This rapper is a regional favorite for his solo albums but everyone in the rap game knows big Joe for representing D. I. T. C. (Diggin' in the Crates Crew) and Terror Squad as well as collaborating with the likes of Ja Rule, Ashanti and R. Kelly.Fat Joe signed a record contract with Relativity Records in the early ‘90s after his older brother showed him the street smarts needed to survive in the Bronx and the underground rap world that sparked his attention. The burgeoning rapper released Represent in 1993 and scored an immediate hit with single "Flow Joe," which peaked at number one on Billboard's Hot Rap Singles chart and made Fat Joe one of the first successful Puerto Rican rappers. His sophomore EP Jealous One's Envy dropped two years later and spawned minor hit single "Shit is Real." Fat Joe contributed his rhymes to LL Cool J's hit track "I Shot Ya" and collaborated with Wu Tang Clan's Reakwon on "Firewater" before switching labels to Atlantic. His Atlantic debut, Don Cartagena, featuring cameos from Nas, Raekwon, Big Pun and P. Diddy (then-Puff Daddy,) was released in 1998.By 2001 Fat Joe was the proud owner of a clothing store (called Fat Joe's Halftime), a fashion line (FJ560) and a barber shop. That same year Ludacris, M.O.P., R. Kelly and Petey Pablo lent their talents to Big Joe's next album, Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.). Subsequently the rapper released 2002's Loyalty and 2005's All of Nothing before forming EMI imprint Terror Squad, which released 2006's Me, Myself and I and 2008's The Elephant in the Room.
