Fat Joeis opening up about the day he said enough is enough.
In anexclusive clipshared with PEOPLE from the upcoming A&E seriesOrigins of Hip Hop, rapper Fat Joe opened up about his experience being bullied growing up — and how it changed him forever.
“Since 2 years old, he’s fat Joey forever,” the rapper, 51, says at the opening of the video. “When I was in junior high they would bully me every day. You know, I’m not gonna lie, it’s scary looking out the classroom window knowing that there’s 20 guys waiting to beat my ass. They never fought me fair. They would always jump me.”
Fat Joe.Malike Sidibe/A&E 2022
He then says he had a best friend named Leonard who he would eat and play video games with. That was until one day, the group who would bully him approached Leonard and said, “Yo, why you be with this guy?” and Leonard responded, “He’s my friend.”
“They were like, ‘Well if you don’t jump him with us, we’re gonna beat you up every day too — and my friend Leonard jumped me with them,” the “What’s Luv” rapper says. “I went home and I cried for so many hours. I had a black hoodie on, black jeans and black Timberland chukkas. I’m tying my chukkas over and over again and I was like, ‘I don’t give a f— I swear to God, giving it to everybody. That was the birth of Joey Crack.”
Fat Joe, né Joseph Antonio Cartagena, concluded, “That was like, ‘I don’t give a f— about nobody, care about nobody, I am giving it to everybody. My heart turned black that day; I just lost it.”
The full episode will be available on Monday during the series premiere.Origins of Hip Hopwill have sit-down interviews with hip-hop stars as they share the experiences that molded them and they trace their path to success.
In January 2021, the “All the Way Up” rapperspoke to PEOPLE about his work as a judgeon the virtual hip-hop competition Pepsi Wild CherryYour WildestDreams, and he said it’s “always rewarding when you’re able to help someone and have fun while you’re doing it.”
And after growing up in the Bronx, Fat Joe chased his own wildest dreams. “I came in first place [at the Apollo Theater] four weeks in a row. I always knew I was gonna try to make it. But it’s the fans and the grace of God that’ll catapult you to the top.”
At the time, he also opened up about his wife Lorena, whom he wed in 1995.
source: people.com
