Deep Album Cuts Vol. 245: Fat Joe
I did a Ja Rule playlist the other day and wrote about how I think that him going against Fat Joe in Verzuz on September 14th is a good pairing -- they make sort of a tortoise and hare contrast, Ja the brief flash in the pan and Joe the journeyman. They also both peaked around the same time, and each had a big hit featuring the other. But I will say that Fat Joe has a much larger, much better, and much more interesting catalog, and I will be rooting for him.
Fat Joe deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):
1. Bad Bad Man
2. Watch Out featuring Big Punisher, Armageddon and Keith Nut
3. Respect Mine featuring Raekwon
4. Triplets featuring Big Punisher and Prospect
5. Walk On By featuring Charli Baltimore and Kid Capri
6. Rude Boy Salute with Big Punisher and Buju Banton
7. Da Enemy with Big L
8. Opposites Attract (What They Like) featuring Remy Ma
9. My Lifestyle
10. Bust At You featuring Scarface, Birdman and Tony Sunshine
11. Shit Is Real Pt. III
12. Terror Era with Remy Ma
13. Beat Novacane
14. Does Anybody Know
15. Pendemic
16. That White
17. Put Ya In Da Game featuring T-Pain and OZ
18. Kilo featuring Clipse and Cam'ron
19. Cypher featuring Nick Shades
20. How Long with Remy Ma
21. Heaven & Hell with Dre
Track 1 from Represent (1993)
Tracks 2 and 3 from Jealous Ones Envy (1995)
Tracks 4 and 5 from Don Cartagena (1998)
Track 6 from Terror Squad: The Album with Terror Squad (1999)
Tracks 2 and 3 from Jealous Ones Envy (1995)
Tracks 4 and 5 from Don Cartagena (1998)
Track 6 from Terror Squad: The Album with Terror Squad (1999)
Track 7 from D.I.T.C. with D.I.T.C. (2000)
Tracks 8 and 9 from Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) (2001)
Tracks 10 and 11 from Loyalty (2002)
Track 12 from True Story with Terror Squad (2004)
Tracks 10 and 11 from Loyalty (2002)
Track 12 from True Story with Terror Squad (2004)
Tracks 13 and 14 from All Or Nothing (2005)
Track 15 from Me, Myself & I (2006)
Track 16 from The Elephant In The Room (2008)
Track 17 from the Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 (J.O.S.E. 2) (2009)
Track 15 from Me, Myself & I (2006)
Track 16 from The Elephant In The Room (2008)
Track 17 from the Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 (J.O.S.E. 2) (2009)
Track 18 from The Darkside Vol. 1 (2010)
Track 19 from Darkside III (2013)
Track 20 from Plata O Plomo with Remy Ma (2017)
Track 19 from Darkside III (2013)
Track 20 from Plata O Plomo with Remy Ma (2017)
Track 21 from Family Ties with Dre (2019)
Fat Joe's longevity is pretty remarkable when you think about it. His first album came out in 1993, which means he's been going longer than Nas and Jay-Z. He talked about 2019's Family Ties possibly being his final album, but he's continued to release music and just had a radio hit, "Sunshine (The Light)," 28 years after "Flow Joe" (for comparison, there's only 26 years between LL Cool J's first and most recent radio hits). Arguably the only person who's had a longer run on the charts in rap history is Busta Rhymes, but only if you include group work and features.
One thing you can say about Fat Joe is that he's always kept great company and had an eye for talent. He was in Diggin' In The Crates with Big L, and gave Big Punisher his on-record debut on "Watch Out" before mentoring future hitmakers like DJ Khaled, Remy Ma, and Cool & Dre. His early albums had a lot of greats from his D.I.T.C. groupmates Diamond D, Buckwild, Showbiz, and Lord Finesse. I especially love Diamond D's beat for "Bad Bad Man," a great use of the Yvonne Fair breakbeat that was popularized by Biz Markie's "Check It Out" and used most famously on Jay-Z's "Where I'm From." And even Joe's 2013 reunion with Diamond D on "Cypher" is pretty good.
Don Cartagena was released 4 months after Capital Punishment and features Big Punisher on 7 of 14 songs, so that and the first Terror Squad album are essential pieces of Pun's brief, brilliant career. But my favorite Fat Joe album might be Loyalty, which was kind of in Joe's most pop era but didn't have any really big singles, it's just a surprisingly solid album.
On later albums, Fat Joe continued to work with great producers including DJ Premier ("That White"), The Alchemist ("Bust At You"), Dame Grease ("Triplets"), Streetrunner ("Pendemic" and "How Long"), Cool & Dre ("Heaven & Hell") and The Runners ("Does Anybody Know"). DJ Khaled is famous for not really producing most of the beats on DJ Khaled albums, but back when he did make beats more regularly, he did quite a few tracks for Fat Joe and Terror Squad, including "Beat Novacane" (which was Khaled's producer handle at the time),
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