The year before that, you and Cam’ron saw New York rapper Big L lifeless on the street after being shot in Harlem. I kept it all the way transparent, because I seen people pass away and other people tell their story, and tell it incorrect and it wasn't factual. As a young journalist in New York City in the early 1990s, I’d often see him at clubs and intimate rap shows and I knew that when the chubby Latino man with the uncompromising screwface scowl popped up in the spot with his green army jacket, blue jeans and brown Timberland boots, that trouble was around the corner.

I figure there’s a bit of mindful bluster in most of the claims but it cheapens the experience as I don’t entirely trust Joe even if I’m interested in hearing him out.Read more about the condition New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages. You going to feel like you were at that spot in the book and be like, "Wow, they created it visually. Joe also assumes all his readers are avid hip hop fans and old enough to know the big players in the early 90s. According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry. Rapper Fat Joe debuts with an unflinching portrait of his rise to fame set against the backdrop of 1970s and ’80s New York City.

When Fat Joe mentions a child hood beef, the numbers are always grandiose, where it’s clear he’s aware this wasn’t really how many people were there but it detracts from other boasts. His brother eventually went blind as a result of his drug use but eventually found lasting sobriety. Witnessing him introduce the world to the rap sensation Big Pun, and then, after Pun’s tragic passing, develop himself into a true mega rap star in the 2000s. Props to the editors and Shaheen Reid, the co-author, for crafting such a compelling story and preserving Fat Joe's (clearly unique) voice and personality. I also got some great music recommendations from this book that I don't think I could have found just from googling "20th century rappers" or something like that.There was some real violent heart wrenching revelations that was going on right in my backyard in The Bronx back in the day. As raw as he is, if you listen/read carefully--like with ALL of us, we are products of our environments (both nature and nurture influences) and for BIPOC folks we are stamped before birth.

Sometimes I ask myself if the misfortunes that have fallen to me, to my own son, to my family, if these are because of all the destruction I took a hand in? It’s interesting that Fat Joe consistently describes himself as a nice guy in this book, a nice guy who had to make, and did make, some difficult choices to survive, but at the end of the day, and at the end of this book you really get the vibe that he just is a nice guy. It’s one thing to beef with each other on albums and mixtapes, but when you beef live on MTV during the channel’s biggest night, things are serious. Fortunately for Fat Joe, he found rapping as a way out of a cycle that was certainly leading to jail or death… Though he eventually did some jail time and was shot at (and/or wounded) on numerous occasions.

I wanted to read his memoir since I love rap and it’s always a great experience learning about how other rappers came up in the game. Teaching and providing certification as high end chefs is a real thing and high quality ingredients and dishes are definitely in existence. Fat Joe grew up in a family of addicts, so he decided at a young age to avoid the cycles he saw his loved ones tied up in. Fat Joe opens the book like a blockbuster movie, packed with tales of violence, drug-dealing, fast cars, and more. Fat Joe’s new autobiography, The Book of José (co-written by veteran journalist Shaheem Reid), covers all of his career ups and downs, as well as many jaw-dropping, Goodfellas-worthy tales of near-death experiences from his days as a teenage hustler in the Bronx, and his stay in prison on tax charges (he has always blamed an errant accountant).

The funny thing is, right before the show, me and 50 were both saying in our interviews that we were done with the beef and ready to move on. The family business revolved around gambling (in the time before state-run lotteries legitimized playing the numbers). I'm just so proud of the book, and I think that people will learn my story and they'll learn a lot from my mistakes. The funniest story is one where in which Joe describes how 50 Cent put out an entire Fat Joe diss tape. Throughout his life, Fat Joe has had plenty of celebrations only to see many of them taken away: He saw his big discovery, rapper Big Pun, become a superstar and then die of a heart attack in 2000 at the age of 28.Joe’s memoir explores his identity as a Latino growing up in a majority Black neighborhood, even holding himself accountable for his lifelong use of the n-word. Apart from getting his backstory, I appreciate his unique perspectives on the development of hip hop culture over the past few decades. We at Penguin Random House Australia acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the Traditional Custodians and the first storytellers of the lands on which we live and work. How crazy it is to have a long-running rivalry with Jay-Z, and then you go to Roc Nation, they manage you under the leadership of Desiree Perez? The reason for the Fat Joe show on Instagram, and the reason for the book, is I’d been seeing some documentaries about hip hop, and the facts were all wrong.