Fat Joe and Jadakiss

Born on August 19, 1970, Fat Joe released a number of recordings which have lead to the explicit rapper attaining great success. He was raised by parents of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent, and was influenced by the Latino lyricist Big Pun in his early life; Fat Joe claimed he respected Big Pun for aiming to “represent our people”.

Between the years of 1992-1995, Joseph Cartagena performed under the show-name Fat Joe da Gangsta whilst being part of the Diggin’ in the Crates (D.I.T.C) rap collective. He released the debut album ‘Represent’ in 1993, which included the single ‘Flow Joe’; it gained Joe widespread recognition and forced people to start noticing his talents after it peaked at number one the Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart.

In 1998, Fat Joe released the album ‘Don Cartagena’ - featuring the likes of Nas, Diddy, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and his own group Terror Squad - on Atlantic Records. It peaked at number two on the US R&B chart, and signaled the begging of prolonged success for the east-coast rapper.

In 2001, Fat Joe released ‘Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E)’ - a production from Irv Gotti - which featured Busta Rhymes, Ludacris and R. Kelly. It included the hip-hop, club-classic single ‘What’s Luv’ featuring Ja Rule and Ashanti, which peaked at number four in the UK, at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and featured in the 2002 movie Juwanna Mann; the single has since sold over 4,500,000 copies. Fat Joe also featured heavily with Remy for Terror Squad’s single ‘Lean Back’ in 2004, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, topped the R&B charts for over a month and won the Single of the Year award at The Source Hip-Hop Music Awards.

Fat Joe is comparable to Mase, Redman and Indo G, whilst the Puerto Rican enthusiast is commended for his charitable work, having visited his old school and donated new computers for students, whilst also speaking at a School is Cool assembly in Public School 5 in New Jersey US in 2009. He has performed at prestigious settings such as The Black Music Festival and BET Hip-Hop Awards 2012, and continues to demand respect from the hip-hop scene and beyond for a career decorated with credible accolades.

In 1991, whilst still 16, Jadakiss had made a name for himself as a freestyle rapper, and competed in the Floridian freestyle battle the “Jack the Rapper Competition”. It wasn’t long before the rapper was making connections and soon became affiliated with the Ruff Ryders management company. Alongside friends Sheek Louch and Styles P. Jadakiss formed the rap group The Warlocks and signed with Sean Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment. At the suggestion of the label the group changed their name to The LOX, and made their debut recording on The Main Source’s LP “Fuck What You Think” on the track “Set it Off”. During this time Jadakiss developed a close relationship with The Notorious B.I.G., and The LOX’s first hit came as the B-side to Puff Daddy’s “I’ll Be Missing You” entitled “We’ll Always Love Big Poppa” in 1997.

A year later The LOX released their debut full-length “Money, Power & Respect”, which earned the group positive reviews and platinum certification. Despite the album’s success The LOX parted ways with Bad Boy Entertainment, deciding to sign with Ruff Ryders Entertainment instead. Jadakiss’ solo debut album “Kiss Tha Game Goodbye” was released in August 2001 featuring guest contributions from The Alchemist, DMX, Eve, Snoop Dogg and Swizz Beatz. Despite these high-profile artists however the album was a commercial flop, and Jadakiss has since admitted the album was completed out of a contract obligation to Bad Boy Entertainment.

The rapper’s 2004 sophomore album “Kiss of Death” however received much more favourable reviews, aided by the lead single “Why?” featuring Anthony Hamilton. In 2007 Jadakiss signed with Roc-A-Fella Records in a move that Jay-Z had been orchestrating for a few years. The rapper’s debut release on the label was 2009's “The Last Kiss” led by the single “By My Side” featuring Ne-Yo. Subsequent singles included “Can’t Stop Me”, “Death Wish” featuring Lil Wayne, and “Who’s Real”. In 2012 Jadakiss released the mixtape “Consignment” and in 2013 the single “Big Boy Dialogue” featuring vocals from The-Dream.